This Changes Everything
by FebWriter
Summary: Post 8x22. When Kate and Rick are shot in their own home, it's only the beginning of a journey that changes everything, not just for them, but for their friends and loved ones. New paths open up, while the bonds of love and friendship only grow stronger. The future is everyone's to decide.
1. Chapter 1

_**Fairly new to the Castle fandom. Slightly AU in that there is no Hayley, just because I was never a fan of the character. Also, Alexis is more like the Alexis of earlier seasons, just because I personally found her more likable then, and she is NOT working at the P.I. agency. Also, since Lanie and Esposito agreed in season 7 that they didn't have a love like Beckett and Castle, or Ryan and Jenny, they're not going to be together in this story, but they each will have an important significant other, and one of them will certainly surprise you, but I hope you'll trust me enough to go along for that particular ride.**_

 _ **Post-8x22, a take I haven't seen done yet that I hope you'll enjoy. Constructive criticism is welcome.**_

* * *

 _"Sittin' up 'cause I can see_

 _The ending to this mystery_

 _It's not as scary as it seems_

 _I swear that I can breathe it in_

 _Deeper than the ocean_

 _And as crazy as it seems_

 _This is the world to me_

 _"This could be just what I need_

 _This changes everything_

 _"...Can't sleep, there's too much on my mind_

 _Just think, there's a safer place to find_

 _I can't tell you what's to come_

 _But I can tell you these things"_

 _-"This Changes Everything," Chris Ryan_

* * *

The Greek language has four separate and distinct words for love. Forgetting semantics, and distinguishing between the types of love, difficult as that often is for etymologists, let alone the average laymen, the Greeks describe the four types of love as follows:

 _Eros: love, mostly of the sexual passion; from the Greek 'erotas' meaning 'intimate love'; the kind of love expressed in various physical manifestations between a husband and wife._

 _Agape: used in ancient texts to denote the love of a parent for a child, and also the love of one spouse for another. Saint Thomas Aquinas further explained 'agape' as 'to will the good of another'; a truly loving parent wants good things for their child or children, and a truly loving child, even once that child is an adult her- or himself, wants good things for their parent or parents, and of course good spouses in a loving, committed relationship want only the best for one another._

 _Philia: affectionate regard, friendship, between equals; the kind of love one feels for those who are brothers and sisters not by blood or marriage, but by choice of the heart, by the bonds of friendship forged and tested in a crucible of intensity and danger such as the NYPD. The Bible says 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' In the best of cases, the laying down of one life for another is not required or demanded; but the prevention of the laying down of the life of a friend...a brother and sister of the heart...is no less an example of philia._

 _Storge: the least mentioned of the four types of love in the Greek language, perhaps because it encompasses components of eros, agape, and filia; from the Greek 'philostorgos,' which means 'be devoted.' Another definition is 'to cherish one's kindred.' In summary, storge is a committed love, whether between husband and wife, between friends, or between parents and children. The level of commitment is so deep, the desire to understand one another so earnest, the strength of the bond and the relationship so important, that these are the relationships that last a lifetime, and sometimes, for the truly blessed, beyond a lifetime...they last for always._

 _Eros, agape, philia, storge...four types of love._

This is the story of how these four types of love worked together in many persons and combinations on one fateful day to save the lives of Katherine Beckett and Richard Castle.

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" she asked, puzzled.

"Yes," he replied, looking up and meeting her gaze directly. "There's serious trouble with your loved ones down there. You should be there."

"Katie? Jim?" She was frantic now.

"It's Kate...and Rick."

"What kind of trouble? When?"

"Bad trouble, and now. Right now. She needs you. **They** need you."

She gave him a hard look. "I can go?" she asked, both surprised and hopeful. "I can **really** go?"

"Just this once," he said sternly. "And only for 24 hours."

"Just this once, and only for 24 hours," she repeated, both an oath to him and a reminder to herself.

"And hurry. There isn't a second to lose!"

In the blink of an eye, and a swirling of mist, Johanna Beckett disappeared from the heavenly realm, and found herself in a loft on Broome Street in New York City. She could only watch in horror as a man holding a gun shot her son-in-law Richard Castle in the chest and he fell heavily to the kitchen floor. Rick falling to the floor brought Katie out from their bedroom, her own gun drawn, an anguished cry of, "Castle!" on her lips as she and the armed man exchanged gunfire. When the armed intruder lay dead, Kate collapsed herself, bright red blood staining her white t-shirt.

Johanna watched, transfixed, as her daughter crawled across the room, and Rick scooted on his back to meet her. They collapsed next to each other, both bleeding from bullet wounds, breathing hard, Kate's weapon clattering to the ground as she and Rick found each other's hands and clung to one another as tightly as they could.

"Help is coming, Katie, Rick, just hold on. **PLEASE** , hold on," Johanna exhorted them, though they couldn't hear her. Then, in another swirl of mist, she disappeared from the loft.

* * *

"Hold on," Kate murmured. Where had those words come from? She thought she'd heard someone say them...someone who sounded a lot like her mother...oh, but she wasn't ready to die yet, and Kate most certainly wasn't ready for Castle to die yet either. "Hold on, Rick."

She felt him squeeze her hand weakly, but it took every ounce of strength he could muster. "Holding...on..." he panted. "Always."

"Always," she whispered back, squeezing his hand in return as hard as she could. Gingerly, she moved her other hand to the pants pocket where her phone was. She needed to call for help. Her fingers didn't want to work. She heard the phone ringing, but it sounded as if it was coming from a much further distance than her pants pocket. The ringing stopped, then almost immediately started again. Different ringtones, one Lanie's, the other Ryan's. Kate finally managed to fumble the phone from her pocket, only to drop it. It would take her some time to gather her strength to pick up the phone. She only hoped it hadn't landed too far away from where she lay, still clutching Castle's hand with her other hand.

* * *

In all the years to come, Kevin Ryan never would be able to explain the awful feeling he had that Beckett and Castle were in some kind of trouble, but he'd been a cop too long to ignore a gut feeling this strong and this persistent.

But where Lanie backed him up, Esposito clearly had his doubts, criticizing the two "nervous Nellies" and claiming they were chasing ghosts, that all the bad guys had been caught, the day had been won, and their captain and her husband were just taking some well-deserved, hard-earned time alone before the planned group meeting at The Old Haunt.

That was until Javier saw the fire in Ryan's eyes, and the defiant tilt of Lanie's head as she informed him in no uncertain terms that if that was how he felt, then he could stay behind while she and Ryan went to the loft to check on them, since neither Kate nor Castle were answering their phones, and Kate's phone wasn't even going to voicemail. "She hasn't turned it off in months," Ryan said quietly, matter-of-factly. "You know that. We all know that. Something's **wrong** , Javi."

"What?" Esposito demanded, even as he silently acknowledged Ryan's point about Beckett's phone. "What could be wrong?"

"How do you know you got **everyone**?" Lanie asked then. In the corner, unseen, Johanna silently cheered Lanie and Ryan on, grateful that Ryan was so open to suggestion. "All it takes is one maniac with a gun."

"They could have had one last guy on the outside, one that wasn't there when it all went down," Ryan said urgently. He stared a hole through Esposito. "We have to question everything we think we know. Beckett taught us that. We owe it to her and Castle to make sure they're okay. We **think** we got 'em all, we **think** we won the day... **but what if we didn't**?"

Before Esposito could frame a suitable reply, he swore he heard a female voice...one that sounded similar to Beckett's but definitely wasn't hers, and possessed more iron than Gates' voice ever had...saying, with no small hint of desperation, _"They need you. All three of you. Go to them, now! There's no time to lose!"_

Ryan and Lanie saw the change in Esposito's eyes, and they had to rush to catch up with him as he took off sprinting down the corridor. "Lanie, bring your bag. Just in case."

They were all running now, and Lanie practically dove into the backseat with her medical bag as Esposito peeled out, burning rubber as he hit the lights and sirens. Ryan grabbed the radio and demanded ambulances and backup, giving Kate and Castle's address as the location.

Once her daughter's team...her daughter's family...were on their way, Johanna, who had stood at the curb and watched them race off, disappeared once more, materializing unseen by the crowds in the subway station. Her gaze immediately locked on Alexis Castle, causing the young woman to stop in her tracks with a frown, looking around her and wondering why she felt like someone was calling out to her...but someone she could neither see nor hear. Still, this feeling was so intense, Alexis couldn't ignore it.

Then she heard a voice not unlike the one Esposito had heard just a moment before (because it was, in fact, the same voice), playing on a loop in her head, telling her to check on her dad and Kate, to go to the loft right away and see them.

The subway was coming up fast. If Alexis didn't catch this one, she'd have to wait for the next one.

 _Don't wait. You_ _ **have**_ _to make that train._

For the rest of her life, Alexis would remember this thought...but she would never be able to explain or truly even understand whether the thought was hers, or whether it was caused by this unseen phantom who nevertheless had a loud, persistent voice that sounded familiar in a sense...almost like Kate, but not Kate.

All Alexis knew for certain was, she **had** to make that train.

And so, for the second time in her life, Alexis Castle jumped the turnstile.

Johanna Beckett saw the subway car swallow Alexis up and then go speeding down the track. She faded out once more, headed back to the loft, back to Katie and Rick, praying harder than she ever had that she was there to help save her daughter and son-in-law, and not to take both of them...or worse, only one of them...back with her.

* * *

Despite the creeping numbness spreading throughout her whole body, Kate finally managed to get her fingers around her phone. Before she could muster the strength to pick up the phone, however, she heard an insistent pounding at the door. "Beckett? Castle? You guys in there?"

Ryan! Ryan was outside the front door! Ryan would help them! "R-Ryan," Kate croaked weakly.

"Dr. Parrish? Detectives Ryan and Esposito? What are you guys doing here?"

Alexis!

"Just checking up on your dad and Beckett," Ryan replied.

"Kate wasn't answering her phone, and it didn't go to voicemail," Lanie added.

The voices were very far away. Kate knew she was close to losing consciousness, and she was fairly certain Castle was already unconscious.

The sound of Alexis's key in the front door sounded like it was coming from under water. The next thing Kate heard was Alexis screaming, " **OH MY GOD! DAD! KATE**!" with Esposito's stricken "Son of a bitch!" and Lanie's distraught "Lord, no, not again!" echoing in tandem.

The darkness was starting to creep in more insistently now, and Kate's vision was blurry. She was aware of Espo suddenly on his knees at her side, whipping off his jacket and pressing it to her stomach to try and stop the bleeding. "You hang on, Beckett, you hear me?" he said. "Hang on!" Chaos erupted around her: Alexis sobbing, Ryan yelling (he was on his phone wanting an ETA on the ambulance and backup and telling someone to track down Karpowski and get her over to the loft ASAP), Esposito imploring her to hang on, the sound of approaching sirens in the distance, Lanie rattling off medspeak about Castle's injuries that normally Kate would be able to follow and understand, but it was getting increasingly hard to think, let alone to keep her eyes open.

All that mattered to Kate in that moment was that her hand was still in Rick's, and she felt him weakly squeeze her hand again. She squeezed his hand back with all of her might, hoping he felt it.

Lanie, like Esposito with Kate, had taken off her own jacket and was pressing it hard against Castle's chest. "Castle's got a pulse," she announced after gently palpating his carotid artery before resuming her application of pressure to his chest. "It's thready, but it's there. He's unconscious and going into shock from the blood loss, and I don't see an exit wound. Esposito, how's Kate?"

"Still alive," Espo replied tersely as he pressed as hard as he could on her abdomen.

"Which is more than I can say for this guy," Ryan announced from his place by Caleb Brown's corpse.

"You fight, Castle," Lanie ordered Castle sternly before looking over at Kate beside him. "You too, Kate. You two are **not** dying today, not on our watch! Ryan, where the hell are those ambulances?" The last of her question was drowned out by the screech of brakes and the wailing of sirens pulling up outside.

Alexis, still sobbing, stumbled through the open door, presumably to get the paramedics to Beckett and Castle ASAP. "Ryan, go with her! Get them up here quick!" Esposito ordered. Ryan dashed after Alexis, and in mere seconds, they had returned with the EMTs, followed by half of the 12th Precinct, all of whom were momentarily stopped short at the sight of Captain Beckett and Rick Castle on the floor, bleeding from GSWs.

None of this really registered with Kate. "Espo." The two whispered syllables were wrenched from Kate's mouth by sheer force of will. "Rick."

"He's alive, and so are you, Beckett. And you're both stayin' that way, you got it? You hear me?" Esposito said. The EMTs made him move then so they could tend to Kate, as more EMTs made Lanie leave Castle's side. Lanie filled the EMTs in on Castle's condition before reluctantly surrendering her spot to them, then yelled for an extra blanket and, since her hands were covered in Castle's blood, she asked Karpowski to wrap it around Alexis, which Karpowski gladly did. Esposito told the EMTs that took his place at Beckett's side that Beckett had two bullet wounds to the abdomen. Cursory examinations revealed that Esposito and Lanie's initial assessments had been correct: neither Beckett nor Castle had exit wounds.

In a matter of seconds, the EMTs had Kate and Rick on separate gurneys. The rattling of the wheels was the last sound Kate heard before finally succumbing to unconsciousness, her hand hanging limply from the side of her gurney after the EMTs had broken her and Castle's grip on one another.

Unconscious himself, Rick's hand hung limply from his own gurney in a mirror image of Kate's hand as they were whisked out of the loft, downstairs, and to the hospital.

After barking out orders to Karpowski, Perlmutter (who was nearly flattened by the gurneys bearing Kate and Rick downstairs in the hall outside the loft), and being assured that CSU was on their way, and quickly washing their hands in the kitchen sink, Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie, herding the shell-shocked Alexis, still wrapped in a blanket, ahead of her, rushed downstairs to follow the ambulances to the hospital. Realizing Alexis's fragile state, and having the numbers in their phones, while Esposito floored it to the hospital, Lanie, with one arm wrapped around the shaking Alexis, made the dreaded call to Jim Beckett-"Mr. Beckett, Kate and Rick have been shot. We're headed to New York Pres Lower Manhattan. Meet us in the ER, please...It's serious, that's all I can tell you. We'll see you there."-while Ryan called Martha-"Mrs. Rodgers? Kevin Ryan. I'm sorry to have to do this over the phone, but it's Castle and Beckett. We're on our way to New York Pres Lower Manhattan, and Alexis is with us...She's not hurt physically, but they all need you. We'll meet you in the ER."

And two frantic parents dropped what they were doing and rushed to New York Presbyterian Hospital in Lower Manhattan, with nightmarish visions of what they would find when they arrived at the hospital haunting every moment of their respective cab rides.

* * *

Like most people (spirits?), Johanna Beckett was not a fan of hospitals. The only time she'd ever been in one herself...that she was aware of, anyway...was when she had given birth to Katie, and that was the best reason to be in the hospital. The ER was a scene of choreographed chaos. Esposito and Ryan had left some woman named Karpowski in charge at Katie and Rick's place, and they, Lanie, and a still-in-shock Alexis had arrived at the ER along with Katie and Rick. Despite Lanie's protestations that she was a doctor, and her flashing of her NYPD credentials, one of the ER physicians was callous enough to tell the good Dr. Parrish that "if you can have at them, we'll let you know after we've called their times of death."

That remark was enough to snap Alexis out of her shock-induced stupor, and the young trauma resident's reward for making that remark about Alexis's beloved father and stepmother was a sharp slap across the face that sounded like a gunshot and left the full imprint of Alexis's palm on the shocked doctor's cheek. "That's my dad and stepmom in there!" Alexis shouted at the doctor as his hand flew to his cheek and hers remained frozen in the air after delivering the blow to his face. "If you're not here to save them, if you're just going to hover like some vulture, then you stay the hell away from both of them! They're here to be **HELPED** , to be **SAVED** , not for you to talk about them like they're nobody and nothing and only good for providing cadavers!"

When the resident spluttered and threatened to sue, Esposito and Ryan stepped forward and pulled the young doctor aside for a private two-on-one conversation while Lanie tried to console Alexis. Johanna was proud of her stepgranddaughter. She would have punched that young punk's lights out herself if she'd been able to for what he had the gall to say about Katie and Rick.

While Ryan and Esposito were dealing with the thoughtless resident, Martha Rodgers and Jim Beckett arrived. Alexis flew into her grandmother's arms, sobbing again. Lanie managed to explain everything that had happened and that they were waiting for news from the doctors on the specifics and extent of Kate and Rick's injuries. When Alexis tearfully confessed to slapping the ER doctor for what he said about Rick and Kate, Jim Beckett offered to defend Alexis _pro bono_ if the doctor tried to bring assault charges against her and said it was a damn good thing he wasn't there when the man said that, or the man would be in the ICU and Jim himself would be on his way to jail.

"I want to know what is going on here and I want to know **NOW**."

When former Captain, now Deputy Chief, Victoria Gates spoke in that tone of voice, only a fool didn't obey. The trauma department at New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital was not comprised of fools, save one young resident who would soon be shown the door for his one-times-too-many callous treatment of patients' loved ones. The head of the trauma team, Dr. Joseph Gallison, immediately briefed the family and friends of Richard Castle and Katherine Beckett in a straightforward yet kindly manner.

Castle had severe blood loss, a collapsed lung, a chest tube, and the bullet was still lodged in his chest wall. The operation to remove it would be delicate, and of course no promises could be made, but the bullet had, by some fabulous miracle, managed to miss his heart, though it had nicked one of his internal thoracic arteries before lodging in one of his internal intercostal muscles.

Beckett had taken two bullets to the abdomen. One was lodged in her spleen, causing significant internal bleeding, so the spleen would have to come out. The other had broken three ribs and lodged in her hipbone. They weren't looking at a hip replacement right now, but it might become necessary down the road.

Both patients were in critical condition and being rushed to operating rooms at that very moment, where they would be in surgery for several hours as the bullets were removed, along with Beckett's spleen, the internal damage to both of them was repaired, and they received blood transfusions. Everyone present immediately volunteered to donate blood. Dr. Gallison promised to inform the appropriate personnel. The wait would be long, but Dr. Gallison knew none of these people were going anywhere. He promised to keep them updated as best he could, and that the surgeons would do everything humanly possible to save both Mr. Castle and Captain Beckett.

"Rick and Kate," Alexis corrected him.

"Rick and Kate," Dr. Gallison parroted back. "In the meantime, all you can do is wait...lean on each other...and I've found that prayer is very powerful." Then he turned and hurried off to scrub in on Beckett's surgery.

Johanna had been there the whole time, watching everyone's faces as they absorbed the news, and she focused now on Jim, looking older than even his earthly years should have made him, and knowing that she was as much the reason for that as the mortal peril their daughter faced right now. She materialized at Jim's side, and though he said nothing, betrayed nothing to any of the others, she knew that Jim felt her presence because she could read his churning, tumultuous, fearful, pleading thoughts.

 _I know you've got to miss her, Johanna, but I'm not done needing Katie yet. None of these people are. And Rick... You would have loved him, and not just because you loved his books._

 _I **do** love him, _ Johanna thought, hoping that Jim could hear her somehow; making your loved ones feel you was one thing, anyone could do that. But were they still connected enough that he could hear her thoughts, take whatever measure of comfort from her that she could possibly give him when the ultimate outcome here was unknown even to her? _I **do** love Richard Castle, and not just as a writer. How can you **NOT** love the man who put the light back in your daughter's eyes...the man that makes your little girl happier than she ever believed she could be, happier than you ever hoped she would be? They remind me of us in some ways, Jim. And yes, I miss Katie. I miss you too. But I'll wait as long as it takes to see you again.  
_

 _I don't know if you have any kind of pull Up There, Johanna, but if you do, I'm begging you, for all of our sakes, don't let them take Katie yet. She's not done. She **can't** be done. This **can't** be it. And Rick... If it weren't for him coming along, her heart would still be buried along with you. So you can't have him either. Or They can't. Whoever They are. Please, Johanna. Help Katie and Rick. Help all of us. _

_I'm trying, Jim. I'm doing everything I can. Believe that. Have faith. I know it's hard, but right now, it's all any of us has, including me. I love you, Jim._

 _I already lost you, Johanna. I still love you. That'll never change. But if I lose Kate... I can't lose her. Not when I've already lost you._

 _Oh, Jim._ Try as she might, Johanna had no response for that other than to press a light kiss to her husband's cheek.

He felt the kiss, knew she was there somewhere, close by, and gave her this final thought in reply: _Katie needs you now more than ever, Johanna. Rick too. Go to her. Go to them._

Johanna did not need to be told twice. She disappeared from the waiting area, going in search of the operating rooms where her daughter and son-in-law were fighting for their lives, and praying that this fight, like so many others that had come before, was one they would win the way they always won their fights: together.

* * *

 _ **Everything will be all right. I promise you! I'm still in the process of writing this story, but I know exactly where I want it to go. I hope you like it, and you have patience with me as I strive to get it just right.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**I cannot thank all of you who have reviewed, followed, and favorited this story enough. As a first-time Castle fic writer, your support, encouragement, and enthusiasm mean the world to me. I hope you continue to enjoy the ride.**_

* * *

In her line of work, Kate Beckett had seen many bodies on tables, but the sight of her own body on an operating table was disconcerting, to say the least.

She was slightly disoriented, and more than a little bewildered, as she stood at the head of the operating table on which her body lay, surrounded by machines, with a team of surgeons and nurses working on her and barking out more medspeak than she understood, despite her profession. But disturbing as it was, the fact that her body was on that table, and the machines surrounding her were beeping instead of sounding a flat monotone, while an entire team of doctors and nurses worked on her, meant she had to be alive. She knew that much.

It took only a second for her to realize that she was in the operating room alone. Well, her body was in **this** OR alone. Castle. Where was Castle?

 **"CASTLE!"** she screamed at the top of her lungs, not caring if no one or the whole world could hear her. **"CASTLE! RICK!"** She turned in a slow circle, her eyes frantically darting everywhere for a glimpse of him, her ears straining to catch the sound of his voice or his footsteps, every sense heightened and attuned to him, willing him to give her some sort of sign that he was somewhere nearby. **"RICK, WHERE ARE YOU?"** she cried out. She put a hand to her forehead before blurting out in a panic, "Oh, God, please let him be here somewhere, in some other OR! Just let him be alive, please!"

Then she heard the most beautiful sound in the world: a wonderfully familiar, totally frantic voice screaming for her. **"KATE? KATE! BECKETT! COME ON, BECKETT, ANSWER ME! WHERE ARE YOU, KATE?"** The next thing she heard was a primal scream unlike anything she had ever heard before, a keening two-syllable wail of her name that sent her literally crashing through the OR wall as she followed the sound of Castle crying out in fear for her. **"BECK-ETTTTTTTTTTT!"**

 **"I'M HERE! RICK, I'M RIGHT HERE! IT'S ME!"** she exclaimed.

He whirled around and took in the sight of her, then cried, "Kate! Oh, thank God!" as he reached forward and grabbed her, hauling her into his arms and hugging her as hard as he could, clinging to her tightly.

And she hugged him back as hard as she could and clung to him as tightly as she could, breathing in his scent and taking it as a good sign that she could not only inhale his scent but feel him, feel his arms around her, feel him molded to her.

"I thought I lost you," she whispered as she pressed herself against him, trying to get as close to him as humanly possible. Rick reveled in being able to feel her embrace him, and being able to feel her as he held her against him. Those five whispered words from Kate reminded him of a dark night when she had said those same five words to him, after they were separated by the Mob while trying to catch a killer, and they found each other again after Kate thought he had been riddled with bullets while sitting in what turned out to be an empty SUV.

Rick repeated the same four words to Kate now that he had that night: "No. No. Never. Never."

He pulled back to look at her, their arms still locked around each other, gratified to see her beautiful face but looking very disturbed as his gaze traveled down to the bloodstains on her shirt, peeking out from beneath her jacket. She drank in the sight of him just as eagerly, but visibly blanched at the hole in the side of his chest and the blood staining his shirt.

"You're being operated on too," Rick realized, his voice filled with palpable relief as he spied Kate's body on her own OR table through the window behind her.

"'Too'?" Kate echoed, finally feeling calm now that she was with Castle again.

Rick threaded his fingers through hers, much the way she had threaded her fingers through his the night she had come to his door soaked from the rain after nearly being thrown off a roof by Maddox and telling him that all she wanted was him, and they walked unseen several feet down the corridor, hand in hand. "I'm in there," he said. Kate looked in the OR window and saw Rick's body lying on a table identical to hers, surrounded by identical machines and with a similar team of doctors and nurses working on him.

"Caleb Brown shot you," Kate said tearfully, unable to bear the sight of her beloved husband's body on an OR table any more than the sight of her own body in the same condition, as she looked at Castle once more. "I heard you fall. I came out of our bedroom, and he was standing over you. He was going to kill you."

"You killed him instead," Rick replied. "And he shot you twice. I saw **and** heard you fall. I scooted over to you..."

"I crawled to you and dropped my gun and took your hand."

"We laid there holding hands until we lost consciousness, I guess. Someone obviously found us and brought us here."

"Ryan," Kate said. "He was there. And Alexis...oh my God, Alexis saw us, Castle! And Espo was there, he told me you and I were both still alive. And I think Lanie was there? I don't know for sure. I was just trying to stay awake as long as I could in case I needed to be the one to call for help. Once help got there, all I could think about was you, that I had to make sure you were okay."

"I remember scooting across the floor to you, seeing you crawl to me, you took my hand and held on to it. It hurt to breathe, I couldn't make words come out. I just kept squeezing your hand whenever I had the strength and praying in my head that you'd be all right until I lost consciousness," Rick replied.

"I was trying to get my phone out of my pocket, and I got it but I dropped it, and I couldn't make my hand work to pick it up and call 911, and then they were there, Ryan and Alexis and Espo...and I think Lanie. I don't know how they found us, but I'm really glad they did, and they obviously got us here." She glanced around the hospital corridor, unable to look in the ORs behind her and Rick.

"Mother and your dad must know by now," Rick said. "They would have called them. We're in the hospital." He looked deeply into Kate's eyes now. "I do remember one very important thing: you told me to hold on."

"You said you were holding on...always," Kate replied, looking back into Castle's eyes just as deeply.

"You held on too," Rick said.

"I always will. When it comes to you...to us...I will **always** hold on, Castle."

"I will too," he vowed.

Kate released Rick then so she could take both his hands in hers, lacing their fingers together. "I can feel you," she told him. "I felt you when we embraced, and I feel your hands in mine now. I can feel you, Rick!"

"I can feel you too," Rick said. He squeezed her hands lightly, and she squeezed his hands back.

"That's gotta be a good thing, right?" Kate said. "We can feel each other." She didn't know or care if this was an out-of-body experience or what it was. At this moment, she wanted desperately to believe that she and Rick were **not** dying on those operating tables she couldn't bear to look at, because she'd lived life without him before, and that wasn't living. She couldn't do it again. She knew she couldn't. And she knew him well enough to know that he was having the same thought: that life without her was not doable, was not any kind of life at all.

Kate's eyes filled with tears then, and it was the look in those beautiful, wet eyes that made Castle feel pain in his chest that had nothing to do with the bullet he was not consciously aware was still lodged in there.

"Kate?" he asked anxiously, not letting go of her hands. He could still feel her, she could still feel him... Like she said, that had to be a good thing.

"It's my fault we're here," she said on a sob. "After you saved Alexis when she was kidnapped, I asked you to please not do anything like that again without me and you promised you wouldn't, and you kept your promise, but I didn't keep mine. I'm assuming we're alive, at least for now..." She flicked a quick glance over her shoulder at the adjacent operating rooms where their bodies lay but could not bring herself to look at Rick or herself on those tables again for longer than a millisecond. "...but this never would have happened to us in the first place if I had just let this go and walked away...if I had just been honest with you when I found out McCord and the rest of the team from the AG's office had been killed, and then if I hadn't gone poking around in the whole mess and made things a lot messier in the process, especially for us. I broke the very promise that you kept!" She was crying now, which is how Rick knew she was scared.

"Kate, that's not you. We both know that, and I wouldn't change that, or change **you** , for anything," Rick said firmly. "And you didn't exactly break your promise. You told me in your own time."

"I **did** break my promise," Kate insisted tearfully, "because I didn't tell you right away, and I should have. I've been trying so hard to break that instinct to keep everything to myself, and I was doing pretty well, or at least I thought I was, until Vikram and LokSat, and then I reverted to old behaviors and just... God, how could I have been so stupid and so selfish? I walked out on you, and I hurt you, when I knew...I **knew** all along that I could trust you! I've never trusted **anyone** the way I trust you, Rick, and I let my fear of losing you keep me from trusting you, and now I might lose you anyway, and it'll be all my fault!"

Rick shook his head vehemently. "You are **not** losing me, Kate," he insisted firmly, matter-of-factly. "And I'm sure as hell not losing you! This is **not** how we end! If **anyone** tries to take you from me, I'll fight every angel in Heaven and every demon in Hell to keep you right here, in my arms, because that's where you belong. And if they try to take me from you? Things are gonna get really ugly, really fast, because I'll fight just as hard to stay right here by your side, because that is where **I** belong. They've got to know that. They've got to know that one of us without the other just isn't any good."

"What if they **don't** know that? Or don't care? What if we don't **get** that choice, Rick?" Kate fretted. "All of the victims we've investigated over the years didn't get that choice. My mom didn't get that choice."

"We're not them," Rick replied simply. He looked into her eyes, into her heart, into her very soul, and she was helpless to do anything but stare right back into his eyes, his heart, his very soul."You are the strongest person I have ever known, Kate Beckett. But you don't have to be strong all the time. You've made me a stronger person. I would move mountains for you, Kate. Don't tell me that's impossible, because for you, I would find a way. I always have, and I always will. And we are never stronger than we are when we're together."

"That's true," Kate said, clinging to both Rick and his words, trying to find some measure of calm.

"As for you not telling me about LokSat right away, that's over and done with. You are long since forgiven," Rick continued. "And you reverted to those old habits because you were trying to protect me, the same way you've been doing since you handcuffed me to the police cruiser on our very first case, the same reason I didn't tell you about my deal with Mr. Smith, the same reason I waited so long to tell you about Hollander's Woods. If we're gonna talk about keeping things from each other, about breaking promises, those were two pretty big ones. Hollander's Woods messed up our original wedding plans and nearly got me killed."

"I'll give you Mr. Smith, but Hollander's Woods... Okay, you could have told me about it earlier, but you were a kid when that happened, Rick. And it was beyond your control. All that matters is that you came back to me, we finally **did** get Holtzman, and you lived. I forgave you for those things a long time ago."

"Just like I forgave you for not telling me about LokSat right away," Rick countered. The hint of a rueful smile crossed his lips. "Our learning curves aren't the greatest, but once we **do** learn something, it's there for keeps. We backslide once in a while because we're human, not perfect. I don't want or need a perfect Kate, because you, exactly the way you are, are perfect **for me.** All I want, all I need, is you, Kate. My you."

"And all **I** want and need is you, Rick. **My** you."

"You've got me," he said softly. "In fact, you're stuck with me for life." Kate was feeling better, but when she saw Rick's expression change to one of despair, she was confused.

"Rick? What's wrong?" she asked.

He ducked his head before looking back up into her eyes and answering her. "If it's anyone's fault we're here, it's mine."

Now Kate was _**really** _ confused. "What?" she asked, because it was the only thing she could think of to say.

"This whole thing **really** started when you told me not to look into your mother's murder, and I did," Castle continued. "You told me you had put it behind you, and you had, Kate. _**You had.**_ You weren't looking into it anymore. You said you didn't want to go down that rabbit hole again, and I promised you it would be different because we'd do it together." His face looked even bleaker now. "How many times have one or both of us almost died, Kate? And all because I had Esposito swipe your mother's case file for me and I gave it to my pathologist friend. I started the ball rolling with that single action, and it led to everything else that has come after, so this is on me."

"Rick, if it weren't for you, my mother wouldn't have justice! My father and I wouldn't have closure! We never would have found out who really killed my mom and why!" The desperate fear was back, ripping at her insides with mercilessly sharp claws. "Rick, please don't tell me you're sorry for that, because I'm not! Besides, when have you ever **TRULY** been able to talk me into or out of something I **DIDN'T** want to do?"

"Never," Rick replied instantly.

"That's right, never," Kate agreed firmly. "And please don't tell me you're sorry for everything that came after, because I'm not. Some of it, yes, the times that I... that both of us...were thoughtless and kept things from each other and hurt each other, but don't stand there and say that you regret us, because I-"

"Whoa, whoa, Kate, that's not what I'm saying at all!" Rick exclaimed, interrupting her. "I could **never** regret us! Aside from Alexis, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm not sorry for any of it. I'm not sorry that I met you, I'm not sorry I helped you find the answers you needed about your mom, I'm not even sorry we had to fight LokSat, because in the end we did it together...although I would have written it that we **didn't** both get shot in the process."

One corner of Kate's mouth twisted wryly. "This isn't one of your books, Castle." She hugged him again then, holding onto him as tightly as she could, and when she spoke directly into his ear, her words were full of all the love and desperation and fear she couldn't contain. "Don't leave me. I can't lose you, Rick. I can't go on without you. I know what it's like to live without you, and I can't do it. I can't."

"The same goes for you," Rick whispered in her ear as they held each other. "You can't leave me either. Neither one of is going to die. We're going to grow good and old together, Kate."

"Together," Kate echoed. She pulled back to look at him, framing his face in her hands, and he kept his arms wrapped around her waist. "That's the key, Rick. It's been the key all along. It's why we got LokSat, and why we got Coonan and Bracken and everyone that was involved in my mother's murder: because we did it together. That's what has gotten us through everything we've been through in the last eight years. We did it **together**...because whenever we **didn't** , the wheels came off the wagon pretty damn fast."

"Every time," Castle agreed, the shadows retreating from his eyes, and the timbre of his voice returning to its normal excited tone.

"So to get through this, we have to do it the same way we've gotten through everything else that's been thrown our way: together," Kate concluded.

"We do together very well," Rick replied.

"We really do," Kate agreed.

"So that settles it, then. We're not dying," Rick said firmly, matter-of-factly, as if uttering the words alone would make that outcome the reality. Seeing the flash of worry in Kate's eyes, Rick said, "Hey, we're not all those victims we've investigated, remember? And we're also not-" He stopped speaking abruptly, distracted by a sudden flash of long, dark hair that he caught sight of out of the corner of his eye. The figure to whom the long, dark hair belonged realized Rick had caught sight of her and froze, panic written all over her face like a flashing neon sign.

Frowning, Kate turned in Castle's arms to follow his gaze and see what had made him stop talking and put that look of utter befuddlement on his face. When she caught sight of the figure at whom Castle was still staring, her knees buckled, and if Castle hadn't still had his arms around her waist, she would have hit the floor.

Kate stared disbelievingly at the apparition standing several feet away from her and Castle, and uttered one word in a shock-filled, trembling voice: "Mom?"

* * *

Jenny Ryan arrived in the waiting room to no one's immediate notice, though she didn't take it personally, since both Kevin and Javier were on their phones, and Lanie was trying to console Alexis, Castle's mom and Kate's dad simultaneously and not doing a very good job of it, by the looks of things.

Kevin Ryan disconnected his phone a split second before he felt Jenny's arms come around him from behind. He turned his head to look over his shoulder. "Jenny?" he asked, confused. "What are you...where are the kids?" He turned into her arms, wrapping his own arms around her and resting his head on her shoulder as he gratefully accepted her hug.

"With my parents," she told him. They stood there holding each other for a long moment before Jenny drew back to look into her husband's eyes, neither of them leaving the comfort of one another's arms. "They're fine. But it's all over the news about Beckett and Castle, and I didn't know if you'd be here, but if you were, I knew you'd need me. And they'd need me. They were there for me when you and Javier were trapped in that building and I had to give birth to Sarah Grace alone in the back of that ambulance. Nothing could keep me from being here for them now."

"It's all over the news, is it?" Gates stood up then. "Someone opened their mouth who shouldn't have. Excuse me, everyone, while I go and take care of this to whatever extent I can." She then strode out of the waiting room briskly, ready to tear some heads off.

"Has there been any word on Beckett and Castle yet?" Jenny asked.

"Not yet," Lanie piped up from her seat next to Alexis, where she was holding the younger woman's hands in both of hers. "But operations like these take hours. No news is good news at this point, really."

"Perlmutter's doing the autopsy on the dead guy from the loft," Esposito reported then. "ID says his name is Caleb Brown."

"Karpowski and CSU have gone over everything," Ryan added then. "From the way it looks, Brown, or whatever his name is, ambushed them. He shot first, and based on the shell casings and where they were, and where Brown fell, he came at them first. He probably got Castle first, and that's when Beckett took him out, but he returned fire, wounding her as well." He paused before saying, "When we found them, her gun was beside her, and they were lying next to each other, holding hands."

"Excuse me," Jim Beckett said then, popping up out of his chair like a jack-in-the-box. "I need some air." He abruptly left the room. Alexis, Lanie, and Martha looked after him worriedly.

"Someone should go after him," Alexis said. "Gram?"

"Are you sure, darling?" Martha asked anxiously.

"Yes," Alexis replied. "He shouldn't be alone right now."

"All right, then, everyone, if you'll excuse me," Martha said before hurrying out after Jim. She paused just long enough to call over her shoulder, "But one of you come and find me if the doctors come out and say anything at all about Richard or Katherine!"

After Martha's departure, Alexis gently removed her hands from Lanie's and scrubbed them over her face before looking up at the clock on the wall. "We're heading into hour three," she said.

"That's completely normal for this type of surgery," Lanie hastened to assure her.

Alexis leaned back in the uncomfortable hard plastic chair, pushing her hair out of her eyes before staring at the opposite wall, unseeing. "They both have to be okay. They can't live without each other. I've seen them both try, and I've seen them both fail. When Dad was missing that summer..." She trailed off.

"We remember," Esposito said quietly. He, Ryan, and Lanie exchanged looks as they remembered Kate's behavior those awful two months that Castle was missing. They had thought she was a woman possessed, and obsessed, over her mother's case, but her quest for justice for her mother didn't hold a candle to all the things she had said and done when searching for, and believing in, Castle when he was missing, and when he returned with no memory of where he'd been or why, what he'd done or who was involved.

"And I knew when Kate just disappeared and they were trying to sell that separation that they were lying," Alexis continued, drawing everyone back to the present. "I've watched them for eight years; we all have. Every person in this room knows that my dad and Kate would follow each other to the gates of Hell and back. The only reason she left was to protect him, to protect us. And it didn't take long for them to be back in the thick of it together." Alexis looked away from the wall then, and shifted her gaze around the room from person to person...Lanie, Esposito, Ryan, and Jenny, each in turn. "They have to live...both of them," she said in a steely voice that brooked no arguments and would have made even Deputy Chief Gates sit up and take notice. "There is no other alternative here. Their story does **not** end this way. It doesn't. It just doesn't!"

Everyone was silent for a long moment, and then Esposito spoke. "You're right," he said. "Absolutely right. Beckett and Castle...they're fighters. They have always fought for each other harder than anything else, and they'll fight for each other now."

"They have to," Alexis whispered. "I can't lose my parents. I don't know how Kate survived that. I couldn't." Her voice broke on the last two words, and she was on the ragged edge of control now.

"She didn't really survive it until your dad came along," Lanie said. "She was just existing, not really living. He got her to live again. Of course, she had to be stubborn about it for the first few years."

"Castle was pretty stubborn himself," Ryan reminded everyone, since they all had stories about the early years of Beckett and Castle's partnership, when they all saw what Beckett and Castle themselves refused to admit to one another.

"Not as stubborn as Beckett," Lanie challenged.

"Is anyone as stubborn as Beckett?" Esposito asked rhetorically.

"We all saw it before they did," Lanie said. "Thank God they finally saw it too."

"Even if we didn't get invited to their wedding," Ryan murmured.

"Kevin," Jenny gently reproached her husband.

"I'm just saying, they were at our wedding. Castle was **an usher** at our wedding. All we wanted was to be there and see them get married," he said.

"You're just still disappointed you and Javi didn't get to sing your song," Jenny lightly teased.

"Wait, you really wrote a song for them?" Lanie asked, surprised.

"Yes," Esposito said. "We did." He looked at Ryan then. "When they're back on their feet again, maybe we should reconsider never letting that song see the light of day," he said.

"It _**is**_ a hell of a song," Ryan agreed.

Alexis was fighting hysteria in a way she hadn't since she'd been kidnapped years earlier. Suddenly, out of nowhere to everyone else, she blurted out, "We'll have a party at The Old Haunt when Dad and Kate are up and around again. It can be like the wedding reception you guys didn't get to be there for." She looked at Ryan and Esposito then. "And you guys can perform your song if you want."

"How are you gonna get your dad and Beckett to agree to a party in their honor that's basically a second wedding reception?" Jenny asked.

"I am my father's daughter," Alexis replied. "And Gram will help me out. She loves parties, and she'll love being able to get involved in this one. Maybe it should be a surprise. Or no, that's probably a bad idea, considering they'll be coming off months of recovery and physical therapy, right?" She looked at Lanie then.

Lanie, knowing that Alexis was probably still in some kind of shock, knew she had to tread lightly here. "I think keeping the surprise out of it would probably be best, yes," she said.

"Except for the song, if you want to do that," Alexis said, looking to Ryan and Esposito once more. "That can be the surprise part of the evening. But the rest of it, Dad and Kate will know about, and they'll go for it. We deserve a party. We need to celebrate the end of all of this mess. They did have a nice wedding and a quiet reception, but I know they really wanted all of you there. It was just so spur-of-the-moment. They'd waited long enough, all their big plans...well, you know what happened there. They just didn't want to wait anymore. So, yeah. That's exactly what we'll do. We'll have a party for the family...for our whole family, because that's what you are to Dad and Kate, every one of you: family." She paused. "And you're family to me too, really."

Lanie and Jenny had to hide their misty eyes, and even Ryan and Esposito were visibly affected by the way Alexis was trying so hard to keep herself together right now. They knew she was clinging to the idea of this party like a lifeline, and they all silently agreed in that moment that all of them would do anything to support her, because she was right: they **were** Alexis's family, just as much as they were Beckett and Castle's family.

"And you're family to all of us," Lanie said thickly. She coughed, clearing her throat. "Sorry. I have a frog in my throat."

No one called Lanie out on her obvious lie.

Esposito, however, did offer to make a coffee run, and Ryan went to help him, leaving Lanie and Jenny with Alexis. "It's gonna be a great party," Alexis told Lanie and Jenny.

"Of course it is," Jenny said, getting into the spirit, knowing how terrified Alexis must be, remembering her own terror when Kevin was trapped in that building with Javi and had actually called her to say goodbye while she was in labor with Sarah Grace.

"We'll never get Kate drunk enough to dance on the bar," Lanie said, also trying to get into the spirit. "Castle, on the other hand..."

Alexis managed a short bark of a laugh. "Dad wouldn't need to be drunk to dance on the bar," she said.

And while she made tentative party plans with Lanie and Jenny, Alexis was silently willing her father and Kate to make it through surgery and live long lives so that she could throw this party for them. It would be a celebration of so much more than their marriage.

It would be a celebration of their lives...of their life together.

A life that simply had to continue beyond today, and beyond these hospital walls.

* * *

Martha found Jim sitting in the hospital chapel, staring up at the large wooden cross on the front wall. She sank down beside him, not speaking. But she didn't have to, because he spoke first.

"My wife Johanna was a lawyer," he said, "and so am I."

"I know," Martha replied quietly.

"That was supposed to be a safe profession," Jim went on. "But she stumbled across something that ended up getting her killed in an alley. Katie was going to be a lawyer too, until Johanna died. Then she became a cop. One of the most dangerous professions there is." He was staring a hole in that cross. "We grieved separately and in different ways. I dove into the bottom of a bottle and stayed there for five years, and she...she tried to find her mother's killer and almost got herself killed in the process. I've been here once before. I wasn't stupid enough or naive enough to think I wouldn't be here again, but she wasn't actually shot in the line of duty either time. And today, they went into her home." He clenched his fists in his lap. "They went into her home, and they shot her husband right in front of her. And that was really stupid, because Katie will fight to the death for Rick every single time."

"As Richard will fight to the death for her every single time," Martha replied, inwardly wincing at Jim's turn of phrase. "But no one has said they're dying."

"They're critical," Jim argued.

"Critical is not the same as dead!" Martha shouted, not caring that they were in the chapel. "You and Johanna raised a strong, stubborn fighter of a woman, Jim. And she's not just fighting for herself in there. She's fighting for Richard too, and for their future."

Jim bowed his head for a moment before looking up again and looking over at Martha, sitting next to him. "I at least knew what I was getting into because Katie chose to be a cop for a living. You didn't sign up for any of this with Rick."

"Once he signed up for this with Katherine, it was inevitable that I, and Alexis, would follow along," Martha said. "My son had an unorthodox upbringing, to say the least. He brought his own baggage, his own demons, to his relationship with your daughter. But I have never seen him happier than he has been since she came into his life. Well, except for a few unfortunate incidents along the way, but as the Bard said, 'The course of true love never did run smooth.'" She reached out then, tentatively covering Jim's clenched fists with her hand. "I don't know if you're a betting man, Jim, but I'm a betting woman, and I'm betting on Richard and Katherine now more than ever. They will come through this. They will survive, and they will recover, and maybe one of these days, they'll even make us grandparents."

They both fell silent then, and Martha assumed they were done talking, but they made no move to leave the chapel. Jim finally broke the silence by saying, "I don't believe I've ever thanked you."

Martha looked at him quizzically. "For what?"

"For Rick. After we lost Johanna, I didn't think Katie would ever truly be happy again. And then Rick came along, and as the years have gone by, I've seen the change in her. The light is back in her eyes, and it's brighter than it was before we lost Johanna. She really loves Rick...the same way her mother and I loved each other. It's all I ever wished and wanted for her. Johanna too."

"Richard adores everything about Katherine, even when she's making him completely crazy," Martha said. "She's his...what was that expression he said she used? His 'One-'"

"'-and Done," Jim finished with Martha. Off her surprised look, he said, "That's what Johanna always said about me. That I was her 'One and Done.' She was certainly mine. And Rick is definitely Katie's 'One and Done.'"

"You know, Richard is not the only one who adores Katherine," Martha said. "If you're going to thank me for Richard, then I must thank you, and Johanna, for Katherine, both on my own behalf and my granddaughter's. I saw Richard through two disastrous marriages. Katherine is the one he was waiting for all along: someone who will not only fight **with** him, but fight **for** him, fight for **them**. That will never change. You don't know what a comfort it is to me to know that Richard finally has that, that he finally has Katherine."

"Rick's the best thing that ever happened to my daughter," Jim said.

"Then we're in complete agreement, because without question, Katherine is the best thing that ever happened to my son," Martha said.

They both fell silent once more, but not an uncomfortable silence, though it lasted several minutes.

Then Martha spoke. "They're going to need our help as they recover."

"Yes, they will," Jim agreed.

"You know, you're part of our family too," she said carefully.

"Well, I think Katie's been the one keeping me out more than Rick," Jim said, more than a little ruefully. "Not without her reasons."

"If I may, Jim, I think you have to take a page from Richard's book, no pun intended," Martha said. "Just keep showing up, prove to her that you're there even when she tries to shut you out and push you away by showing up even then, and she will eventually have to let you in." She paused. "At least, that's how Richard finally won her over."

"If you and Alexis can stand someone else around all the time at the loft, nothing will keep me away this time," Jim pledged.

"Please, half of the 12th Precinct is going to be coming in and out of there at all hours for the next several months. You will hardly be an intrusion. We're all family, Jim...including you."

"I guess we are, aren't we?" Jim mused.

"We are," Martha said firmly. His fists had unclenched under her palm, and she carefully removed her palm from his hands. Jim flexed his hands.

Jim looked directly at Martha now, his gaze as piercing as Kate's, though she had inherited her mother's eyes. "They both have to make it, Martha. One without the other...it just isn't going to work."

"They'll make it," Martha said. "They will. And speaking of that, we'd better get back. The others will be wondering where we went, and we might have some news soon."

"Good news," Jim said as they stood up.

"Yes, good news," Martha said, fervently praying that that was exactly what awaited them: good news about both Katherine and Richard.

 _God, not another tragedy, please. You took my wife. This is the second time my daughter's been shot, and now her husband has been shot too. I'm begging you, don't let Katie have to live through what I've had to live through since January 9, 1999. And don't let Rick have to live through it either. We can't lose them,_ Jim pleaded with the Almighty as he and Martha exited the chapel and headed back to the waiting room to rejoin the rest of their family while they awaited word on Kate and Rick.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Your enthusiasm and support for this story is humbling and encouraging, and makes me very happy. I cannot thank you all enough. And for those of you who reviewed as guests, I thank you for your reviews, and promise that all of your questions will be answered as the story continues to unfold._ **

* * *

After Martha and Jim returned to the waiting room, where Captain Gates had already rejoined Alexis, Jenny, and her former subordinates, no one was speaking much. Lanie had received a phone call from Alan Masters, a particularly interesting case from the recent past, the man who refused to die. They had stayed in touch after Beckett and Castle solved his case and put away the people trying to kill him, and had been quietly dating for the past few months. Alan didn't want to intrude, but he was worried about Lanie's reaction to the shooting, and about Beckett and Castle. After all, as he told Lanie, "if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't still be walking around, and I wouldn't have met you. I'm not even sure the hospital would let me in, but if you want me there, I'll come."

Lanie had excused herself to the most private corner of the room, and Alexis had continued to talk up the party to Jenny and the others, having gotten Martha enthusiastically on board as nearly a one-woman planning committee, and then extended an invitation to Deputy Chief Gates and her husband, which Gates accepted on the spot, after she had returned after plugging the leak in the department about Beckett and Castle being shot in their home. "It's not that I don't want you here, but you're right, Alan, I don't think they'd let you in. I'm so glad you called, though. I'll let you know about Kate and Castle as soon as I know anything. They're still in surgery."

"I don't know them that well yet, but from what I do know, they're not the 'lay down and die' types," Alan replied.

"No, they're definitely not," Lanie agreed.

"If you need anything at all, call me, or text me. To tell me about Beckett and Castle, if you want me to bring you some food or coffee or something, if you need a ride home later, anything at all," Alan said.

"I will," Lanie had promised.

Once the party talk had petered out, they were all sitting in oppressive silence, trying not to break down. Finally, Jenny ended the silence by asking, "So, when did everyone know that Beckett and Castle were in love?" When everyone turned to stare at her in unison, she said, "We're all thinking about them, we're all worried about them, and almost everything I know, I got secondhand from Kevin, and a little bit from Javi. What's their story? When did each of you know that they were in love with each other?"

"The night Kate's apartment got blown up," Alexis said. "Dad realized there was a bomb in it. He told Gram and me to call the precinct and to stay at home with the doors locked, and he grabbed his phone and his keys and took off."

"I remember that," Esposito said. "Castle got there before we did. He went into the building when it was on fire to get Beckett out."

"And then he went back later after the fire department had cleared the building for re-entry and found her dad's watch and had it fixed, because it was damaged in the explosion," Ryan added. "We were all there when Beckett found her mom's ring that she used to wear on a chain, and she asked if anybody had seen her father's watch. We didn't have time to stick around and really look for it, but Castle went back on his own and found it and had it fixed and gave it back to her."

"Kate stayed with us for a few days after that," Alexis added. "But it was Dad's whole reaction when he realized that Kate was basically sitting on a bomb. I never saw him so freaked out over someone other than me or Gram before that night. He'd been following her around for a while by that point, but when he realized she might be killed, he freaked out and went racing off to save her without giving any thought to what might happen to him. He had already been changing since he met Kate, but that was when I knew for sure that he loved her."

"It was before that, darling," Martha said. "It was when he found out that her mother's death was not a random act of violence, that she was murdered. I found him in his office, agonizing over what he had learned. I told him that he had to tell Katherine. He didn't really want to, knowing that she had put it behind her as best she could, and I knew that day that the reason he didn't want to tell her was that he knew it would hurt her, and he didn't want to hurt her because he loved her."

"So Castle fell first?" Jenny asked.

"Yes." "Oh yeah." "Yup." "I'd say so." The responses came from all over the room and all at the same time.

"That's not to say that Kate didn't have feelings for Castle, though. She just denied them longer than he did," Lanie said. "Like when he made that 'Eligible Bachelors of New York' list. First she was pissed that the blurb in his article said it was rumored that he was romantically involved with her, but then when Kate found out he got himself a date with one of the eligible bachelorettes of New York, she was down in the morgue in an instant, asking me to fix her up after refusing to let me do it for over a year. She was definitely jealous then."

"That's when I knew for sure that Castle was in love with Beckett," Ryan said. "They came from their dates to meet us for the case, and they were still all dressed up. Beckett told Castle to hold her purse, and he just took her purse and held onto it without complaining or being sarcastic or anything. No man holds a woman's purse without even a token protest of some kind unless he is seriously in love with the woman."

"Demming," Esposito said. "That's when I was sure about Castle being in love with Beckett."

"Who's Demming?" Alexis, Martha, Jenny, and Jim asked in unison.

"Tom Demming. Robbery detective. I used to work with him before the 12th, and then he got transferred there and was assigned to help us on a case," Esposito replied. "At first we thought he was a dirty cop. Castle certainly wanted him to be, because Demming took a liking to Beckett, and that made Castle so jealous, he could hardly see straight."

"Wait, Kate went out with this Demming guy?" Alexis asked.

"A couple of times. It was nothing serious. But Castle was afraid that it was gonna get serious, and he couldn't take it," Esposito replied. "That was when he told Beckett they should take a break from each other for the summer."

"Oh my god, I remember that!" Alexis exclaimed. "He was acting sad for about a month before summer vacation started. I didn't know what was going on, and he never said. Now it makes sense! He was upset because he thought Kate was going to get serious with this Demming guy!"

"Demming was so not her type," Ryan said. "And I think she knew that. You should have seen her face after Castle dropped his little bombshell about taking a summer hiatus."

"Totally devastated," Esposito recalled, "but, in typical Beckett fashion at that time, she tried to hide it. That's why I called her out on it. I told her that Castle was hanging around her for reasons that had nothing to do with the books, and he wasn't gonna hang around and watch her be with another guy. She dumped Demming that same day."

"And then it all got ruined when Gina showed up," Ryan said disgustedly.

"Gina?" Jenny asked. Kevin hadn't mentioned any Gina to her before.

"Dad's publisher and second ex-wife," Alexis replied. Then she shifted in her seat as she realized something, and seeing Alexis look excited had everyone staring at her, wondering what it was about. "Wait! That was the summer I was at the college prep program at Princeton, and Dad spent the whole summer in the Hamptons with Gina! He didn't mean **her**!"

"What do you mean, 'he didn't mean **her** '?" Esposito asked, puzzled.

"Well, that was right before Memorial Day weekend," Alexis said, "and I was supposed to go to the Hamptons with Dad like we always did, but then I got a spot in the program at Princeton at the last minute because someone else gave their spot up. And Gram was doing summer stock, so she wasn't going to be there either. At first, he was upset that I wasn't going to be there, but then, right before he drove me to Princeton, he said that he might not be alone after all, that he'd been working on someone to come along and he had a feeling **she'd** change her mind. Gina was a last-minute substitute. The one he'd been working on to come along, the one he really **wanted** to come along, was Kate!"

Lanie jumped out of her chair. "That's what she was gonna tell him!" she exclaimed. Now everyone's gazes swung to Lanie. "Remember, we had that going-away party for Castle, and Kate was the last one to get there, and she wasn't there two minutes when she asked to speak to Castle alone, so they left the break room-"

"-and we were all crowded around the window trying to read their lips," Ryan remembered.

"She'd already broken up with Demming by the time Castle got back from taking Alexis to Princeton and we had the party," Esposito recalled.

"Kate was **totally** going to tell Castle that she'd go to the Hamptons with him!" Lanie practically shouted. " **That's** why she wanted to speak to him alone! She didn't want to say that in front of all of us, especially since Captain Montgomery was there!"

"And then Gina showed up before she could tell him," Ryan realized. "He left with Gina, and we didn't see him again all summer." He paused for a moment, then shook his head. "That was a **really** long summer."

"Beckett returned to acting like she did B.C.," Esposito agreed.

"'Before Castle'?" Jenny guessed.

"Exactly," Ryan said.

"Katie **was** a bear that summer," Jim reflected then, surprising everyone. "I didn't see or hear from her too much, but the few times I did, she was shorter and more abrupt with me that she'd been in about a year."

"The exact amount of time Castle had been shadowing her at that point," Esposito declared.

"At first I thought I'd done or said something to make her angry, but then I realized it wasn't me. I remember meeting her for dinner once and she was on her phone, but she was looking at newspaper articles from the Hamptons. I couldn't figure out why she'd be looking at those. I asked if she was investigating a case out there, and she said no. Then I asked if she was planning a trip out there. She tried to hide it, but I saw the sadness before she said that she had thought about it a couple of months back, but nothing ever came of it," Jim concluded.

"If Dad had known that Kate dumped this Demming guy, it might have changed everything," Alexis said.

"They weren't ready yet then," Ryan said. "They were in love, but they weren't ready to be together yet. Not like that. Still, it was a huge relief when we got Castle back on the team that fall." He looked at Esposito. "Beckett was mad at not hearing from him all summer. We all were. But you could see the change in her once he was back. Her body language, her expression when she thought no one was looking, her attitude in general went right back to Beckett A.C." Esposito murmured his agreement.

"'After Castle,'" everyone chorused.

"They had a bet about that case, you know," Esposito said. "The bet was that if Castle figured it out before Beckett did, he could come back to the precinct to stay. If she figured it out before him, he had to leave and never come back."

"The counterfeiters!" Ryan exclaimed. "When we found Castle standing over the dead body with the gun in his hand."

"Annie Oakley," Esposito said with a snicker.

"Hey, he had a gun!" Ryan retorted.

"It was Castle!" Esposito exclaimed. "Anyway, that's when I knew for sure that Beckett was in love with Castle," he continued. "She let him win the bet, because she wanted him back at the precinct."

"Yeah, but then she started dating that other guy," Ryan said.

"What other guy?" nearly everyone else asked.

"Dr. Motorcycle Boy," Esposito and Ryan chorused in unison.

"He was gone more than he was around, but when he showed up at the 12th, and Castle found out Kate was dating him and they were riding motorcycles together..." Ryan trailed off, remembering the look on Castle's face when he watched Kate leave with Dr. Motorcycle Boy, their arms around each other.

"Excuse me, Castle deserved that for his summer with Gina!" Lanie defended Kate.

"It was just another form of denial," Esposito said. "Beckett and Castle were getting closer and closer, they were totally gone on each other, but they still weren't ready to do anything about it."

"Dad broke up with Gina in...I think it was the January after the Hamptons summer, right, Gram?" Alexis interjected then.

"Yes, thank God," Martha said with a slight shudder. "It was so obvious that the one he loved and wanted was Katherine. After he broke up with Gina again, Richard didn't date anyone else significant."

"Well, there **was** Miss Concourse Shoes," Lanie said, "but that was way after Kate broke up with Josh, aka Dr. Motorcycle Boy, and Castle was waiting for Kate, but after he showed up at a crime scene with Miss Concourse Shoes in his Ferrari, I told Kate that he wasn't going to wait around for her forever."

"'Miss Concourse Shoes'?" Gates asked, startling everyone, since this was the first time she had spoken directly.

"She was a stewardess that Castle picked up on a flight back from Vegas," Lanie replied. "That really hurt Kate. I told her straight out that Castle was crazy about her, and she was crazy about him, and it's not like it was any big secret, and he didn't have a girl on each arm much anymore because he was waiting for her, but they were in a holding pattern."

"And 'Miss Concourse Shoes' was the stewardess," Gates replied.

"Yes, sir. Thankfully, she didn't last long. Long enough to give Kate some serious doubts, but at the same time, I think Miss Concourse Shoes also gave her the nudge she needed to take the chance she needed to take on admitting her love for Castle," Lanie replied, "because she was definitely hurt and confused and really bothered that he'd been pulling away from her in recent weeks. I never did find out why he pulled away from her. I just chalked it up to him being tired of waiting. I mean, it **had** been four years by then."

"Yeah, Castle put his feelings out there after..." Ryan trailed off.

But Martha remembered, as did everyone in that waiting room who had been at the cemetery that awful day, and she finished Ryan's thought for him. "After Katherine was shot the first time, at Captain Montgomery's funeral," she said quietly.

"I never saw anybody move so fast in my life, but Castle had no chance of getting Beckett out of the way of that bullet," Esposito said solemnly.

"Everyone heard what he said to her when he was on the ground holding her after she'd been hit," Ryan recalled. "Telling her that he loved her and begging her to stay with him."

"That's why she lived," Lanie said. "Not that modern medicine doesn't get their due, but the real reason Kate survived was Castle. She knew he loved her. And she knew she loved him, so she **had** to live so she could tell him that and they could finally **do** something about it."

"That's where I came in," Gates said. She'd been mostly silent so far, and her voice made Esposito and Ryan both startle slightly, to her secret, internal delight. "I don't know if I'm relieved or sorry to have missed the early years of Beckett and Castle." She paused. "I'm leaning more towards sorry to have missed it."

"Well, sir, you were in charge during the case with Miss Concourse Shoes," Ryan said. "You just weren't at the crime scene."

"I'm glad I wasn't," Gates said with a grimace. "I would have had a few things to say to Mr. Castle about bringing a civilian to a crime scene...and in a Ferrari, no less."

"My dad wears his heart on his sleeve," Alexis said. "Kate...well...doesn't. I just didn't want to see him get hurt by love again. But when we were getting ready for what was supposed to be their big wedding...I finally saw it. I finally got it. I knew that Kate would sooner cut off her own arm than do anything to hurt Dad. And the way she wouldn't give up after he went missing, and she stood by him and believed in him when he came back without remembering anything...I knew I could trust her with his heart, because I finally saw that Kate loves Dad the way he loves her: the kind of love that's all-consuming and once in a lifetime, the kind of love that you never let go of, no matter what."

"Sir, when did you know about Beckett and Castle?" Lanie asked after Alexis had finished speaking.

Gates considered the question for a moment before responding. "From my first day as Captain of the 12th," she said. "Oh, they weren't together yet then, I know, but it was all in the way they looked at each other, the way they behaved around each other...especially when they were unaware that others were watching. I remember when Mr. Castle pulled away from Beckett. I remember how upset she was. And after she returned from her suspension, she was a different Kate Beckett in every possible way from the one I had worked with for a year. The only explanation was that she and Mr. Castle had finally acted on their true feelings."

"But you didn't call them out on it until Beckett ended up standing on that bomb, and Castle wouldn't leave her until she made him, and then he went back inside, like, five minutes later, sir," Ryan said.

"Of course, I didn't, Detective Ryan," Gates replied. "Plausible deniability, remember? Just because I didn't acknowledge it didn't mean I didn't know what was really going on. Besides, I got to have a little fun at Mr. Castle's expense on Valentine's Day precisely **because** they didn't know I knew they were a couple."

"What fun?" Esposito asked, hastily adding, "Sir."

"It seems that Mr. Castle decided to try to be stealthy in presenting Beckett with her Valentine's present for their first Valentine's Day as a couple," Gates said. "Unfortunately, he put her gift, and the note that he wrote with it, in **my** coat pocket instead of Beckett's. Although I have to give the man credit: they were beautiful earrings, and he does have quite the way with words."

Ryan, Esposito, and Lanie all burst out laughing. "Oh, I wish I could have seen the look on Castle's face when you called him on that one, sir!" Esposito said.

"At least we got to see the looks on both their faces after the bomb was defused and they were out of the building and safe," Ryan reminded him, "and Captain Gates practically ordered Beckett to kiss Castle."

"It wasn't an order," Gates retorted, a twinkle in her eye. "She was standing on a live bomb, and he went back for her. Then they came out of the building together, standing so close you could hardly see daylight between them. Believe me, I was glad they were so professional when they were under my command, but in that moment, I was very exasperated, Detective Ryan. That's why I told her to kiss the man, for heaven's sake! And he **did** deserve it. Beckett even agreed with me on that before she finally did kiss him."

"I know we were all standing far enough away to give them privacy," Esposito said then, "but I heard something Beckett said before she kissed Castle. She told him, 'I think we're just getting started.'"

"They are," Martha said then. "They were then, yes, but they're just getting started now, too, in a different way. They haven't even been married two years yet. They're finally out from under all of these threats and shadows that have been hanging over them, first with the men responsible for Katherine's mother's death, and now these horrible LokSat people. And **that** is why they are going to survive. They have too much left to do in this world."

Silence fell again, as everyone silently prayed that Martha was right, and that at any moment, Dr. Gallison would come out and tell them all that Beckett and Castle were alive and headed to Recovery and they would be okay...because none of them could even begin to wrap their brains around the tragic alternatives to the only best-case scenario, and they didn't want to even think about having to try to do so.

* * *

It was all Kate could do not to sob. She was aware that she was crying again, but she felt Castle tighten his hold on her and she was grateful, knowing that his arms locked around her waist from behind were all that was keeping her upright. "Oh God, no. We're dead!" she cried out, grieving in that instant for all that she and Castle wouldn't get to do and have.

"No! No you're not!" Johanna Beckett shouted, and Castle was struck by how much angry, no-nonsense Johanna sounded like angry, no-nonsense Kate. Or, wait, that was probably the other way around. "You are **not** dead, Katie! Neither is Rick!"

Kate sniffled. "But I can see you, and I know-" She choked on the words, her eyes closing briefly before she forced them open again to find her mother still standing there several feet away in this strange limbo she and Rick were stuck in for the time being. "I know that **you're** dead," she forced herself to finish.

"Well, you weren't supposed to see me," Johanna said, and now she sounded sheepish.

"If Castle and I aren't dead... Wait, you **know** Castle? Do you know he's my husband?" Kate asked. This had to be the weirdest conversation ever, weirder than any of Castle's theories about zombies, aliens, the CIA, ghosts, or Bigfoot, and she wondered, fleetingly, if she would remember this when she woke up... ** _if_ ** she woke up.

"Yes, I do," Johanna replied.

"How? **How** do you know? You...You died before we even met," Kate said.

"I just know," Johanna said. She prayed that Katie and Rick having seen her wasn't going to throw a gigantic cosmic monkey wrench in the works. "It doesn't matter how I know. Just accept that I do, and that I'm happy for you...both of you."

Kate looked like she was seeing a ghost...which, technically, she supposed she was. "Mom," she said again, years of pain and longing and love and joy all jumbled up in that one syllable.

"I know, baby," Johanna said wistfully. "I know."

Kate's tears started again. "I've missed you so much," she said. She took one step closer to her mother, Castle keeping one arm looped around her waist in case her knees buckled again, but Johanna stepped back, a look of horror engulfing her features.

"Don't come any closer!" Johanna exclaimed. "I don't know what will happen if you try to touch me, and I'm not taking any chances!"

"I can't even hug you?" Kate asked, crestfallen.

"I can't take that chance," Johanna reiterated adamantly. She looked to her right, through the windows into the operating rooms. "We don't have much time," she said.

"But I have so much to tell you," Kate said.

"There will be time for that later. Much, **much** later," Johanna said. "Right now, you need to listen to me, honey, and I want you to always remember everything I'm about to tell you, all right?"

Kate swallowed hard, then nodded. "All right, Mom. I'll remember. I promise you, I'll always remember." She didn't know how she would do it, but she would do it.

"I'll help you," Castle said from behind her, and that was the instant that Kate knew that somehow, everything would be all right, because this wasn't like when Johanna died, this wasn't like when Kate had been shot at Montgomery's funeral.

This time, Kate wasn't going to be alone. Castle would be with her every step of the way...the way he had been, or tried to be, since that first case eight years ago.

Whenever he left, whether it was that summer in the Hamptons with Gina, or the two months he was gone when he went missing on what was supposed to be their wedding day, he always came back, he always found her again, no matter how long it took or what he had to go through to get back to her side.

And when she disappeared on him, whether it was physically like the summer after she was shot the first time, or emotionally, on too many occasions to count, she always came back to him, whether it was on her own or because he found her and somehow brought her back to him.

Castle had been looking out for her, he had had her back, since the night she showed up at his book party for the last Derrick Storm novel, when he was wearing those ridiculous sunglasses after dark and asking her where she wanted it as he held up a Sharpie and gave her a playboy grin, which she shut down by flashing her badge at him and taking him in for questioning.

He had loved her when she didn't even love herself, when she didn't think she was capable of loving anyone, including herself. He had even loved her when she lost herself in her mother's case, and when she tried to leave him to protect him and his mother and his daughter from LokSat, because that's what Richard Castle did best: he loved fiercely, intensely, completely, with every fiber of his being, and somehow, she, Kate Beckett, was lucky enough...no, **blessed enough**...to be the recipient of all that love.

In that instant, Kate realized something for the first time: just as she never gave up, neither did Castle. They went about it differently. Even Castle would admit that Kate was tougher than he was, hardened by the loss of her mother and its devastating impact, the blast crater Johanna's death left in her life and how it changed literally everything for her overnight. Kate built a wall around herself as a coping mechanism. She joined the police force to get justice for her mother, and along the way, she got justice for a lot of other people who were murdered, and for their families. And thanks to Castle, Kate herself finally had answers to all of the questions about her mother's murder, and she and her father finally got justice for the woman they both loved.

Castle had his own coping mechanisms, humor being the main one. He could still be the 9-year-old on a sugar rush she had complained to Montgomery about when she learned Castle had arranged to shadow her. But after all this time, it was more endearing than annoying to her (though it could still be annoying sometimes).

Kate was a hard-boiled realist who, before a certain ruggedly handsome mystery writer plopped himself in the middle of her life and refused to leave, didn't have the time or the inclination to believe in such things as love and always and magic any longer, all of that having died the night her mother did; Castle was a head-in-the-clouds romantic, with a large dose of childlike wonder mixed in, hence his love of Laser Tag and Star Wars, and all his crazy theories about zombie apocalypses, ghosts and the like.

Castle made Kate believe in magic, believe in love and always, and believe in herself in a way nothing and no one ever had or could. And no one else in the world had the ability to make her feel as safe and loved, or to make her feet occasionally, and completely, leave the ground, or to surprise and amaze her the way Richard Castle did.

And there was no one she trusted more, because Rick Castle was the one person who proved over and over again that Kate **could** trust him. Even when they got mad at each other, even when one of them pushed the other away, and despite misunderstandings and miscommunications of epic proportions, and painful separations both physical and emotional, Kate knew that nothing could ever truly keep her and Castle apart.

Except for...

No, she wasn't going to go there. She wasn't going to give up, and Castle wasn't going to give up, and as long as they didn't give up, they would survive whatever the world threw at them. Their tenacity had gotten them this far; Kate knew it would take them a whole lot further than this.

For so long, Kate's whole life was the job: the precinct, the body drops, the cases, the murder boards, the unending search for justice.

Then Rick Castle crashed into her life, and she remembered how to smile, how to laugh, and she learned she had an ability and capacity for love that surprised even her. She loved Rick in a way she had never believed herself capable of doing, long before her idyllic life was shattered by her mother's murder. He softened her hard edges, and she made him feel invincible.

No, she realized, _**her love**_ made him feel invincible. That's why he would walk into a tornado for her. That's why he had done everything he had done for the past eight years, and everything he would do for the rest of their lives: because he loved her and he didn't give up, and he knew that she loved him and she didn't give up.

The epiphany that the one thing Richard Castle never gave up on, and never would, was Kate Beckett nearly brought Kate to her knees again.

This _**wasn't**_ how or where their story ended. This was just the latest obstacle they had to overcome.

And overcome it they would, the way they did everything else: together.

Time was suspended as the comprehension of all of this ran through Kate's mind, and she vowed to herself that she would not forget any of this either.

When Johanna saw that she had her daughter's attention once more, she said, "I love you so much, Katie."

"I love you too, Mom," Kate said, her voice thick.

"And I am so proud of you," Johanna continued. "You're the best thing I ever did. You're the legacy I left the world. And as long as you remember me, I'll live on in your heart, just like I do in your father's. And speaking of your father..." Johanna looked at Kate seriously now. "When you and your dad lost me, you lost each other too. I'm not placing blame, I'm just stating a fact. You turned away from each other instead of turning to each other. You mended some fences, but not all of them. You let him part of the way back into your heart, Katie, but not all the way back in, because you're scared that he'll let you down again, and hurt you again, the way he did after you lost me."

"That sounds suspiciously like a long-winded way of leading up to an 'I told you so,'" Kate said. She blinked as more tears welled up in her eyes before emotionally saying, "God, I've even missed that about you, Mom."

"Your dad loves you, Katie," Johanna continued. "He would cut off his arm before he would let you down like that, hurt you like that, again. You've learned how to forgive. Finish forgiving your dad. Let him all the way back into your heart, into your life, honey. I don't want you to have any regrets about your relationship with your father. Life isn't supposed to be about regrets."

Kate nodded. "Mine was, for a long time," she said quietly.

"I know," Johanna said. "But the time for regrets is over, Katie. Life isn't supposed to be lived in the past. Each day is a gift. That's why it's called the present. And you have a good present, Katie...well, in spite of your current circumstances." Johanna looked at her daughter, radiating love and pride, and Kate felt every bit of that love and pride filling her heart.

"You got justice for me," Johanna continued. "It's time to let me rest in peace now. This is **your** life, Katie. Yours and Rick's. Your future is waiting, and it can be whatever you want it to be. Just be happy. That's all I really want for you, all I've ever really wanted for you, honey: for you to be happy."

"I am. **We** are," Kate corrected herself. She looked over her shoulder at Castle and found he was looking back at her with his heart in his eyes. "We're going to be all right."

"We are," Rick agreed, his eyes locked on Kate's.

 _Yes, you are,_ Johanna silently agreed.

She regarded Rick then. If she had had any doubt about how much this man loved her daughter (not that she did), one look at his face, his eyes, the way he was gazing at Katie as if she hung the moon and stars, would have assured her that she had no need to worry that her daughter was lonely or unloved. Rick Castle would make sure that Katie never felt lonely or unloved ever again. Still...

"And Rick," Johanna said. He started when Johanna addressed him directly. How did one address the ghost of his mother-in-law?

"Yes?" he asked, hoping he didn't sound too cautious/shocked/freaked out to Johanna, or, for that matter, to Kate.

"Thank you for making my daughter so happy," Johanna said.

He relaxed at that. Kate and Johanna both saw it, but neither of them called him on it. "Thank you for bringing her into the world so that we could find each other and love each other," Castle replied earnestly, emotionally.

"Keep that light in her eyes, Rick. Or you'll answer to me when we see each other again, a long time from now," Johanna said, and he saw the shift in her expression, the look in her eyes so reminiscent of Beckett in the box with a suspect whose face she was in demanding answers, demanding truth, it actually scared him for a second.

"You have my word," Rick promised, and Johanna knew he would keep his word.

The sounds coming from both operating rooms reached Johanna then. "Her pressure's dropping! 90 over 50! Hang another unit of blood, stat! Don't you quit us on now, Kate!"

"Dammit, he's hypoxic! His oxygen sats are dropping like a stone! Come on, Mr. Castle, stay with us!"

"I have to go now," Johanna said.

"Mom, no," Kate pleaded.

"I've stayed too long already," Johanna said. "Remember, Katie, I love you and I'm proud of you, no matter what. Forgive your father, and let him all the way back into your life. And be happy, sweetie." Johanna blew a kiss to Kate, and then disappeared right before Kate and Rick's eyes.

"Mom?" Kate asked, but it was too late. Johanna Beckett had faded completely from view. "Mom!"

Another sound reached Castle's ears then: beeping machines, and shouting voices, coming from both ORs.

"She's crashing! Get the cart!"

"We're losing him! I need the paddles!"

"Kate, we have to get back," Castle said urgently.

"Back where?" Kate asked, still staring at where the apparition of her mother had stood just a moment ago.

"Back inside our bodies!" Rick exclaimed. "Or else we really will be-" He stopped short, unable to say it, not about himself and Kate.

"Charge to 250...Clear!" The drone of a flatlining monitor finally reached Kate, and then she felt the jolt of electricity in her chest, jerking her out of Castle's arms and towards the OR in which they were working on her.

"Charging to 300...Clear!" Rick felt a similar jolt of electricity in his own chest, jerking him backwards, away from Kate and toward his own OR.

"Kate! Promise me you'll be there when I wake up!" Rick called desperately. He seemed to be floating backwards, away from her, some inexorable force pulling him towards the OR in which his body lay. He felt another jolt of electricity in his chest that pushed him further away from Kate and closer to his OR.

"I promise!" Kate cried just as desperately, feeling her tears start again. She then felt another jolt to her chest, and this one propelled her further backwards towards the OR in which her own body resided on a table, and further away from Rick. He was sliding backwards, through the window and into the OR where his surgical team was working on him, and she was being wrenched further away from him and into her own OR where her own surgical team was working on her. Before he faded from her view completely, as her mother had only a moment before, she cried, "Promise me you won't leave me, Rick! Promise me you'll be there when I open my eyes!"

The last word Rick got out before blackness engulfed him was, "Always."

The last thing Kate heard before blackness engulfed her was Rick's voice vowing, "Always."

"We have sinus rhythm!" announced the head surgeon working on Rick.

In the adjacent OR, at the exact same moment, Dr. Gallison, the head surgeon working on Kate announced, "And she's back!"

The surgical teams began to close them up then, and although they gave their respective surgical teams quite a scare for those few tense moments, when they both came out of surgery and were transferred to Recovery, Kate's and Rick's vital signs were stronger than they had been at any point since their arrival at the hospital.

They were both going to live. Not without a good amount of pain, some newly acquired scars (both physical and emotional), and a highly detailed plan of action for their complete recoveries, but the crisis had passed, and Kate and Rick would get through everything to come the best, and truthfully the only, way they knew how: as the team they were always destined to be.


	4. Chapter 4

_**All of your support and enthusiasm for this story is so very greatly appreciated. To those of you taking the ride, and taking the time to encourage this story with your reviews, follows, and favorites, all of my thanks. I hope you continue to enjoy reading this story as much as I am enjoying writing it.**_

* * *

Silence had fallen again in the surgical waiting room. Esposito and Ryan were both pacing back and forth, back and forth, across the worn gray carpeting. Jenny called her parents to check on Sarah Grace and Nicholas, both of whom were doing fine, and regretfully informed her mother that there was no news on their friends yet. Gates was drumming her fingertips on the arm of her hard plastic chair in a rhythmless tattoo that did not get on anyone's nerves only because they were all near the point of critical mass but still far enough away from that point that they would not start fighting among themselves over little annoyances. Jim Beckett was slumped forward in his seat, clasped hands dangling between his knees, silently pleading with Johanna, the Almighty, and the world in general to let Katie and Rick be all right. Alexis, having pretty much planned the party as much as she could, was now mentally redoing the entire kitchen area of the loft, and vowing that as soon as she had her dad and Kate's permission, she'd have the whole room completely changed before they went home so that the room did not serve as a trigger for any of them, herself included. Martha had run out of pep talks and was sitting in silence, the only thought in her head that Richard and Katherine simply had to come out of this alive, and holding hands with Alexis, who was lost in her mental kitchen remodel.

Lanie had been quietly texting back and forth, on and off, with Alan, and suddenly she exclaimed, "Oh, hell, that's the **last** thing we need right now!"

"What?" Lanie couldn't keep straight exactly how many people asked that question, almost all at the same time.

She held up her phone even though they couldn't read the screen. "This text I just got from Alan: ' _Some redhead named Meredith claiming to be Castle's first ex-wife just crashed a press conference that a woman named Gina, who says she's Castle's publisher, is holding outside the hospital. It's getting ugly. Thought you'd want to know.'"_

Alexis's mood jumped from worried and preoccupied straight to enraged. "Are you freaking **kidding** me right now?" she exclaimed before jumping up and charging out of the surgical waiting room.

"Alexis, wait!" Martha shouted, heading after her.

Lanie texted a quick thank you to Alan, then shoved her phone in her pocket. "Oh, it is **on** now!" she exclaimed, hurrying after Martha and Alexis.

Sighing, Gates got to her feet as well. "Detectives, if you'd accompany me, please? Mr. Beckett, Mrs. Ryan, I'd like to ask you to wait here, and one of you come and get us if there is any news about Captain Beckett and Mr. Castle."

"Of course." "Absolutely." Jim and Jenny answered in unison.

By the time Gates, Esposito, and Ryan got outside, Martha had a firm grip on Lanie's arm, and Alexis was charging into the middle of the shouting match Gina and Meredith were putting on for the television cameras. "What is the meaning of this?" Alexis shrieked at the top of her lungs so she could be heard over the bickering women.

"One of my top authors was shot and is fighting for his life," Gina said, "and **she's** trying to horn in on **my** press conference!"

"My only concern is for Richard's well-being!" Meredith insisted with a wide-eyed innocence that even the tabloid reporters knew was phony.

"Bull. You're trying to use the shooting to sell more books!" Alexis shouted at Gina disgustedly. "That is so..." She had to think for several seconds before settling on words that said exactly how she felt about Gina's tactics. "...tawdry and sleazy."

Gina shrugged unapologetically. "Sleaze sells," she said.

"That woman has deserved a smack in the face since she went waltzing out of the precinct with Castle for that summer in the Hamptons! I could take her with one hand tied behind my back," Lanie insisted, but Martha refused to release her.

"I'm sure you could, and yes, it would be satisfying," Martha agreed, "until she had you arrested for assault."

"Dr. Parrish, stand down," Gates ordered. Lanie reluctantly relaxed her coiled-spring stance, but Martha didn't let go of her arm.

"And what are **you** even doing here?" Alexis asked, turning to Meredith now, all the while being careful not to identify Meredith as her mother. "And **don't** say you came here for me, because we both know that's not true."

"Now Alexis, I know you're scared and worried," Meredith began placatingly, "but I have a right to be here. Richard and I were married, after all."

"He is married to Kate," Alexis said through clenched teeth. "You don't need to be here at all. This is family only."

"They're not family!" Meredith said, waving a hand in the general direction of Ryan, Esposito, Gates, and Lanie.

"They're more family than you will ever be!" Alexis retorted. Then, after taking a fortifying deep breath, she turned to face all the cameras and reporters directly, waiting until after they had stopped repeatedly shouting "Who are you?" before speaking. "We have no information to release at this time on the conditions of Richard Castle and Katherine Beckett. When there **is** information, the NYPD will hold a press conference."

"That's right," Gates announced, wading into the fray both literally and figuratively, and standing beside Alexis. "In the meantime, I ask that all of you disperse as quickly and quietly as possible, and you will be notified by me personally on the conditions of Captain Beckett and Mr. Castle at a press conference to be announced at a later time."

"And who, exactly, are you?" asked an obnoxious reporter from TMZ.

"I am Deputy Chief Victoria Gates of the NYPD," Gates replied, giving the TMZ reporter such a steely glare that he actually backed away. "And **this** is a hospital, not a circus. You are in the way of people who need to use this entrance for far more important, life-and-death reasons."

Esposito and Ryan, with help from some of the uniforms from the 12th, began herding the crowd of reporters and camerapeople away then. Meredith and Gina both tried to follow the exiting media crowd, but they were not fast enough to escape Deputy Chief Gates. "Not so fast, you two," she said. Before either woman knew what was happening, Gates had Meredith by one arm and Gina by the other and had hauled them around the corner of the building, with Alexis, Martha, and Lanie in hot pursuit.

"Ladies," Gates began, "and I use that term **extremely** loosely, here is what's going to happen next. The two of you are going to leave. **Now.** You have no business here. Miss Castle is right. Neither of you are family, and don't try to tell me that 'ex-wife' counts, because it does not, not when Mr. Castle **has** a wife who is in there with him. 'Publisher' does not count either." She regarded Gina coolly and said in a no-nonsense, no-fools-suffered tone, "You can pedal your sleaze to try and drive up your book sales all you want, Madam Publisher, but you will **not** do it outside this hospital.

"As for you," Gates continued, looking at and addressing Meredith in the same manner as Gina now, "my guess would be that you're here to try and get your own name in the headlines in some pathetic attempt to further your own career, or some other such selfish motive. If you had any consideration at all for your daughter's feelings, you would either be trying to comfort her, or you wouldn't have shown up here at all."

"I have plenty of consideration for my daughter's feelings," Meredith bristled.

"Oh, really?" Alexis asked, finally finding her voice as a dam burst inside her and things she had felt for years finally came pouring out. "Yes, you're so considerate of my feelings that you didn't bother to show up for my high-school graduation, where I was the valedictorian! I was kidnapped three years ago! Where were you then? Doing some movie that was so horrible it makes _Ishtar_ look like _Casablanca?_ Or hanging out on the casting couch, trying to get any available part coming down the pike? Because you weren't here! You didn't come after me! You weren't there to console Dad and Gram, and you weren't waiting in the living room when Dad brought me home! All of my college ups and downs...relationship highs and lows...my internship with Dr. Parrish...You have missed **all** of that!

"But do you know who **was** here for all of that, besides Dad and Gram? **Kate!** **Kate** was here for all of that! Well, okay, not my high-school graduation, but all the rest of it!" Alexis gave Meredith such a harsh, appraising look from head to toe that it took all of Meredith's willpower not to squirm. "I've gone to Kate for advice on everything from studying abroad to college tests. She was waiting in the living room with Gram and hugs when Dad brought me home after I was kidnapped! She stopped at **nothing** to bring Dad back to us when he was missing! She has quizzed me before exams, and she encourages me in so many ways about so many things. She went to the Hayley Blue tribute concert with Dad and me. Kate Beckett has been more of a mother to me in the last eight years than you've been my entire life! Kate has more integrity, class, character, and empathy in her little finger," here Alexis waved her left pinkie wildly in the air, "than you will **ever** have in your entire body! And she doesn't know half of what I feel about her, because I never came right out and said it! She and Dad are in there fighting for their lives, and she doesn't know...neither one of them knows...that Kate means almost as much to me as she does to Dad! So I don't have time for your self-absorbed, flighty antics today! Not when my family and our future is on the line like this!" Alexis then turned her back on Meredith.

Everything was silent for a long moment. It was impossible for Martha to hide her pride in Alexis for finally standing up to Meredith, as she realized that Alexis was right, and Katherine had been more of a mother to Alexis than Meredith had ever been, or could ever be. Lanie, Ryan, and Esposito were proud of Alexis too, for taking up for Kate, because they all knew that if Kate Beckett were out here, she would have responded to Meredith, and to Gina too, for that matter, similarly to the way Alexis had just done...which was just further proof, not that any of them needed it, of the depth of Kate's influence on Alexis's life.

Finally Gates broke the silence. "I believe Miss Castle has made her feelings abundantly clear to both of you, as have I. Detectives Esposito and Ryan!"

They were there in an instant. "Yes, sir?" Esposito asked.

"I want you to take these two ladies," Gates gestured to Meredith and Gina, "to hospital security so they can get a description of the two of them. And make sure all of the officers from the 12th get a good description of them as well, because if either one of them returns, they are **not** allowed within 50 feet of the premises under **any** circumstances by direct order of 1 PP."

"Yes, sir," Ryan said. He went over to collect Gina, leaving poor Esposito stuck with Meredith.

"You handled yourself very well there, Miss Castle," Gates told Alexis after Ryan and Esposito had removed Gina and Meredith from the scene.

"Thank you," Alexis said quietly, faintly.

Martha and Lanie came over then. "Good for you, kiddo," Martha told her granddaughter, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling Alexis against her side.

"I just couldn't take it anymore," Alexis said, pushing her hair off her forehead. "Neither one of them was here because they give a damn about Dad or Kate. It's all about **them**. Gina just wants to use the shooting," Alexis choked on that word but kept talking, "to get more publicity for Dad's books, and..." She couldn't make herself say the word 'Mom' so she said, "...and you-know-who is just out for herself, as usual." She looked at Martha, Lanie, and Gates then. "I meant what I said back there, about Kate."

"None of us doubts that for a second," Lanie assured Alexis.

Alexis swallowed hard now. "But Kate doesn't know. And neither does Dad. There have been times over the years that I've pretty awful to and about Kate. And the thought that I might never get to tell her how I really feel about her..." Alexis trailed off, her fear for her father and Kate returning to the surface with a vengeance.

"Kate will understand," Lanie assured Alexis. "After all, it took her four years to tell your dad how she really feels about him."

"I just really hope I get the chance to tell them," Alexis whispered.

"You will," Gates said firmly. "Captain Beckett and your father are masters at beating the odds. You'll have plenty of time to tell them everything you want to tell them for many years to come, Miss Castle."

"Why don't we get back inside?" Martha suggested. Lanie quickly agreed with her, and the quartet of women returned to the surgical waiting room.

"Castle calling that woman a deep-fried Twinkie was an underestimate," Esposito was complaining when the women walked into the surgical waiting room.

"He also said she was crazy," Ryan reminded him.

"Yeah, well, he got that part right," Esposito said.

Before anyone could say anything else, Dr. Gallison entered the surgical waiting room, and everyone who wasn't already standing rose to their feet, looking at him with expressions on their faces ranging from deep worry (the Ryans, Esposito, Gates, and Lanie) to outright naked terror (Alexis, Martha, and Jim). "Kate and Rick are both out of surgery and in Recovery. They are both in critical but stable condition," he announced.

"Are they going to live?" Alexis blurted, unable to stand the uncertainty any longer and unwilling to listen to this doctor, as accommodating as he had been so far, couching all of his words in a way that he wouldn't be making any promises he would be unable to keep and opening himself and/or the hospital up to a malpractice suit.

"They did give us a bit of a scare for a couple of minutes there toward the end of their respective surgeries," Dr. Gallison replied, "but their vital signs are stronger and steadier than they've been since their arrival here. All indications are that Ms. Beckett and Mr. Castle will both make full recoveries."

The amount of exhaled air in the room at Dr. Gallison's last sentence was a gale force wind. Alexis and Martha sagged against each other in relief. Ryan wrapped one arm around Jenny and the other around Esposito. Jim didn't even try to hide the tears of relief in his eyes as he silently thanked God and Johanna for sparing Katie and Rick's lives. Lanie was smiling through her tears, and Gates had never felt so relieved in a professional capacity in all her years with the NYPD.

"So how are they doing, really?" Martha asked.

"They're still under sedation, and they'll be here with us for a while, but they were both very lucky," Dr. Gallison replied. "Ms. Beckett's biggest issue will likely be with her hip. The bullet lodged in her hipbone but did not cause a break, although she will require physical therapy for the hip. She will have abdominal pain for some time following the removal of the spleen, and those three broken ribs will have to heal on their own.

"In a way, her recovery should be easier than Mr. Castle's, however. Thankfully, the nick to his internal thoracic artery was not as serious as it could have been, but the bullet he took was lodged in one of his intercostal muscles. To put it in layman's terms, the intercostal muscles move and form the chest wall, and are mainly involved in the mechanical aspect of breathing. These are the muscles that help expand and shrink the size of the chest cavity to facilitate breathing."

Lanie, being an M.E., and Alexis, with her work with Lanie and some of her Columbia courses, understood the magnitude of what Dr. Gallison was and was not saying better than the others. "What, exactly, does that mean, Doctor?" Jim Beckett asked.

"It means that in addition to physical therapy, Mr. Castle will need to see a respiratory therapist. His right lung collapsed and had to be reinflated. The lung itself was not actually compromised by the bullet or any bone fragments, but breathing is going to be painful for Mr. Castle for quite some time. Respiratory therapy in addition to the physical therapy will aid with that.

"As for Ms. Beckett, she'll need physical therapy, of course. Her broken ribs will heal in about six weeks, but because of the amount of internal bleeding and the bullet lodged in the spleen, we couldn't perform her splenectomy laparoscopically. We had to cut her open to remove it and repair the internal bleeding and damage, which will mean a longer stay here, and a longer recovery time than if she had been able to have a laparoscopic splenectomy. They'll both be here in the hospital for at least a week, maybe as much as ten days. It will be six weeks before either of them can resume normal activities, with the exception of physical and respiratory therapy. We'll want to get them both started on that as soon as possible. They'll begin here, and then continue on an outpatient basis once they are discharged.

"We've already started them both on post-op antibiotics to prevent infection, and we've also started Mr. Castle on the shots he'll need to prevent blood clots from forming. We'll want to get him up and moving as soon as possible, provided there are no complications, and he'll start his respiratory therapy here in, hopefully, a couple of days' time, and then, as I said, continue it on an outpatient basis. They will both need physical therapy, Kate to regain strength in her abdominal muscles and to deal with the effects of the bullet and the surgery on her hip, and Rick to regain strength in his chest muscles and perhaps to help with the range of motion in his right shoulder. He'll need to be awake for us to perform the necessary tests to determine if his range of motion in his right shoulder and upper arm have been affected and to what extent."

"Kate's been down this road before, Doctor," Jim said then. "My daughter is in good health generally, and she runs, jogs, for exercise, in addition to working out at the gym."

"She really gives the punching bag a workout," Ryan said then. "With both her fists and her feet."

"That's going to be very helpful," Dr. Gallison replied. "Motivation is key in situations like this. They're being monitored closely, and they will be moved to ICU from Recovery in a couple of hours."

"Is there any way you can put them in a room together?" Alexis asked.

"I know they're married, but that's not usually how we do things," Dr. Gallison replied.

"Doc, you'll save yourself a lot of trouble if you put them in the same room," Esposito piped up then. "Trust us on this. If you **don't** put them together, you're just gonna have them going to each other's rooms."

"They aren't in any condition to do that," Dr. Gallison pointed out.

"It won't stop them from doing it anyway," Lanie replied. "You don't know Kate and Castle like we do, Dr. Gallison. Stitches, IV lines, oxygen masks, morphine dispensers... They won't care about any of that. These two will crawl to each other, popping every one of their stitches and dragging miles of IV line behind them, and forgetting the pain meds completely, if they have to, if there's no other way for them to get to each other's side, and that would just set the recovery process for both of them back."

"I concur with Dr. Parrish," Gates said then. She moved forward to speak to the doctor. "Deputy Chief Victoria Gates, NYPD," she said by way of introduction as she showed Dr. Gallison her badge. "Doctor, in Mr. Castle you have a man who let himself be bait to catch a serial killer once and for all because the man's accomplice had taken Captain Beckett and was holding her hostage; a man who, when she was standing on a live bomb and the Bomb Squad made him evacuate the building, and Beckett herself even told him to go, he left, but he returned not five minutes later and refused to leave her again as long as there was a chance her life could be saved. Stitches and oxygen masks won't even register with him. All he is going to care about is being at his wife's side, the same as he did when she was standing on that bomb, and when she was being held hostage by a serial killer's equally psychotic accomplice.

"As for Captain Beckett, if the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes is **not** her husband..." Gates trailed off, then shook her head slowly. "God help you and your staff, is all I can say."

"And she was their boss for four years, so she certainly knows whereof she speaks, Doctor," Martha chimed in then.

Dr. Gallison surveyed the group before him, a bemused expression on his face. "I must say, this is highly unorthodox," he said.

"You don't know Beckett and Castle. Everything about them is highly unorthodox," Ryan said.

Alexis took a moment to consider, and then decided she had to play the trump card here if it meant her dad and Kate could recover in the same room. "Being a doctor, a surgeon, you probably don't have much time for reading," she began, "but are you aware that you have a couple of celebrities in your Recovery room right now? My father is Richard Castle, the mystery writer, creator of the Derrick Storm and Nikki Heat series of books. And Kate Beckett is my stepmother and the inspiration for Nikki Heat, but more importantly, she is a highly decorated member of the NYPD. Surely you would be willing to make an exception for them, given the special circumstances here. A _New York Times_ best-selling author and his highly decorated NYPD Captain wife merit a few broken rules, wouldn't you say?"

Dr. Gallison tilted his head, considering for a moment, before he answered. "Very well. I'll go and make the necessary preparations and brief my ICU staff. I'll be back after we've gotten Ms. Beckett and Mr. Castle settled in a room in ICU."

After Dr. Gallison departed, Esposito said, "Well played, Little Castle."

"I was ready to donate a wing to the hospital in Dad's name if the 'celebrity author and decorated NYPD captain' card didn't work," Alexis admitted. "Luckily I didn't have to go that far."

"Your father would have understood, kiddo," Martha said, pulling her granddaughter against her once more, "and he would have applauded your efforts."

"Right now, I just want him and Kate to wake up and be okay," Alexis replied, and everyone else silently agreed with her.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Kate and Rick were settled in the same ICU room together, both still unconscious. Since the rule was two visitors at a time, everyone agreed to take turns going in to see them...except that Alexis, Martha, and Jim all wanted to go in first, and Gates, of all people, said, "The three of you, go ahead. You have five lookouts here who will make sure you're not interrupted, but you'd better be quick about at least this first visit." So with their quintet of lookouts strategically placed between the ICU waiting room and the hall outside Kate and Rick's room, Alexis, Martha and Jim all three squeezed into the room at the same time for their first visit.

"Daddy, we're here," Alexis said as she took her father's hand in hers. He looked so pale, a ventilator with a breathing tube down his throat to help him breathe after the trauma of the bullet in his chest, which caused his collapsed lung, followed by the surgery to remove the bullet, repair the damage to his intercostal muscle, and re-inflate his lung, in effect giving his chest and just-reinflated lung as much rest as possible by letting the machine do the work of breathing for him for now, as Lanie had reassured Alexis before Alexis had gone inside the ICU room, when she had worried aloud about the ventilator increasing her father's chances of an infection or, worse, a blood clot.

Rick looked smaller than Alexis had ever seen him, dwarfed by the ventilator and all the other machines surrounding his bedside, his form so still and pale, completely silent and unmoving in the hospital bed. He hadn't been silent or unmoving when they were reunited at the hospital after he was missing the summer before last. Alexis wasn't used to her father being silent and unmoving at all, or looking so pale and small. She tried to be reassured by the heart monitor's steady, consistent beeping, but the ventilator scared her deeply. She held his hand in both of hers, and though his hand was warm, it was also limp, the effects of the shooting and the anesthesia completely knocking him out. He'd had so much blood loss. He was going to need respiratory therapy. She felt more tears welling up in her eyes and wondered dimly if she had ever cried this much in her life in one day.

"Keep fighting, Katie," Jim quietly urged his daughter as he held her hand with one hand and stroked her hair gently with the other. "You're doing great. And we're all here, all of your friends and family, and we're going to get you and Rick through this. I love you, Katie."

She too was pale, though perhaps not quite as pale as her husband, and Jim was fighting the tidal wave of memories of seeing Kate in similar condition after being shot at Captain Montgomery's funeral several years prior. Surrounded by machines, Jim tried to find comfort in the steady rhythm of his daughter's heartbeat, but Kate was way too still for Jim's liking. All of her life, she was always on the move. Seeing her rendered unconscious and in the ICU by two more bullets, then looking at the bed across the room and seeing the man his daughter loved more than life itself in a near-identical state, made Jim angry and relieved all at the same time: angry that this was happening again, that it had happened to both Katie and Rick this time, but relieved that they were still alive, that they had a fighting chance. He couldn't think beyond getting them both back on their feet again right now. His brain couldn't wrap itself around the concept of them eventually returning to the 12th Precinct, or stumbling across something else along the lines of Bracken and his conspiracy to murder Johanna, or LokSat, and something like this happening to one or both of them yet again. Neither his mind nor his heart could stand the thought.

So to keep what sanity remained in him on this terrible day, Jim merely sat at his daughter's bedside, holding her hand and stroking her hair and assuring her over and over that he loved her and that their family and friends would get her and Rick through their recoveries.

"Richard, darling, you and Katherine are safe now, and you're going to be all right," Martha said, just as disturbed as Alexis at the sight of Richard lying unmoving in that bed, so pale, hooked up to so many machines. He hadn't looked this bad when they'd found him after he'd gone missing the summer after he and Katherine were supposed to have gotten married. _Of course he didn't. He hadn't been shot then,_ Martha chided herself. Since Alexis was on Richard's right side, Martha was standing on his left side, and she took his left hand in hers, frowning when she noticed something very important was missing. "His ring," she blurted suddenly. "Where is Richard's wedding ring?"

"They would have taken it off of him in the ER," Jim said, looking over at Martha from his perch at Kate's bedside. "Katie's not wearing her ring either, or her watch. The nurses have them somewhere."

"Well, this won't do. This won't do at all," Martha said firmly. "When they wake up, they're going to want their wedding rings."

"I'm sure they will," Jim said. "And they'll let us know that." Jim looked back at Kate once more, still pale and unmoving. She was receiving oxygen from a nasal cannula instead of a ventilator like Rick, but they were alive, and they would be okay. They **had** to be. "I fully expect you to demand your wedding ring back as soon as you realize you're not wearing it, Katie," Jim addressed his daughter then. "And when you do, we'll make sure you and Rick get your rings back right away."

Just then, Lanie opened the door a crack and stuck her head in. "Dr. Gallison's coming this way!" she hissed.

Martha and Alexis both hurriedly bent and kissed Castle, Martha catching one of his cheeks, leaving a smear of lipstick, and Alexis dropping a kiss on the crown of her father's head. Jim leaned down and kissed Kate's forehead.

Jim and Martha headed for the door then, but Alexis crossed the room to Kate's bedside. She regarded her stepmother's still, pale form, then leaned down and brushed a kiss against her cheek. "Thank you for saving Dad," she whispered. "Come back to us, Kate. We can't do this without you. Dad especially." A tear fell from her eye and landed on Kate's chin. Kate had no reaction whatsoever, so deeply unconscious was she, but somewhere in her brain, Alexis's last words registered.

" _Come back to us, Kate. We can't do this without you. Dad especially."_

And even in her unconscious state, her muddled brain registered the meaning of the words but not that it was Alexis who had said them, and Kate silently answered. " _I will **always** come back to Castle. I need him."_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Your support and encouragement for this story continue to amaze, humble, and inspire me. I hope you continue to enjoy this journey as much as I am enjoying writing it. Here's a short update, necessary to what comes next.  
**_

* * *

Alexis, Martha, and Jim exited Kate and Rick's ICU room, just barely managing to avoid getting caught by Dr. Gallison. Ryan and Esposito went in next. They both stopped and stood in the small space between Beckett's hospital bed and Castle's hospital bed. They stared in silence for a long moment, both disconcerted by the sight of Beckett and Castle in the ICU, unconscious and surrounded by beeping machines. Finally Ryan spoke. "We're gonna make sure you got them all. And there will be armed guards from the 12th outside this room 24/7. Nobody's getting near you two unless they're on an approved list."

"That's right," Esposito added. "We will personally make sure that no more of these LokSat people are around to come after you guys."

"We're a team," Ryan continued. "You taught Espo and me everything we know, Beckett. And Castle... You were the missing piece. You changed Beckett's life the most, obviously, but you changed mine too."

"And mine," Esposito said. It was getting too serious for Esposito, so he lightened the mood by telling the couple, "But don't think that means we're gonna go easy on you at the poker table the next time we have a game. As soon as you're up to it, we're goin' full-out in Texas Hold 'Em."

"Right," Ryan agreed. "And maybe this time, you won't throw your hand so Beckett wins."

"Bro, of course Castle would throw his hand so Beckett won," Esposito pointed out. "He already did it once, shortly after they met."

"She'd figure it out and call him on it and be really mad," Ryan replied. "I wonder if she still twists his ear to get him to shut up?"

"Does she, Castle?" Esposito asked, for just a split second expecting Castle to sit up and answer him.

But there was no answer, from Castle or Beckett. Just the steady beeping of the monitors and machines surrounding both of them as they lay motionless in their respective hospital beds.

The boys fell silent then. It was so strange to be talking to Beckett and Castle and not have them answering. Both Esposito and Ryan half expected Beckett and Castle to sit up and say the same thing at the exact same time, as they had done so many times before. In that moment, both men would have given anything to hear Beckett and Castle say, "I know who the killer is!" in unison.

But they weren't in any condition to speak at the moment, and it was difficult for Ryan and Esposito to see them like this.

"We're gonna go back to the precinct and make sure this case is closed," Ryan said then. "Lanie and Deputy Chief Gates are still waiting to see you, and I'm sure Alexis and your folks aren't going anywhere tonight. We'll be back later."

"Once we're sure everything's taken care of," Esposito added.

Ryan stepped forward then and reached out, covering Beckett's hand with one hand and lingering for a moment. Then he stepped across to cover Castle's hand with one hand. "We'll be here when you come back," he said.

After Ryan stepped aside, Esposito took his place and mirrored his partner's actions, covering first Beckett's hand with his and then Castle's hand with his. "Don't keep us waiting too long, okay?" Esposito asked.

After the boys left Beckett and Castle's room, they explained their plan to the others. Ryan would meet Espo at the 12th after he and Jenny collected Sarah Grace and Nicholas from Jenny's parents, and Kevin had seen his family safely home. Gates agreed with Esposito and Ryan that this needed to stay in-house, meaning only people from the 12th that they knew could be trusted would be involved. After saying their good nights to the others, who promised to let them know if anything changed with Beckett and Castle, Ryan, Jenny, and Esposito left.

After Esposito and the Ryans departed, Lanie and Gates went in to see Beckett and Castle together. Lanie took a deep breath as she took in the numbers on the various machines Kate and Castle were both hooked up to, unconsciously nodding her satisfaction that their conditions were indeed stable, if still critical. "Well, no wine for a while, huh?" she said as she went to stand at Kate's bedside. She gave a watery chuckle as she reached out to smooth a nonexistent wrinkle in the light blanket covering Kate. "But that's okay. I don't need wine, I just need my best friend. Because do I ever have some things to tell you, and to ask you! Me coming to you for relationship advice might be a little backwards, since it took you and Castle four years to get together. I still can't believe the bundle I lost on you two when nothing happened the whole first year you worked together, but then, it wasn't really **nothing** happening that first year, was it? I still remember that dress he sent you, among other things." A smile briefly played across Lanie's lips. "And you've been doing something right ever since you got together, so it's not so backwards after all, is it?" She picked up Kate's hand then, mindful of the IVs in it, and gently squeezed it. "You're gonna come back from this, Kate. You're too stubborn not to. And this time, you're not gonna shut yourself up at your dad's cabin and do it all by yourself. You've got Castle, and he's gonna need you as much as you're gonna need him, though Lord knows I don't envy you his inevitable whining about physical therapy, since we **all** know that **all** men are whiny when they don't feel well.

"But even with Castle's whining, and your ten-mile-wide stubborn streak, you're not doing it alone this time, Kate, you hear me? We are **all** going to be there to help you, because we all love the two of you. So you'll make it a lot easier on yourself, and Castle, if you just let us help from the start."

Gates regarded Castle while Lanie was talking to Kate. "I have a confession to make, Mr. Castle," she said quietly, so only he could hear her. "I liked having you around the precinct. And do you know **why** I liked having you around the precinct? Actually, there were two reasons. First, you brought some much-needed levity to a job that is incredibly tough, and at times breaks your heart, or at least puts some serious cracks in it. We all needed that, and appreciated it, Mr. Castle. It just wasn't proper for me to come right out and say so when I was the captain."

She leaned down so that she was close to his ear for the rest of what she had to say. "The other reason I liked having you around the precinct was because I knew that no matter what happened, you and Beckett would always have each other's backs. There is nothing that woman won't do for you, Mr. Castle, as I'm sure you know by now. And I learned that there is nothing you won't do for her when you stayed with her when she was standing on that bomb.

"Granted, the two of you always managed to get into more trouble than any other pair who worked for me, but you also have this uncanny knack for being able to find your way out of it every time, either together or due to the timely intervention of Detectives Ryan and Esposito, or other officers. Either you have some incredibly overworked guardian angels, or those guardian angels of yours sent help for you when you needed it the most."

Although he couldn't see it, Gates gave Castle her infamous "Iron Gates" glare. "I'm expecting the two of you to come out of this situation the same as you have all the others, Mr. Castle, because this world, and the lives of everyone who has been in this room, would be a much worse place without you and Beckett in them."

Lanie had overheard only the last thing Gates said to Castle. "Deputy Chief, may I have a word with Castle? You could talk to Beckett, if you want."

"Certainly, Dr. Parrish," Gates replied. She and Lanie switched places, Lanie going straight to Castle's side as Gates stood at Kate's bedside. Gates looked at Kate. "I have to agree with Mr. Castle, Captain Beckett," she began. "You are extraordinary. Yes, I read _Heat Wave,_ with the infamous page 105, but it's the dedication to that book that really stood out to me. 'To the extraordinary KB and all my friends at the 12th.' He's right. You **are** extraordinary...Kate. I don't know of too many officers, too many human beings, who could have survived everything that you've survived. Of course, that man in that bed across the room has a lot to do with **why** you survived most of it, because he was right there with you for most of it." She paused for a moment. "It's because you are extraordinary, and because Mr. Castle is in this fight with you, that I know the two of you will make it through everything that's coming your way. It's time for you to apply your tenacity and your persistence and your inability to quit to yours and Mr. Castle's recoveries, Beckett, because you're going to need it. I know that if anyone can do it, it's the two of you. And you will have your entire team behind you, all of us."

While Gates was talking to Kate, Lanie was talking to Castle. "Kate's gonna need you now more than ever," she told him seriously. "Not that I have to tell you that. And you're gonna need her more than ever. You two have got to stop scaring us like this, Writer Boy, because we all know that you would be completely lost without each other. So if you see any bright lights, you run from them as fast as you can in the opposite direction, and if you come across any angels, you tell them to put your harps on layaway, because you two are needed down here. All the times you two have saved each other's lives, Castle, and the real truth is, all along, it wasn't just the danger of the job you were saving each other from. You saved each other, period. You saved Kate from a life of loneliness and being all about her job, and she saved you from becoming some cliched playboy still trying to pick up women more than half his age when he's 80 in some stupid bar.

"I'm not gonna lie. From a medical standpoint, you and Kate have some serious work ahead of you. But you've proved to all of us that you're never better or stronger than you are when you're together, so this is when you two **really** have to step it up and show everybody how it's done, show those physical therapists and respiratory therapists and nosy reporters and bottom-feeding ex-wives the magic and the power of the Beckett-Castle team. And you're gonna have all of us backing you up, with whatever you want or need."

Castle heard everything everyone had said to him, but deep in the recesses of his brain, one thought burned bright and true, on a constant loop: _Kate. I'm here, Kate. They all keep mentioning you. So you've got to be somewhere close. And wherever that somewhere close is, I'll find you. No matter where you are or I am, I will **always** find you, Kate._

* * *

Throughout all the visits from family and friends, Johanna had stood silent guard in the far corner of the room, unseen, unheard, even unfelt by everyone, including Katie and Rick. Now she was alone in the room with them, but suddenly she felt a presence at her side.

"You have twelve hours left," he said without preamble.

She tore her gaze from Katie and Rick to look him in the face. "Just tell me they have more than that," she pleaded. "Tell me that them seeing me didn't mess everything up."

He looked from her to Kate and Rick, the only sound in the room being the machines monitoring their vital signs. "I think this is exactly what she needed," he said.

Johanna snorted indelicately. "No offense, but you're not exactly top man. If it was coming from Gabriel, or even Peter, I'd feel better."

"All I'm saying is that she got everyone who killed you, everyone who had any part in it, intentional or otherwise," he replied unflinchingly, "and she knows that you know, and that you want her to be happy and live her life. I think that in order to truly move on and put it all behind her as best she can, she needed to hear it from you, and she did. And she has the best motivation in the world to fight in Castle. They have one hell-uh, heck of a future ahead of them."

"Then they **are** going to be all right!" Johanna exclaimed, part relief and part triumph.

He looked around, half expecting the aforementioned Gabriel or Peter to appear suddenly and scold him for what he had just said, but when nothing happened, he relaxed a fraction. "You didn't hear that from me," he said.

Now Johanna was completely relieved. "Well, then," she said, "I'm going to take the twelve hours I have left and wait here. Before I go, I want to know that they're awake. I hope twelve hours will be enough."

"No continuances allowed," he said.

"I know," Johanna replied, gluing her gaze once more to her daughter and son-in-law. "Twelve hours, and not one second longer."

He looked at Beckett and Castle. "They never were ones to do anything the easy way, but I'm glad they figured it out. That they belong together, I mean. And that nothing and no one is going to keep them apart, or keep them down for long."

"Is that why you did this?" she asked him then. "Told me, and made sure I could come down here when Katie and Rick needed me most? You were forgiven by everyone a long time ago, you know, including them." She inclined her head towards Katie and Rick.

"Let's just say I felt I still owed them, and especially you, a big one," he replied. "You aren't the only one who will finally be able to truly rest in peace now, Johanna."

As he disappeared, Johanna whispered, "You're a good man, Roy Montgomery." Once Montgomery was gone, Johanna returned her gaze to Katie and Rick, keeping silent vigil over them as the hours slowly slipped by and the clock moved past midnight.


	6. Chapter 6

_**I cannot thank all of you enough for your reviews, follows, favorites, and general reaction to this story. You continue to inspire me and my writing as much as Castle (the show) does. I hope you continue to enjoy the journey.**_

* * *

In the wee small hours of the morning the day after Beckett and Castle had been shot, Javier Esposito made his way up to the ICU. Lanie had been forced to leave, very reluctantly, right after he and Ryan and Jenny had left earlier, since Perlmutter was backed up at the morgue because of Caleb Brown, necessitating Lanie's presence when another body came in. Gates herself made sure that other detectives caught the case, since Esposito and Ryan were working on running down everyone involved in LokSat, making sure no one else would be coming after Beckett and Castle. When they finally finished, shortly before 4 AM, Esposito took Ryan home to his family, since he was almost asleep when they left the 12th. Ryan promised he'd be back at the hospital after he caught a little sleep. Esposito reassured his partner that if anything changed between now and then, he would call or text Ryan himself, told him to get some sleep, and then headed to the hospital himself.

When Espo passed through the ICU waiting room, he saw Martha Rodgers and Jim Beckett there, sleeping, Jim sitting upright in his chair with his head tilted back against one of the walls, and Martha practically collapsed in a heap on the small couch. Sheer exhaustion must have overtaken them, he thought as he rubbed at the back of his neck, not recalling the last time he'd gotten any real sleep himself. Well, he wouldn't wake them now. He presumed that Beckett and Castle were still out, because Alexis had promised everyone that she would call or text everyone as soon as they were awake. His news could keep for a few more hours. It would be a great thing for Martha and Jim to wake up to.

As long as he was here, though, he decided he'd peek in on Castle and Beckett himself. He quietly entered their room, which was cast in shadows from the dimmed lights, no windows in the room to let in the rapidly approaching dawn, and he wasn't entirely surprised to find Alexis sitting in a chair at Castle's bedside, her gaze encompassing both Castle and Beckett, exhaustion etched deeply into her pale features.

"Is something wrong, Detective Esposito?" Alexis's quiet question startled Javi. He entered the room, closing the door behind him.

"No," he said. "Everything's all right. Nobody else is gonna be coming after your dad and Beckett. We got 'em all. We're absolutely, 100% certain. After I took Ryan home, I decided to come here. I saw your grandmother and Beckett's dad asleep in the waiting room. I'll tell them later."

"I'm glad to hear you got them all," Alexis replied.

Javi approached Alexis then, hunkering down so that he was at eye level with her. "So how come you're not sleeping too?"

Alexis wearily scrubbed at her face with both hands. "Because every time I close my eyes, I see Dad and Kate lying on the kitchen floor in their own blood, barely conscious, clinging to each other's hands," she said. "I can't get it out of my head. I want to, but I can't."

Before Javi could reply to that, they heard a piercing scream from Kate's side of the room, followed by a keening that made both of their stomachs drop and their hearts hurt. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! GOD, NO! CASTLE! I GOT YOU KILLED!" followed by the most heartbroken, wrenching sobbing it was possible for one human being to produce.

Kate awoke to the sounds of machines beeping all around her. Her body felt heavy, and the room was dark. Her brain was a jumbled mix of high-powered pain medication, and memories of being shot, and her in-the-ether conversation with her mother, which Castle was present for...

Castle! The last thing he had asked of her was her promise that she would be there when he woke up. She had promised him she would be, and then begged him not to leave her, to promise her that she would be the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. He had promised he would. The last word he said was, "Always."

Kate turned her head to see Castle surrounded by machines with a tube down his throat, and in her confused state, she panicked, thinking that he was dead, that the machines were the only things keeping him alive, thinking that she had failed him, failed **them** , believing in that awful moment that her going after LokSat had ended with her getting him killed.

And her reaction to that very-much-mistaken notion was raw, primal grief.

Not caring about the heaviness of her body, or the shooting pains radiating through her entire torso and the way she had to drag her left leg, sobbing and gasping for breath, Kate tried to get out of bed, but couldn't will her body to move. She was sobbing and gasping the same words over and over: "Castle, no, sorry, love." Dammit, why couldn't she move? She needed to get to Castle!

"Kate!" Alexis exclaimed, vaulting out of her chair and across the room, Esposito hot on her heels. "Kate, it's okay!"

"Rick," she sobbed, her entire abdomen on fire. _Screw the physical pain,_ she thought darkly. If Rick was really dead, she would never _**not**_ be in pain again. She had to get to him, try to bring him back, to hell with those machines and what the doctors said. She had been clinically dead after getting shot at Montgomery's funeral, and if anyone could bring Rick back, Kate knew, it would be her.

Alexis was still trying in vain to get through to Kate, but she was so focused in trying to move, trying to get to Castle, that she wasn't hearing the young woman. Esposito knew she wouldn't hear him either, and they were going to need help to get through to her and get her calmed down, as all of the machines Kate was hooked up to started going haywire, her heart rate and blood pressure going through the roof and continuing to climb.

"Go get your grandmother and Beckett's dad! Hurry!" Javi shouted. Alexis bolted from the room, hitting the light switch on the wall on her way out, and flooding the room with bright fluorescent light, to get Martha and Jim as the night nurses and attending physician came rushing in.

Esposito had a few feet head start on the medical staff, and he got to Beckett first. He gently grabbed her upper arms, since she had managed to struggle into a half-upright sitting position. "Beckett, it's okay! Castle's all right!" Esposito shouted.

But Kate was still caught in her flood of grief and her frantic need to get to Rick, to touch him, to feel him, to will him back to her, and the adrenaline was a surging tidal wave through her battered body, so she didn't listen to Espo any more than she had listened to Alexis, who returned then with Martha and Jim, the three of them pushing their way through the crowd of medical personnel to get as close to Kate as they could.

Beckett slapped weakly at Esposito's shoulders and chest, nearly disconnecting an IV in the process, as she kept gasping and sobbing out her mantra of "Castle, no, sorry, love" over and over and over again.

"Beckett, he's okay! Castle is okay!" Esposito shouted. The machines were a cacophony of high-pitched beeps, but still Kate fought, refusing to let them lay her down again, refusing to be kept from Rick, still sobbing, gasping out his name over and over and over again, still fighting to get to his side.

Watching Kate fighting to get to her father's side, Alexis suddenly had an idea, and prayed it would work. Johanna Beckett, watching helplessly from the corner, fearful that, despite Roy Montgomery's reassurances, if she interfered too much again, if Katie saw her again, everything really would get messed up for Katie and Rick, and she couldn't let that happen, heard Alexis's idea in her mind and silently encouraged it, knowing the young woman was on the right track here.

"Detective, Mr. Beckett, help me!" Alexis called. Everyone was ignoring Castle, who was still unconscious, but Alexis was standing by his bed. "Help me move Dad's bed closer to Kate's! You two move Dad, I'll get the machines! If she can see him more closely, if she can touch him, maybe Kate will calm down!"

Jim and Esposito immediately sprang into action as Martha alternately argued with the nurses and the attending physician and tried to get close enough to Kate's ear that she could speak directly to her over the ever-rising din of shouts and machines. The most sympathetic nurse helped Alexis with all of the machines and IVs that Rick was hooked up to, while Jim and Esposito carefully maneuvered Rick's bed as close to Kate's as they could get it.

Then Alexis was there, lowering the rail on Castle's bed, then lowering the rail on Kate's bed, and Jim was shouting, "I'm her father, dammit, and if anyone can get through to her it's me, so all of you kindly shut up and get out of the way!" The machines were still going crazy, but everyone yielded to Jim Beckett, who approached the head of Kate's bed as everyone else took their hands off of her and dropped back. Gently gripping her upper arms, Jim firmly said, "Katie. Katie, look at me! Look at me, Katie!"

Tears pouring from her eyes, Kate met her father's gaze. "He's dead," she wailed. "Rick is dead."

"No!" Jim shouted. "Rick is **NOT** dead, Katie! He's **NOT** dead! Do you hear me? Do you understand what I'm saying? **Rick is ALIVE! Castle is ALIVE! He's ALIVE, Katie!"**

Her father's voice finally penetrated the hazy fog surrounding Kate, aided by an equally insistent whisper in her other ear: her mother! "Listen to your dad, Katie. Rick is alive. He's going to be all right, and so are you."

"Castle's alive?" Kate gasped out.

"Yes!" Alexis shouted. Then she felt Alexis's hand in hers, gently tugging, until Kate's hand was in Castle's hand. Castle's **warm** hand. "Dad had a collapsed lung. He's not on a ventilator to keep him alive. He's on a ventilator to help him breathe because they had to re-inflate his lung. He's alive, Kate! Dad is alive, and so are you!"

The adrenaline was still flowing, and Kate tried to clear her fuzzy head. Her dad, her mom, Alexis, were all insisting that Castle is alive.

Then it hit her all at once. Castle is alive. _**Her Castle is alive.**_

He is alive, and she is alive, and all of the grief is swept out like a rushing tide, replaced by a relief so overwhelming it would have brought Kate to her knees if she weren't already in a hospital bed.

"You're alive, Rick," Kate rasped out in a tear-choked whisper as she looked at him in the bed next to her, his hand in hers. "You're alive."

There was so much more she wanted to say to him-"I love you. I'm here. I love you. You're okay. I love you. **I'm** okay. I love you. We made it. **I love you so much.** "-but the pain in her gut had become a living, fire-breathing dragon, and the adrenaline was receding almost as quickly now as the mistaken grief had mere seconds ago.

She wouldn't let go of his hand, though. Whatever else happened, Kate vowed to herself, she was **not** letting go of Castle's hand for anything. Her dad, with Alexis's help, started to ease her back down onto her pillows when she let out another gasp, although this was not a gasp of pain or grief, but a gasp of delight, because Rick just squeezed her hand!

Kate squeezed his hand back, and a sound somewhere between a moan and a cough turned everyone's attention to Rick, who blinked owlishly several times until his eyes locked on Kate, who was looking at him through puffy, reddened eyes, with tearstains drying on her cheeks, and her hand clasped in his. He started fighting the ventilator then, and now the doctor and nurses and Alexis and Martha surrounded him the way they had surrounded Kate mere moments ago.

"Mr. Castle, you still need the ventilator until at least tomorrow afternoon," the doctor said sternly. "Doctor's orders."

"It's okay, Rick. You're okay. And I'm okay. Nothing else matters," Kate rasped. She saw the instant that the worry and concern flared to life in Rick's eyes, and she squeezed his hand in what she hoped was a reassuring manner.

"Okay, we're going to sedate both of you after this little episode," the doctor said.

Castle waved his free hand frantically, but in his weakened state, it looked more like a fish flopping around on the deck of a boat. He sloppily made a writing motion with his hand. "Someone get me a pad and pen!" Alexis exclaimed. "Dad wants to say something!"

Esposito hustled out to the nearest nurses' station and returned with a pen and pad of paper. "Here you go, Castle," he said.

Castle weakly gripped the pen, the pad of paper sideways on his lap. Everyone watched as he laboriously wrote something on the paper. When he finally finished, he handed the pen to Alexis, who was standing at his bedside, and struggled to get the sheet of paper torn off the pad. When he finally did, he held it up towards Kate. Jim took the paper from Rick's hand without reading it and handed it to Kate.

Kate looked down at the paper. Castle had sloppily scrawled ten words on the paper, which is why it had taken him so long. But to Kate Beckett, in that moment, they were the ten most beautiful words in the English language.

 _ **I will be there when you open your eyes ALWAYS! ! !  
**_

All of the machines attached to Kate were back to giving normal readouts now. She let herself be lowered back onto her pillows, keeping her head turned so that she could see Rick, who had his head turned so he could see her. The doctor said something about sedating them both to get them through the rest of the night, but Kate didn't pay too much attention to that, nor did Rick.

They were too busy gazing at each other, hands still clasped, Rick's note clutched tightly in Kate's other hand, until the effects of the sedatives overtook them and they were asleep once more.

When the crisis had passed, and Kate and Rick were asleep once more, the nurses made to separate them, until Alexis stepped up, blocking the nurses from Kate and Rick's joined hands. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she said firmly, "unless you want a repeat of what just happened here when they wake up again."

The nurses exchanged looks all around, then looked at Alexis, standing in front of her father and stepmother, still holding hands in their medically induced sleep, the look on her face and her body language outright daring them to make a move towards Rick and Kate.

"All right," the sympathetic nurse said. "We'll leave them be."

"Thank you," Alexis said.

The nurses and doctor departed, leaving Alexis, Martha, Jim, and Esposito crowded into the ICU room. "Did you see how hard Katherine fought to get to Richard?" Martha asked.

"She's always been like that," Esposito said. "She always will be. And he's the same way with her. That's how I know they're gonna be okay. It'll take time, but they'll get there."

"We'll all make sure they do," Alexis pledged.

Jim looked at his daughter then, her hand still clutching Rick's tightly, even under the effects of the sedatives, his sloppily written note clutched just as tightly in her other hand. Though both of them were lying on their backs, their heads were turned so they were facing each other even in their medically induced slumber. "We certainly will," he murmured, echoing Alexis.

In that moment, Jim Beckett made a vow to himself, and to Johanna. _I let Katie down so badly when we lost you, Johanna. And we forged a kind of peace treaty after I quit drinking. I don't fault Katie for doing what she had to do to get me to see reason and get sober. She was right to do it. But no matter how much she protests, I'm going to be there for her this time, the way she wouldn't let me be last time. I'm going to finish earning back the trust I so badly broke when we lost you. Rick is the number-one man in her life, and that's the way it should be. But standing in the distant shadows, mostly watching her life with my nose pressed up against the glass...I can't do that anymore. I **won't** do it anymore. She's not going to shut me out like she did the last time this happened. I simply won't let her. We were close once. It'll never be **exactly** like that again, but I refuse to believe that we'll never be close again at all. I'm going to fix our relationship, Johanna, I swear it...to you, to myself, and most importantly of all, to Katie. _

And over the sounds of the machines monitoring Katie's and Rick's conditions, Jim once again felt Johanna's presence for the first time in hours, and he could have sworn he heard her whisper, _"You will, Jim. It'll take both of you, working together, and some time and patience, but you and Katie will find your way back."_

And for the first time in hours, Jim Beckett smiled. It was a tired smile, but it was a genuine smile, because he knew in his heart that Johanna was right, and that he and Katie would finish fixing their relationship, no matter how long it might take or what they might have to do to achieve that goal.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Thank you all for your response to and support of this story. Your enthusiasm feeds my soul.**_

* * *

When Castle next awoke, that freaking tube was still down his throat, but Kate was asleep in the bed next to his, her hand still resting in his hand. He eagerly drank in the sight of his wife. His chest was hurting, and he hated the tube down his throat, but he was alive, and Kate was alive, and that was all that mattered.

He had always loved to watch Kate sleep, but it was bittersweet to watch her in a medically-induced sleep. He remembered everything about getting shot in the loft, and then the out-of-body experience he and Kate had where they found each other, and then Johanna Beckett found them, seemingly without meaning to, according to what she had said.

Kate had promised her mother that she would always remember what Johanna had said to her. Castle had promised Kate that he would help her remember, and he would, because he remembered every moment, every word Johanna Beckett had spoken.

He heard a low groan, not Kate's regular, familiar waking-up groan. He hated that she had been shot again. He watched her work her way to wakefulness, and her eyes opened and focused on him immediately. Despite her physical agony, she mustered a smile for him, laced with pain as it was.

The beautiful sight that greeted Kate upon opening her eyes was Rick, watching her, his own eyes wide open. Even with the tube still down his throat...she remembered Alexis now, saying that the tube was to help him breathe because his lung had collapsed and been re-inflated...she had never seen anything more beautiful in her life.

Somehow, some way, they had made it out of this nightmare alive. Again.

Together.

Snatches of conversation with Rick came back to Kate then.

 _"...we are never stronger than we are when we're together."_

 _"That's true."_

 _"Neither one of us is going to die. We're going to grow good and old together, Kate."_

 _"Together. That's the key, Rick. It's been the key all along. It's why we got LokSat, and why we got Coonan and Bracken and everyone that was involved in my mother's murder: because we did it together. That's what has gotten us through everything we've been through in the last eight years. We did it **together**...because whenever we **didn't** , the wheels came off the wagon pretty damn fast."_

 _"Every time."_

 _"So to get through this, we have to do it the same way we've gotten through everything else that's been thrown our way: together."_

 _"We do together very well."_

 _"We really do."_

 _"So that settles it, then. We're not dying."_

Kate shifted then, and she heard a slight crinkling of paper when she did so. She looked down to see the note Rick had written her in the overnight hours when he had awakened, after the fact that he wasn't dead finally penetrated her drug-induced fog, sticking out from beneath her injured hip. She tried not to express her pain vocally as she reached down to retrieve the note, but the hiss of air between her clenched teeth couldn't be held back. She picked up the note, smoothed it out, then set it on the rolling tray table next to her bed. When she and Castle got out of the hospital, Kate resolved, she was going to have this note laminated to preserve it forever.

Shifting gingerly, she focused her gaze on Rick once more. She could see the worried look in Rick's eyes, and the frustration at the breathing tube down his throat, preventing him from speaking. But since she couldn't get out of bed and into his arms yet (though she would start working on that immediately), this would have to do for now.

Kate struggled into a sitting position, keeping Rick's gaze all the while, and when she was sitting up, she ever so gently lifted his hand, still in hers, to her lips. She covered every inch of his hand, front and back, with kisses, then kissed each of his fingertips softly before leaning slightly forward, grimacing all the while, until she rested his palm, damp from her kisses, against her cheek. Then, catching his gaze once more, she said, her voice quavering with emotion, "I love you, Richard Castle."

Rick didn't let being unable to speak stop him from responding in kind. His arm was sore, but he didn't let that stop him, either. Slowly dragging his arm upright (and belatedly realizing it was the same side he had taken the bullet on, which was why it was sore), he pointed to his right eye.

Kate got it instantly. "You," she said. Castle knew she was translating what he really meant, so he let the fact that he meant "I" slide just this once. He drew a haphazard heart shape with his index finger over his heart next.

"Love," Kate said, her tone filled with that particular emotion.

Then he pointed at her. "Me," she said, and he could hear the tears in her voice. She pressed another kiss to the back of his hand, still clutched in hers.

At that moment, the door of the small bathroom in the corner of the room opened, and Alexis exited the bathroom into the hospital room. "You're awake!" she exclaimed, looking like she might burst into tears herself. "Oh, thank God! I have to tell everybody! I have to get the doctor! And Kate, you shouldn't be sitting up like that!"

"I'm fine, Alexis, really," Kate said.

"Humor me," Alexis replied seriously, and Kate saw something in the girl's eyes that she'd never seen before: worry for Kate.

Kate's relationship with Alexis was something that Kate had never pushed, wanting only Alexis's acceptance of her. Alexis hadn't exactly made a secret over the years of her worries and fears for her father's safety, which Kate could completely understand. She worried for Castle's safety herself for the same core reason as Alexis: she couldn't fathom her life without him, and didn't even want to try. So whatever Alexis threw her way, whether it was fear or anger at her for causing Castle's proximity to mortal danger, or the times when Alexis came to her for advice or a listening ear or help studying for a test, Kate took it, the good and the bad, because as she was learning every day, that kind of give and take was part and parcel of being a family.

"All right," Kate agreed, gingerly settling herself back against her pillows, thankful that she wasn't shot in the chest again.

Satisfied that Kate and Rick were as comfortable as it was possible for them to be, Alexis rushed to her father's bedside, giving him a careful hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Welcome back," she said. "I love you, Dad."

Kate and Rick were both surprised when Alexis broke the hug with her father to rush to Kate's bedside and do the same to her: a careful hug, followed by a kiss on the cheek, and a, "Thank God you're okay, Kate. Thank God you're both okay."

Unbidden, a memory came to Kate of over a year ago, an ordinary morning at home, everyone heading out to start their respective days, and Alexis stopping to kiss Kate's cheek on her way out the door, surprising both Kate and Castle.

 _"Well, you raised a great person, so-"_

 _"You say that now. You weren't here for the beginning."_

 _"And next time, I will be."_

 _"Next time? Are you saying you're thinking about-?"_

 _"Yeah. About IT. About my job. About whether we're ready, if there's ever a right time."_

 _"There never is. But there's never a wrong time, either."_

And then Kate's phone had rung; a body had dropped. She had told Rick they'd talk about it later, but bodies were always dropping, and then LokSat landed in her lap, and they didn't talk about it, let alone **do** anything about it.

How many chances were they going to get?

How many chances had they already missed?

And in that instant, Kate knew, with complete clarity, what she wanted to do next. Well, she silently amended, she had a lot of things she wanted to do next, but the most important one was the one that she had put off for far too long already, with references to a vague "someday," and thinking about it when she didn't have anything else more pressing consuming her thoughts.

What Kate wanted to do next was have a baby with Rick.

Not that they could get started on it right this second, but...

Her mother! She and Rick had seen her mother! She had **talked** to her mother! The entire conversation with Johanna came flooding back to Kate then, her mother's exhortations to have no regrets, because life isn't about regrets, to let Johanna rest in peace now that Kate had finally gotten justice for her. _"This is **your** life, Katie. Yours and Rick's. Your future is waiting, and it can be whatever you want it to be. Just be happy. That's all I really want for you, all I've ever really wanted for you, honey: for you to be happy."_

Work was work, and life was life. Life was Richard Castle. Life was her dad and Alexis and Martha, and her friendships with Lanie and Ryan and Jenny and Esposito, which would last the rest of their lives and continue to flourish, even outside the 12th Precinct.

Life was her future with Rick. Life was having a family with him, raising more great people like Alexis, their kids growing up alongside Ryan and Jenny's, and eventually, if they had kids, whether it was together or not, Lanie's and Espo's.

Life was beautiful, because Kate Beckett was alive and well...or at least, on her way to getting well...and in love with and married to Richard Castle, who was alive and on his way to getting well and in love with and married to her. She didn't even care how corny or sappy it might sound.

She looked at Rick once more, finding both him and Alexis looking at her with no small amount of concern. "Are you okay, Kate? You zoned out on us there for a minute," Alexis said.

"I'm fine," Kate promised. "We're going to be fine. Together."

Castle dipped his chin once, the closest approximation he could make to nodding his agreement to Kate's statement, since he couldn't say or motion 'together.'

"Could I talk to the two of you?" Alexis asked then, looking serious. "Everyone's going to be here soon, and-" She was interrupted when Dr. Gallison and the nurses, different ones from last night, walked in.

"Well, I heard about the excitement last night," the doctor greeted them. "That was quick thinking on your part, young lady," he addressed Alexis. "At that point, I don't think anything else would have calmed your stepmother down. I'll have to ask you to step outside for a couple of minutes while I examine your folks here, and talk to them."

Neither Kate nor Rick missed the flash of disappointment in Alexis's eyes, but she wasn't one to refuse doctor's orders. "Okay," she agreed. "I'll be right outside," she told her dad and Kate, looking from one to the other. "I'm sure Gram and your dad will be here any minute, and the others won't be far behind them." She gave them her most encouraging smile, and retreated to the corridor, where she sent a quick group text to everyone, informing them that her dad and Kate were awake and being seen by the doctor.

She was surprised when, only two minutes after leaning back against the wall, the first person to arrive was not her grandmother or Kate's father, but Javier Esposito. "How are they doing?" he asked anxiously.

"They're awake and they're doing okay," Alexis replied. "Dr. Gallison is in with them now, so he kicked me out. How did you get here so fast? Not that I mind, but Mr. Beckett just went outside about ten minutes ago to get some fresh air, so I figured he'd be here first. Gram's out getting coffee."

Javi lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. "I didn't see Beckett's dad when I got here, but maybe he went for a walk around the block. As for how I got here so fast, I was nearby when I got your text," he said. He looked at Alexis critically now. "When's the last time you slept? I mean, really slept?"

"Before," Alexis said simply. "What about you?"

"Same," he replied with a rueful half-grin. "You should really get some sleep, Alexis."

"I will, when I get the time," she replied. But Esposito could see the unspoken truth: she was afraid to sleep because she was afraid of the nightmares that would come when she closed her eyes. She obviously couldn't be alone, and he instinctively knew that she dreaded going back to the loft after what she had seen there just yesterday. Hopefully what he had hurriedly finished before his arrival at the hospital would be of some help in that regard.

Jim Beckett came rushing in then, winded from having literally sprinted back to the hospital from his walk around the block and then, too impatient to wait for the elevator, he had run up five flights of stairs to the ICU. "They're both awake?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes," Alexis said with a tired smile. "Kate's talking, and already trying to sit up. Dad wants to be talking, but they haven't taken him off the ventilator yet."

Martha arrived then, laden with coffee and pastries, having left the hospital for that very purpose. "They're both awake?" she asked eagerly. Esposito relieved Martha of her burden, including her handbag, successfully juggling the cardboard tray with three cups of coffee and the small sack of pastries balanced between two of the cups.

"Yes, and Kate's talking!" Alexis exclaimed. "Dad's motioning, since he still has that tube down his throat. But once they take it out-"

"Castle won't shut up," Esposito replied knowingly, drawing a chuckle from Martha and an exhalation that was half laugh from Alexis.

"You've got that right, Detective," Martha said. "Silence has never been Richard's strong suit. Well, not counting the times he didn't say what he was really feeling to Katherine, but that's all in the past."

The others arrived almost simultaneously then, Lanie still in her lab coat since she had been at the morgue and dropped everything on the irate Perlmutter the instant she read Alexis's text, Ryan and Jenny hand in hand, and Deputy Chief Gates, just as relieved, happy, and anxious to see Beckett and Castle awake as the rest of them. Everyone was talking at once, words tripping over one another, the same questions and exclamations of relief and thanks repeated again and again.

"They're really awake?"

"Have they started causing trouble yet?"

"Thank God!"

"They're gonna be okay, I just know it!"

"When can we see them?"

"The doctor's in with them now," Alexis said. "So it'll probably be a few more minutes."

"I should have gotten more coffee and pastries," Martha fretted.

"Don't worry about that, Mrs. R.," Ryan said. "You had no way of knowing Beckett and Castle were gonna wake up when they did and we'd all be here."

"I'll make a coffee and pastry run after we've seen them," Lanie volunteered.

"I'm not sure how much longer it will be," Alexis replied. "Dr. Gallison is checking them both over and telling them everything he told us yesterday, I'm sure. That's bound to take some time." She glanced over her shoulder at the closed door to her dad and Kate's ICU room. Then she looked at Lanie. "How much time, do you think?" she asked Lanie.

"Well, he's examining them both, I'm sure, and they're gonna want to get Castle up and moving as soon as possible, but they have to get him off the ventilator first," Lanie began. "And they'll have to wean him off the ventilator, because they have to be sure he can breathe well enough on his own before they take him completely off it. As for Kate, she's gonna need a few more days in bed before she can get up and around-"

"Like Beckett's gonna stay in bed if Castle is up and moving around?" Ryan interrupted.

"Yeah, I don't see her staying in bed much longer than Castle does," Esposito added, remembering the scene the night before when Kate, in a fog upon first awakening, had thought Castle was dead and only being kept alive by machines.

Alexis remembered it now too, and just barely managed to conceal a shudder at that memory. "You're right. Kate's not gonna want to let Dad out of her sight. If he's moving, she'll be moving."

"Switch that around a little bit," Esposito said, "and you just summed up what Ryan and I have been watching for the last eight years."

"You mean, 'If she's moving, he's moving'?" Alexis asked.

"I don't know about that," Ryan piped up. "There have been plenty of instances where Beckett went after Castle."

"And just as many where he went after her," Lanie chimed in.

"Why don't we all just agree that Richard and Katherine will go to the ends of the earth for each other?" Martha interjected. Everyone quickly agreed with Martha's assessment, having seen for themselves over the years just how true her statement was.

Meanwhile, Dr. Gallison finished examining first Kate, and then Rick, and gave them both a complete summary of their injuries and the surgeries they had undergone.

Kate, through sheer force of will keeping a quaver out of her voice, asked, "Did you have to take anything else besides my spleen?"

"No," Dr. Gallison replied. "And we only had to remove your spleen because one of the bullets was lodged in there, and the internal bleeding and damage to the organ were such that we couldn't save it."

"You're sure?" Kate asked, biting her lower lip.

Dr. Gallison was about to ask Kate what she was really asking when the light bulb went on. "I'm sure, but I'm also thinking that you want a second opinion," he said. He pulled a pen from his lab coat front pocket and grabbed the pad of paper Esposito had brought in to Castle the night before, handing it to Kate. "Why don't you write down the name of the physician you want to give this second opinion, and I'll get him or her down here later today? Would that be all right?"

"Yes," Kate said. "And it's her." She wrote the name of her OB/GYN on the pad and returned it and the pen to Dr. Gallison.

"Excellent doctor. One of the best in her field," he murmured. "I'm sure she can be here sometime this afternoon. In the meantime, you'll have to stay in bed for the next couple of days, Ms. Beckett."

Castle wondered who Kate wanted a second opinion from. Since Kate had said the doctor was a her, at least he knew it wasn't Dr. Motorcycle Boy. Maybe it was petty and small of him, but even though they were married, and he had no doubts at all about Kate's love for and fidelity to him, he **really** didn't want her ex-boyfriend coming around, even to offer his medical opinion. Dr. Gallison hadn't said anything about Kate's heart. But then, neither had Kate. Unless he had missed something.

Castle weakly snapped the fingers on his good hand, immediately drawing Kate's attention. Dr. Gallison's gaze followed Kate's. Castle motioned to the ventilator.

"When can Castle get rid of the breathing tube?" Kate asked.

"We'll start weaning you off of the ventilator right now, Mr. Castle," Dr. Gallison said. He stepped over and adjusted the settings on the machine. "When we're certain you can breathe well enough on your own, we'll remove the tube completely."

Castle made the same writing motion he had made the night before, but his hand was steadier now. Dr. Gallison took the pen and pad from Kate and gave them to Castle. Castle quickly scribbled something on the pad, then gave it to the doctor.

"Well, this is embarrassing," Dr. Gallison said. "As bad as the handwriting I routinely see is...as bad as my own handwriting is...I can't read this."

Kate held up a hand. "I can," she said. Dr. Gallison handed her the pad.

Rick had scribbled two words on the paper: "Kate's heart?"

Kate looked at Rick, not Dr. Gallison. "No, it's not about my heart, Rick." She looked at Dr. Gallison now. "I was shot in the chest a few years ago, in the heart. But since you didn't say anything about negative effects on my heart, I'm guessing there weren't any this time?"

"None that we've found," Dr. Gallison replied. "It was in your chart that you'd been shot before, Ms. Beckett, and I saw the scars on both your chest and your shoulder during your surgery. But there's no reason to be concerned about your heart."

Castle was more confused than ever now. If it wasn't Kate's heart she was wanting a second opinion about, then what was it?

Castle really wanted the pad and paper back. Kate didn't exactly want to have this conversation when Castle was unable to speak, but, she thought, they didn't have to have the whole conversation right now. She knew that Alexis had told everyone she and Rick were awake by now, and she was pretty sure that Alexis, her dad, and Martha had all been at the hospital since yesterday morning, and it wouldn't be much longer before they'd all come streaming in to see them, which would be a good distraction.

No, this particular conversation...the really important aspects of it, anyway...needed to wait until Rick was off the ventilator and could speak, and they were alone. She had every intention of telling her dad to go home and get some real food and real sleep, and she knew that Castle would insist that Alexis and Martha do the same. Hopefully, he'd be off the ventilator, and she would have the answers she needed, the answers she realized now that she was praying for, by tonight, and they could properly discuss it then, when they were alone. This would affect all of their family and friends waiting outside, champing at the bit to see them, to some extent, but it was really between her and Rick, and they needed to discuss it between the two of them first, before telling anyone else anything.

"Could you give these back to my husband, please?" Kate asked Dr. Gallison, handing him the pad and paper.

"Of course." The doctor handed the pad and paper back to Rick, and he scribbled more words on the paper. This time, Dr. Gallison didn't even try to read it, he just immediately handed it to Kate.

Rick had written, "If it's not your heart, then what is it?"

"My gynecologist," Kate said, looking Rick in the eyes.

And **that** was when Castle got it: Kate wanted her gynecologist to tell her if she could still have kids.

Wait, did that mean Kate wanted to have kids? Like, in the near future?

His eyes widened as he started silently hoping and praying the same thing Kate was hoping and praying: that her gynecologist would tell her that everything was okay internally, reproductively speaking, and she could have a baby.

 **Their** baby.

If he wasn't already in bed, this was the point where Rick would have sat down heavily.

They had talked about having kids occasionally, but always vaguely. Kids were a "someday," abstract notion.

Or at least, they had been up until now.

Kate saw the shift in Rick, knew that he knew the answers she was seeking. His heart rate went up, as the heart monitor so helpfully pointed out with its increase and quickening of pace in beeps, and she saw his eyes widen, the hope and the questions flaring in them. "We'll talk more about it when we know more about it," she promised him. "And when you can actually talk. Hopefully tonight."

"That should work out," Dr. Gallison said, startling them both. They had honestly forgotten he was in the room for these few moments. "I'll be back to check on you later. I have a phone call to make," he held up the slip of paper Kate had given him with her OB/GYN's name on it, "and you have a tribe of family and friends waiting to see you outside."

He smiled at them both before heading out into the corridor, where he nearly collided with the anxious knot of family members and friends. Everyone started talking at once, and Dr. Gallison held his hands up for quiet. "I'm sorry, but the two-visitors-at-a-time rule still applies," he said when everyone was quiet. "I'm pleased to report that both Ms. Beckett and Mr. Castle are doing very well. We've started weaning Mr. Castle off the ventilator, and hope to have it completely removed by late this afternoon or early this evening. Ms. Beckett will need a few more days of bedrest before she can get up and around."

"Good luck with that, Doctor," Gates said. "Once Mr. Castle is up and moving, Beckett will be too." The others all spoke their agreement with the Deputy Chief.

"I'm all for positive motivation, but she shouldn't try to do too much too soon," Dr. Gallison said.

"We'll help you all we can, Dr. Gallison," Lanie said, "but believe us, we know firsthand how stubborn Kate can be, especially when it comes to Castle."

Dr. Gallison's beeper went off then. He was being paged to the ER for an emergency. "I'll check back later. Remember, two visitors at a time."

"Gram, Mr. Beckett, why don't you go first?" Alexis asked. It wasn't that she didn't want to see her dad and Kate, but she needed to go over what she wanted to say to them, especially to Kate, a bit more in her head before she saw them.

"We can keep watch again and let all three of you go in there like yesterday," Ryan offered.

"Thanks, Detective Ryan, but now that Dad and Kate are awake, we'd better stick to the rules," Alexis said.

"I don't mind waiting if you want to go in first, Alexis," Jim said.

 _James Beckett, so help me God, you'd better not be chickening out about Katie,_ he heard Johanna whisper exasperatedly.

 _I'm not chickening out about anything, Johanna, I promise you,_ Jim thought. _But I won't be the one to keep Alexis from her father._

"Thanks, Mr. Beckett, but I'll wait for now," Alexis said.

"If you're sure," Jim said.

"I am," Alexis replied. "Go on in."

Martha didn't have to be told twice. Jim, taking Alexis at her word, followed Martha into the room.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Thank you again and again to everyone reading, reviewing, and following. And for the guests to whom I cannot directly respond, a couple of quick notes: I will keep writing this story until my muse says it is finished, but we have a long way to go before that time as of right now.**_

 _ **Secondly, to the person who said that when Alexis broke up Meredith and Gina's press conference, the press would have known who she was, my impression from the show was always that while the press may have known that Castle had a daughter, Alexis didn't do publicity for her dad's books or really talk to the press directly, in my recollection. Castle would definitely have shielded Alexis from the press as much as he could because that's just the kind of terrific dad he is.**_

 _ **A short update now to get you through the next few days. I hope you enjoy it.**_

* * *

Martha went to Kate's bedside first. "You gave us quite a scare, Katherine," she said, leaning down to carefully hug Kate. Kate carefully hugged Martha back. When Martha broke the hug, she saw the look on Richard's face and what he clearly wanted to say: _"What am I, chopped liver?"_

"You both gave us quite a scare," Martha said as she went to her son's bedside to give him a careful hug.

"Martha, I promise you, I... **we** ," Kate corrected herself, "will do everything in our power not to scare you like this again." She looked at her own father now. "None of you," she said.

Jim stepped forward and leaned down to kiss Kate's cheek. "Let's just focus on getting you and Rick recovered and back on your feet for now," Jim said.

"No, Dad," Kate surprised everyone by saying. "I mean it." She looked over at Castle, then met her father's gaze squarely before continuing, "There are some things Rick and I have to discuss...a **lot** of things...but it's not going to be like it has been. No more scares like this." She reached out for Jim's hand, and, surprised, he slipped his hand into hers, trying to remember when the last time Kate had given him her hand to hold was.

Jim felt the tears welling up in his eyes, wondering if Katie was saying what it sounded to him like she was saying. He didn't bother to try to hide them. He coughed, then cleared his throat, but was at a complete loss for words.

"You and I have a lot of things to discuss too," Kate said then. "Because you and me, Dad...I don't want **us** to be like it has been either. We can do better. We can **be** better. And I want that."

"I want that too," Jim said, his voice thick with emotion.

"Is there anything we can bring you, or get for you?" Martha asked then, looking from Richard to Katherine and back again.

"I don't think they're going to let us have real food just yet, let alone coffee," Kate said.

Castle began waving his left hand exaggeratedly then. "Did you think of something?" Kate asked him. "I think Dr. Gallison took the pad and pen with him."

Castle grunted, holding up his left hand, his palm facing himself, and waggled his fingers. It took Kate a moment to realize that his ring finger was bare. A glance down at her own left hand confirmed that her wedding ring was gone as well.

The last time she had lost her wedding ring, Kelly Nieman had taken it. Rather than revisit that particular nightmare, Kate focused on the fact that she didn't have her wedding ring now, and she really needed it. "My wedding ring!" she exclaimed. "And Rick's wedding ring! Where are they? We have to have them!"

"I'll get them for you," Jim said, heading for the door.

"You two couldn't wear them into surgery," Martha explained.

Jim returned a moment later with his right hand closed into a tight fist. He extended his arm and opened his hand to reveal Kate and Rick's wedding rings resting in his palm.

Kate breathed an audible sigh of relief, then groaned, because breathing that forcefully pulled at her abdominal stitches. Undeterred, she plucked Rick's wedding ring from her father's palm and Martha deftly stepped back as Rick extended his left hand. Kate slid the ring back on his finger, then smiled at him. His eyes beamed back at her.

Jim moved closer to Rick, and Rick picked up Kate's wedding ring from Jim's palm. He frowned slightly as he realized that Kate's right side was the side of her body closest to his. Kate struggled to a sitting position once more. "Easy there," Martha said as she helped Kate sit up. Kate slowly moved her left arm across her body. _Hello pain, my old nemesis,_ she thought. Rick leaned out the side of his bed as far as he could, Jim rushing to his side to steady him, lest he fall out of bed and hurt himself further, and with Martha helping Kate sit upright, and Jim helping Rick stay in his hospital bed, Rick slid Kate's wedding ring back into place. The feel of the cool metal band that she felt naked without now, after almost two years of wearing it, helped steady and calm her, as much as the man who had given it to her almost two years ago did, then, now, and for always. She smiled back at him, and then their parents helped get them settled back in their beds.

"You have a lot of other people waiting to see you," Martha said then, "but we'll be just outside."

"We'll have that talk whenever you're ready, Katie," Jim told his daughter.

"Okay," Kate agreed. As Martha and Jim headed for the door, Kate called, "Dad?" Jim turned back to look at her. "I just wanted to say that I love you."

"I love you too, Katie," Jim replied, smiling a smile at her that reached his eyes.

After Jim and Martha emerged into the hallway, Alexis and Lanie went in next. Lanie greeted Kate and Castle with a hearty, "You two look like hell."

"It's nice to see you too, Lanie," Kate replied, but she mustered a small smile.

"Hey, we're all just relieved that you're still **here** to look like hell," Lanie said. "How are you feeling?"

"The pain is familiar," Kate said.

"Well, don't think you're shutting yourself off from everybody again to recover, because we're not gonna let you get away with that. We know you have each other this time, but you have all of us too," Lanie said.

"That's right," Alexis added.

"We won't," Kate promised.

Castle reached his hand out toward Alexis. Alexis stepped over so her dad could squeeze her hand, and she squeezed his hand back, hoping to reassure him. He looked at her with concern. "Speaking of looking like hell," Kate said, opting for truth over subtlety, concern for Alexis in her eyes as well, "you look exhausted, Alexis. You should go home and get some real sleep and some real food."

"I will later," Alexis stalled. She was dreading going back to the loft, and she wanted to talk to Kate and her dad before she left the hospital for even a little while.

"You two should be proud of this girl," Lanie said, stepping forward and putting an arm around Alexis's shoulders then. "Not only did she convince the doctors that the two of you needed to be in the same room, because we all know if you weren't, you'd just be crawling back and forth to each other's rooms the whole time, popping stitches and dragging IV lines behind you-"

"You're not wrong," Kate interrupted, and the look in Castle's eyes said that he agreed completely.

"...but when Meredith and Gina practically got into a catfight outside the hospital, Alexis put them both in their place, with a terrific assist from Gates," Lanie concluded.

Rick's eyes lit up at the words "Meredith," "Gina," and "catfight" in the same sentence. Kate knew exactly what her husband was thinking, but it didn't stop her from rolling her eyes as she asked the question she knew Rick would be blurting out if he could. "Is there video of this catfight?"

"No," Alexis said. Lanie, Alexis, and even Kate all laughed, Kate's laugh short and pained, at how quickly Castle deflated at this disappointment.

"Castle, it wasn't like they were pulling each other's hair and poking each other's eyes out," Lanie said with an eye roll of her own.

"What were they even doing here?" Kate asked.

Alexis's face hardened so fast, it surprised both Kate and Rick, but not Lanie. "They were trying to use your shooting as a means to their own ends," she said.

"Meaning Gina was trying to get publicity for the Nikki Heat books," Kate finished. "I get that. I don't like it, but I get it." The look on Castle's face mirrored Kate's words exactly, and she knew there would be hell for Gina to pay when Castle finally got to talk to Gina about this. "But I don't understand Meredith. What would she have to gain?"

"Oh, she was trying to play the concerned ex-wife, but in reality, she was just using your shooting to get her own name in the paper," Lanie scoffed. "I guess it's hard out there for no-talent actresses of a certain age."

"What did you say to them?" Kate asked Alexis. Rick was looking at his daughter curiously now, wondering the same thing.

Alexis shifted her weight back and forth from foot to foot. Kate and her dad were both staring at her intently now, and she wondered idly if they were this intent when they had a suspect in the interrogation room. "The truth," she said simply. "That they weren't wanted or needed here, and they should go."

Rick had no doubts about either Gina's or Meredith's motives, but he was concerned at how Alexis had taken Meredith being there, since he knew as well as Alexis did that Meredith was not there to console Alexis. She was too self-centered for that, for one thing, although Rick had always done his best not to badmouth Meredith to Alexis. But his little girl wasn't a little girl anymore, and she was certainly old enough and smart enough to understand that she didn't **have** to understand about Meredith's lack of presence in her life anymore if she didn't want to. He would be glad when this breathing tube was removed and he could talk to Alexis, and to Kate, and to everyone else, instead of having to scribble questions and promises on a pad of paper.

"And you got the hospital to put us in the same room?" Kate asked.

"I just knew you wouldn't want to be apart," Alexis said. "And Dr. Parrish is right. You would have hurt yourselves trying to get to each other if you were separated."

"I would have-" Kate started to say, then stopped.

"You would have what?" Lanie asked.

Alexis realized that Kate remembered what had happened in the overnight hours, when she had first woken up and thought Rick was dead. Kate and Alexis exchanged a look that confused both Lanie and Rick. "You wanna share with the rest of the class?" Lanie asked then. Rick looked concerned now as he gazed back and forth between his daughter and his wife.

"We'll talk about it later," Kate said, looking from Lanie to Rick as reassuringly as she could. She had been about to say, _I would have hurt myself trying to get to Castle when I thought he was dead_ , but she remembered that all too painfully clearly, and she knew that Lanie hadn't been here for those awful moments. But Alexis had...as had Kate's dad and Martha and Esposito. Why had Esposito been here then? That was something else they could figure out later.

Lanie wisely decided not to push, since she could see how tired Kate was getting, how much effort she was putting forth to appear like this was just some minor thing when they all knew just how major this was for both Kate and Castle.

"Well, I'm sure the boys will want to come in next, and Gates is out there too, and so's Jenny," Lanie said. She went over to give Kate a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and then she did the same to Castle. "I have to say, Castle, this is the longest I've ever known you to be silent." When Castle rolled his eyes at Lanie's observation and gestured to the breathing tube down his throat, Lanie chortled with glee. "I guess it's true what they say," she said. "When couples have been together for a long time, they start acting like each other, because that was a patented Beckett eye roll if I ever saw one. Don't make it a habit, though, Castle. It doesn't look as right on you as it does on Kate." And then, with careful hugs for both Kate and Castle, Lanie left not only the room but the hospital, to fulfill her promise to bring back coffee and pastries for everyone else.

"We'll send Detectives Esposito and Ryan in next," Alexis said. She hugged and kissed both Rick and Kate before leaving the room.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, all of you. This chapter officially marks the beginning of some of the changes. Not that I think they're bad changes (and I hope you won't either), but rest assured, a lengthy chapter of Kate and Rick discussing everything is forthcoming. In the meantime, here's the next chapter, and I hope you stick with this story. I have a lot of plans for everyone, to varying degrees, Kate and Rick the most, obviously.**_

* * *

Ryan and Espo came in next. "It is really good to see the two of you awake," Ryan greeted them. "It was just too strange seeing you both silent and not moving, because that's not who you are."

"We're glad to be awake too," Kate replied. "And really glad to see you guys. To see everyone."

"And we are really glad to be able to tell you that we got 'em all," Esposito reported then. "LokSat is over and done. They won't be coming after you anymore."

"Really?" Kate asked, feeling freer than she had felt since this whole LokSat mess had landed in her lap.

"Really," Ryan replied. "We checked everything out ourselves, and Gates made sure it stayed in-house. The threat is gone. It's over, Beckett, Castle. It's finally completely over."

Castle trained his gaze on the ceiling, trying to hide the tears in his eyes at the fact that the whole LokSat mess was truly over, that no one would be trying to kill Kate anymore, or coming after them, or threatening Alexis or his mother or Kate's father or anyone else they cared about.

"Castle, bro, you all right?" Esposito asked, seeing Castle's rapid blinking.

"Rick?" Kate asked, concerned.

He turned his head to look at her, and she saw the tears and realized what they were: relief that this nightmare was finally and truly over.

"I know," she said softly, feeling tears start to well up in her own eyes.

For the first time in what felt like forever, nothing and no one was out to get her and Rick. They no longer had targets on their heads. Their loved ones were not in mortal danger because of them any longer.

Her mother was right, Kate reflected. This was _**finally**_ her and Rick's life, _**their**_ future, with no threats and no shadows hanging over them, and no armed criminals wanting them dead.

Kate didn't know everything she wanted for her and Rick's future yet, but they had the greatest gift of all: the time to talk it all through and figure it all out together.

"Okay, we're used to seeing Mom and Dad fighting, and Mom and Dad looking at each other with goo-goo eyes, but Mom and Dad crying? That's throwing us," Ryan admitted.

"Do we need to get a nurse or a doctor?" Esposito asked, concerned. "Or do you want us to leave for a while and come back?"

"It's fine, Kevin, Javi," Kate said. "Better than fine. These are relieved tears. The targets are off our backs, and you two and everyone else we care about are safe now too."

Ryan and Esposito were even more thrown by the fact that Beckett had just addressed them by their first names than they were by the teary eyes, since tears from Beckett and Castle were rare. "You're sure you're okay?" Ryan asked.

Castle grunted to get everyone's attention, and then made the 'OK' sign, his thumb and forefinger in a circle, and held it up for all to see.

"We are," Kate said, somewhat dazedly, as if she were only just realizing for herself just how okay she and Rick were, how okay they were going to be.

"Jenny wants to say hi," Ryan said.

"And Gates is still waiting to see you," Esposito added.

Kate wiped at her eyes. "Send them in," she said. "We'll talk more later."

Esposito nodded before he and Ryan left the room, letting Jenny and Deputy Chief Gates know that they could go in.

"What do you think?" Ryan asked Esposito quietly after Jenny and Gates had gone in to see Beckett and Castle.

"I think Beckett's had enough," Esposito said. "I think we're not gonna be working with her and Castle much longer."

"That's the impression I got too," Ryan said. He paused. "It's really gonna be weird not having them at the precinct."

"Yeah," Esposito agreed, "but they've gotta do what they've gotta do. And like you said, Beckett taught us everything we know, and we couldn't have learned from anybody better."

Ryan sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "It feels like the whole team is breaking up. First Gates got promoted, now Beckett and Castle are probably leaving, you passed the sergeant's exam and I didn't..."

"So take it again," Esposito replied. "There's another one scheduled in September. I'll help you study this time."

"I can help you study, too." Both men turned to look when Alexis spoke. "I'm only taking two classes this summer, so I have the time, and I'd really like to help, if you'll let me."

"I failed it once," Ryan said.

"Have Kate and Dad taught you nothing?" Alexis asked, surprised. "So you failed the test once. Is there some limit on how many times you can take it?"

"No," Esposito answered for Ryan.

"So take it again." Alexis echoed Esposito's words from just a moment ago. "We'll help you study. We have the whole summer, right?"

Ryan looked from Esposito to Alexis and back again. "Well..." he hedged.

"Bro, I'm just gonna keep asking until you say yes," Esposito said.

"And I'm really good at studying. I know all kinds of memorization tricks and devices to help you retain even the most abstract information," Alexis added.

"All right," Ryan said, raising his hands in surrender. "You talked me into it."

"Good," Esposito said, "because you're my partner, Ryan. And I already decided that I don't move up until you do."

"I'm not sure that's how it works, Javi," Ryan said.

"Beckett may have cornered the market on stubborn and relentless," Esposito said, "but she's not the only one capable of those things. I don't move up until you do." The look on his face said that particular subject was closed, and Ryan knew better than to argue with Espo when he got like this.

"We can work out a study schedule," Alexis said. "I'll need a few days, but I can tell you right now that evenings and weekends will be best for me. Oh, and Thursday afternoons will work too."

"It can wait at least until your dad and Beckett are out of the hospital," Ryan said. "They and your own classes are your top priority."

"Yes, but I want to help you, Detective Ryan, and I need something else to do besides focusing on my summer courses and helping Dad and Kate. I know we can work this out," Alexis said.

"Yes, we will," Esposito agreed. "And the next time you take that test, you're gonna ace it."

"A passing grade is all I want," Ryan replied.

"You'll get it, Detective Ryan," Alexis said determinedly. She was glad to have this to focus on now, in addition to whatever help her dad and Kate would need from her with their recovery (which, of course, they wouldn't even have to ask for, although she would let them know when she talked to them later that she would do anything they asked of her, whatever they needed her to do, to help them get back on their feet again). Helping Detective Ryan just felt right to her. Her dad and Kate both thought so highly of him, and he was part of their family.

In Beckett and Castle's ICU room, Jenny talked a mile a minute. "We're all so relieved you're okay," she said. "Or, well, I guess I should say that you're gonna be okay. I'll never forget how you waited with me and Lanie when Kevin and Javi were trapped in that building and I had to give birth to Sarah Grace by myself in the back of that ambulance. You're so important to Kevin and me...to all of us. And we want Sarah Grace and Nicholas to grow up and get to know their Aunt Kate and Uncle Rick, how smart and brave and kind and loyal you are."

"We want that, too," Kate said. Castle flashed a thumbs up as a way of agreeing with Kate.

Gates regarded both of them for a long moment before speaking. "Captain Beckett, Mr. Castle, it's good to see you both awake."

"It's good to be awake, sir," Beckett replied, looking over at Castle, who waved his extended thumb as vigorously as he could in agreement..

"I trust that Detectives Esposito and Ryan have told you that you're in the clear, that LokSat is no more," Gates said, stating it as a fact, not a question.

"Yes, sir, they did," Kate said. As hard as she tried, the inscrutable mask she wore as Captain Beckett slipped for just a fraction of a second, and Kate wasn't even completely aware that it had slipped.

But Gates saw that something in Beckett's eyes for just a fraction of a second, and that was when she knew. That was the moment that Gates knew that this time, Kate Beckett wouldn't be returning to the 12th Precinct, or the NYPD, at all. This close call was **too** close for her.

And maybe, because of just how close this close call had been, Beckett had finally come to see that there was more to her life than her work.

Gates, like Beckett, came from a family where law and justice were of paramount importance. She followed her father and uncles to the police academy. Like Beckett, she was tough and stoic, and driven to get justice for those who deserved it, for those who needed it. And like Beckett, there was another side to Victoria Gates that only her husband and her family saw, a softer side, a side that was able to set the badge aside in her off hours and be simply Victoria, the wife, the daughter, the niece.

Gates had doubted for a long time that Beckett ever set the badge aside. Then, when she saw Beckett with Castle, she knew that if ever anyone would be able to get Beckett to do that, it would be Castle.

Due to her reputation, her ingrained by-the-book practices bred by decades on the force, and with Internal Affairs, Gates rarely got close to those who served under her command. Even now, she knew that Beckett and Castle had no idea how much she truly cared about them, how happy she was for them when they first announced their engagement and then their wedding, and how deeply relieved she was now that they had both survived the attempt on their lives by LokSat.

Gates hadn't been through as many traumas as Beckett had, and she had found her soulmate when she was considerably younger than Beckett. Of course, Gates and her husband didn't spend four years dancing around their attraction and poorly hiding their true feelings for each other before acting on them, either.

But when Victoria Gates looked at Kate Beckett now, she saw that the badge was the last thing on Beckett's mind. And her intuition told her that Beckett wouldn't be wearing that badge for much longer.

It was always a shame to lose a good cop, no matter what the reason, and cops didn't come any better than Kate Beckett.

But there came a time when every officer reached the end of their watch. And although it wouldn't be official for several weeks, Gates instinctively knew that Beckett had reached the end of her watch, that she would walk away from the job to live her life with Castle without the constant presence of threats and dangers, without the constant fear that one or both of them could be shot again, or killed.

And while Gates would be genuinely sorry to accept Beckett's resignation, she would wish her-and Castle-nothing but the best.

And, Gates also knew, this would not be the last that the great city and state of New York heard from Katherine Beckett. The state senate had been interested in her as a candidate not that long ago. Perhaps they still were.

Whatever Beckett chose to do next in her professional life, though, Gates knew two things for sure: Beckett would be a smashing success, and Castle would be right there beside her, like he always was.

Gates looked at Castle now. "Mr. Castle," she said, "are you familiar with the expression 'Silence is golden'?"

Castle, who would later blame the drugs for this, gave Gates a very annoyed look, raised his eyebrows, and gestured to his breathing tube in response. But Kate laughed so hard she gasped in pain, and that was when everything got serious. "I'll get a doctor!" Jenny exclaimed, rushing out of the room.

Castle looked both frantic and worried and started trying to get out of his own bed. "Stay where you are, Mr. Castle," Gates ordered as she rushed forward to Kate's side. "Did you tear any stitches, Kate?" she asked. "Do you need oxygen?"

Kate pressed her hand gingerly to her abdomen. "I-I don't...don't...think so," she said, her breathing harsh.

True to her word, Jenny returned with Dr. Gallison, who had finished with his case in the ER. "Ms. Beckett?" he asked, as Gates dropped back to let him check out Kate for himself.

"I just...laughed too hard," Kate said.

Meanwhile, with the others all focused on Kate, Castle worked himself into a sitting position and then slowly swung his legs over the side of his bed, and once he had his feet planted on the floor, he stood, experiencing the worst head rush of his life from being in bed for so long. The room was spinning, but he focused on Kate, knowing he needed to be at her side. The floor was cold on his bare feet, and he took one step of the three or four he estimated he would need to get to Kate's bedside. So far, so good.

The second step came more easily, but Jenny busted him when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, turned around to look, and exclaimed, "Castle! You're not supposed to be out of bed yet, are you?"

Everyone else's gaze followed Jenny's to Castle, standing a couple of steps away from his bed...so close to Kate, but still too far away.

Which was the moment Castle started coughing uncontrollably. "Rick?" Kate asked fearfully, breathlessly.

Dr. Gallison assisted Castle back to his bed, sitting him down on the edge of the bed with one hand while pushing the call button for the nurse with the other. "It's all right," he said authoritatively. "Everything is all right. He's fighting the tube, and that spontaneous cough right there means that he is ready to extubate."

A nurse came bustling in then. "Yes, Dr. Gallison?" she asked.

"We're ready to remove Mr. Castle's breathing tube," he told her. "Would you do the honors, please?"

"We'll be right outside, Captain Beckett, Mr. Castle," Gates said as she herded the surprised Jenny out the door ahead of her.

When they returned to the hall, Alexis practically pounced on them. "What's happening? What's going on? We saw the doctor go running in there and then a nurse went rushing in and-"

" **BREATHE** , Miss Castle," Gates ordered, stopping Alexis mid-sentence. Alexis fell silent as if a switch had been thrown. "They're removing your father's breathing tube, that's all. It's a good thing." Everyone exchanged looks and breathed sighs of relief at this update from Gates.

In their ICU room, Kate watched anxiously as the nurse made Rick lie back so she could remove the breathing tube, suctioning down the tube first, then suctioning Rick's mouth, before finally removing the entire apparatus. Rick's entire frame was wracked with coughs by this, but the nurse assured them both that that was supposed to happen. A moment later, Rick was wearing a nasal cannula oxygen mask identical to Kate's, and the coughing subsided enough for him to take a sip of water.

He sat up again, ignoring the nurse's exasperated, "We're still monitoring you closely, Mr. Castle! You need to rest!" to scoot to the edge of his bed and hold out both his hands toward Kate.

Kate, ignoring her own physical pain, copied his actions, and when their hands met, she threaded the fingers of both of her hands through the fingers of both of his hands.

Then Rick smiled wanly, gazed at Kate lovingly, and said very hoarsely, "Hi."

Kate couldn't keep the smile from her face, or the lone, traitorous tear that escaped the corner of one eye, tracking down her cheek, as she replied, "Hi."

"We'll leave you two for now," Dr. Gallison said, not that they paid the least bit of attention to him as they sat there on the edges of their separate hospital beds, holding each other's hands, looking deeply into each other's eyes, and matching each other breath for breath.

"I love you, Kate," Rick said, kissing first the back of one of her hands and then the back of her other hand.

"I love you too, Rick," Kate replied, squeezing his hands as she resolved to say those words to him more often from now on. "And we have a lot to talk about." She was smiling as she said it, though. No more running, no more hiding, no more shutting down. She would never match Castle when it came to loquaciousness, but she had learned, throughout their years together so far, that not talking to him was not good for them or their relationship.

They had a future to plan...both of them, together.

Castle was looking at Kate in awe, knowing, as she did, that their life together was a blank page now, waiting for them to fill it up, with nothing and no one holding them back, no fears for their own lives or those of their loved ones, no fears at all, because with Kate Beckett by his side, fear held no meaning for Richard Castle...and he knew that Kate felt exactly the same way when it came to him.

"Yes," he agreed, smiling back at her, "we do."

From her spot in the corner, unseen, Johanna Beckett watched her daughter and son-in-law, and she smiled. It had taken decades of pain and sacrifice, but Katie was finally where she was meant to be.

And for that, Johanna gave thanks.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Infinite thanks to all of you for embracing this story in a way I hadn't even dared to dream you would. I hope you continue to enjoy the ride.**_

* * *

What could have been mere moments, or several hours, later, the door to Rick and Kate's ICU room opened, and Alexis peered around it. "Is it okay for me to come in?" she asked tentatively.

"Absolutely, pumpkin," Rick said, his voice still hoarse. "But you should really go home and get some real sleep and some real food."

"Soon," Alexis promised. "I really need to talk to you guys first."

Alexis moved the visitor's chair from beside Rick's bed to in between Rick and Kate's beds so that she was facing both of them and could look at them both while she spoke. Rubbing her palms nervously on her jeans-clad thighs, she took a deep breath, then, her gaze taking in both her father and her stepmother, opened her mouth to speak.

"I didn't get it until recently," Alexis began. "You two. This whole thing. I thought I did, but I really didn't. I guess I needed to grow up some more before I really understood it. But now I do. I finally do."

Kate and Rick exchanged a look, then both looked back at Alexis. "Understand what, exactly?" Kate asked. Neither she nor Rick was sure where Alexis was going with this.

"How much you two truly love each other. How far you would go for each other, to keep each other safe, to save each other's lives," Alexis said. She looked at Kate now. "There were times when I was younger that I was so mad at you, Kate. I was mad that Dad kept putting himself in danger to be near you. But now I know that it wasn't you. Well, it was, but it wasn't." She chuckled a bit nervously. "This all makes a lot more sense in my head, I swear it does. It's just been a really long 24 hours."

"We can talk about this later, Alexis, after you've had some real sleep," Rick offered.

"No, Dad, we can't," Alexis said urgently, turning to look at him now. "This can't wait one more day, not one more minute. It's waited too long already." Then Alexis surprised both Rick and Kate by leaving her chair to sit on the edge of Kate's bed.

"I don't remember my parents being married to each other," Alexis began. "But I do know that from a very young age, my mother has always just flitted in and out of my life whenever it was convenient for her, so I knew from the time I was little onward that I couldn't depend on her to be there for me, the way I've always been able to depend on Dad to be there for me.

"And when Dad married Gina... Since I've been old enough to really understand it, I've felt that Dad's marriage to Gina was a matter of propinquity."

"Propinquity," Kate repeated.

"Yeah," Alexis replied. "Proximity. She was his publisher, before Paula she was his agent, so they were always talking, they'd see each other, he was single, she was single, and Gina was just...there. But even when they were married, Gina and I never got very close emotionally. Some of that was Dad's doing. Subconsciously, I think he knew it wouldn't last for very long, and he was protecting me, like he always does. He didn't want me to get hurt when Gina left. I was too little to really be hurt when my mother left. And then over the years, I got used to not having her around, and her being too flighty and self-involved to have any true concept of what a mother is supposed to be. But I had Dad, and I had Gram, and that was all I needed.

"Looking back, I don't think Gina and I ever would have gotten close emotionally even if Dad had allowed it, because Gina isn't a very 'mother-ish' kind of person. She's all about the books, the business, the way my mother is all about herself." She paused, then looked at her father. "I know that Meredith loves me as much as she's capable of loving anyone, Dad. And you never talked her down or badmouthed her to me or put me in the middle of you two, and that's a gift that not every kid whose parents are divorced gets. Believe me, I know. I used to hear all kinds of horror stories growing up from my friends whose parents were divorced, and I couldn't relate, but I didn't really want to relate to that kind of pain. Thank you for making sure I never had to."

"I'm your dad, that was my job," Castle replied, but at the same time he felt relief that he had succeeded in this very important aspect of parenthood.

Alexis turned her head to look at Kate again, then continued speaking. "At first, I thought you were 'Gina: The Sequel,' that Dad was spending all that time with you because you were there. And then I thought he was spending so much time with you because he was attracted to you, and then I realized that he was spending as much time as he possibly could with you because he loves you. But the longer it went without anything happening between the two of you, the more I thought that you were giving him the runaround, or stringing him along, and then I was mad at you for **that.**

"But I was wrong, Kate. I was **so** wrong, about all of it, and I'm so ashamed now that I ever, for even one second, thought any of those horrible, and totally wrong, things about you. You're nothing like Gina, or Meredith. You could never be like them. But for the longest time, I didn't know that in here." She placed a hand over her heart. "But now I do. I finally do."

She paused for a beat before continuing, still addressing Kate. "You've never been anything but good to me. Whenever I've come to you for advice, you've given it, and it's been really great advice. When I've come to you for help, you've helped me every time, willingly.

"And all these years, through so many things...probably at least half of which I don't even know about, and I don't even **want** to know about now...you have kept my dad safe, and you have always, **always** brought him back to us in one piece, no matter what."

Alexis reached for Kate's hand now, holding it in both of hers and looking her right in the eyes. "When Meredith and Gina were causing trouble outside the hospital earlier, I told Meredith that you have been more of a mother to me in the last eight years than she has been in my entire life. And after I said the words, I realized how true they are."

Both Rick's and Kate's expressions softened at this. "Alexis..." Kate said, touched beyond words.

"You're different, Kate. You have been all along. Dad saw it first...right away, I think," Alexis said, looking over at Rick for a moment before returning her attention to Kate once more. "He'd been going through the motions for quite a while, and then you showed up at that book party and flashed your badge at him and took him in for questioning, and a couple of days after that, I saw him smiling again, his **real** smile, not the one he puts on for the press. And he was bouncing around the house like Tigger, and he was playing with his phone, which I didn't think anything of at the time, until I passed by him while he was sitting on the couch with his phone and I glanced over his shoulder and saw that he was entering your name and cell number in his contact list. After I saw that, thinking I knew all the answers because I was 15 and that's how you think when you're 15, I asked Dad, 'So, you're going out with the lady detective that hauled you away from the book party the other night?'"

"And he looked at me in all seriousness, completely earnest, Kate... Have you ever told her this story, Dad?" Alexis interrupted herself, looking over at Rick again.

"No," he replied, and both Alexis and Kate were surprised to see that he looked genuinely sheepish at this.

"Eight years, and you've never told Kate this story?" Alexis asked, shocked. She glanced back at Kate before returning her attention to her father. "Maybe I shouldn't, then. It's not my place."

"Actually, I think it **is** your place," Rick replied.

"You're sure?" Alexis asked.

Kate was losing patience now. "One of you better tell me!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sure," Rick replied.

Alexis nodded, more to herself than her father, and returned her attention to Kate. "So Dad is looking at me so seriously, so earnestly, with something in his eyes that I'd never seen before in all my life. I didn't know then what it was, but now I do. He said to me, 'No, pumpkin, I'm not going out with Detective Beckett. She wouldn't have me now.'"

"And then, it wasn't long after that that Dad told Gram and me that you had a wall built around yourself, and he was going to go over it, or through it, or tunnel under it, whatever it took, but he would get past that wall someday. He never did that with anyone else before. He never even wanted to. But with you, he would never give up. He never will give up when it comes to you, Kate. And before you, the only people he felt that way about were Gram and me." She looked embarrassed now. "Some of it was jealousy on my part too, at least when I younger. You were the first serious relationship of my dad's life. I didn't want to deny him that, but I didn't always give you and Dad and your relationship the respect it deserved, and that was wrong of me. And he did get past the wall eventually."

"Yeah, he did," Kate agreed, looking over at Castle before returning her gaze to Alexis.

"It's supposed to be a cliche," Alexis continued. "'There's nothing I wouldn't do for her...' or 'him.' It's this grand, romantic phrase, and for everybody else, it's just words. But not for you two. I've seen it so many times, and I know it, **really** know it, now, in a way that I couldn't before. There is literally nothing you two would not do for one another, because **that's** how much you love each other. You're two halves of the same whole. You were born to be a couple. I'm just sorry that it took so long for me to really understand that. I only hope that one day, I'm as blessed as you are and I find a love like the two of you have with each other."

Alexis looked over at her dad and, feeling the tears well up in her eyes, didn't even bother trying to hide them. "I've always known how lucky I am to have the dad I have," she said as she looked at Rick. Then she shifted her gaze back to Kate as she continued, "But I'm really lucky to have you as my mother figure too, Kate, and now I can finally say, and know that you hear me, and that you know that I mean it, that I love you, Kate. I love you almost as much as Dad loves you, because nobody will ever love you as much as he does." Then she shifted, moving closer, and the next thing Kate knew, her arms were full of Alexis, hugging her carefully. Kate's arms went around Alexis, hugging her back, as Rick looked at the two of them, misty-eyed himself.

"I love you too, Alexis," Kate said, blinking back tears of her own. "I always have, and I always will. And I'm honored that you think of me as a mother figure."

They held the hug for a long moment before Alexis released Kate, still sitting on the edge of her bed. "For all the times I was snotty to you, Kate..." Alexis looked over at her father now. "...and for all the times I gave you a hard time about Kate, Dad, I am so, so sorry. You deserved better from me."

"Alexis, there is nothing to forgive," Kate said. "You were just being protective of your father, and of his heart. I understand that. I respect you for it. And I was a teenage girl once myself. It's not an easy time for anyone, and you were scared that your dad was putting himself in danger by being around me so much. And it had been just the two of you for so long...We all had adjustments to make. It had been just me for so long before I met your dad. If I had been in your shoes, I would have felt and acted exactly the way you did."

"Dad has never loved anyone...could never love anyone...the way he loves you. You're the one he was waiting for all along," Alexis said. "And in you, I have the mother I never even knew I wanted...until now." She brushed at her eyes, and Kate and Rick both had tears in their eyes now too. "You're the one Dad was waiting for, Kate. You're the one that we both needed for so long, and it was worth the wait. **You** were worth the wait."

Kate looked from Alexis to Rick and back again. "So was your dad, and so were you. I never thought I'd have anything like this. I never thought I'd have a family. I didn't think I wanted one after I lost my mother. But this... This is what I was waiting for." She looked at Rick again now. "You were what I was waiting for, Castle. You, and Alexis, and Martha."

There was a knock at the door then, and the door swung open to reveal Martha standing there. "Is everything all right?" she asked.

"Everything's terrific, Gram," Alexis replied. She gave Kate one more hug and kiss on the cheek, then moved over to give Castle a hug and a kiss.

"And now that it is," Rick said hoarsely, "I want the two of you to go home and get some real sleep and some actual food."

"Are you sure, Richard?" Martha asked anxiously.

"Yes," Rick replied. "You two have been here for more than a day by now, I would guess. You need real sleep and actual food, neither of which you will get here. Kate and I aren't going anywhere. We'll be here waiting when you come back, we promise."

"All right," Martha agreed, albeit reluctantly. "But we'll be back later. That's the one good thing about ICU: 24-hour visiting hours."

Kate knew that like her, Castle was thinking, "Lucky us," on the one hand. But on the other hand, it wasn't like they were in any condition to get started on expanding their family...yet. She felt a few butterflies in her stomach at this, wondering how much longer it would be before her gynecologist arrived. She and Rick had time now for all the things they'd been putting off before, which reminded her of the two most important things she wanted to talk to him about. Of course, she needed to talk to her gynecologist first before she and Rick could talk about having a baby.

"Oh!" Alexis exclaimed, bringing Kate back to the present. "That reminds me. I had one more thing I wanted to ask you guys."

"No, you may not have any boys over unsupervised while we're in the hospital," Rick said.

All three women rolled their eyes at him, but Castle couldn't keep the goofy grin off his face.

"Okay, I'm actually serious here," Alexis said, looking nervous again. She looked from Rick to Kate and back again. "I want to redo the kitchen."

Now Rick and Kate looked at each other. They understood where Alexis was coming from. Kate spoke first. "I think that's a very good idea," she said. She gave Rick a rueful half-smile. "We don't need any more triggers than we already have."

"Triggers?" Martha asked, somewhat puzzled. She hadn't been there, had been spared that horrible, nightmarish scene that would never completely leave Alexis's mind, or Kate and Rick's minds either.

"PTSD triggers, Mother," Rick said quietly.

Martha uttered a silent "Oh."

"Go to it," Castle told Alexis. "You have our blessing."

"I was thinking the fridge and the sink can stay, but everything else will be brand new, especially the floor," Alexis said.

"Yes, the floor," Kate said emphatically. "Start with the floor." Castle nodded his agreement, not wanting to have to look at the floor where he had fallen, where Kate had fallen and crawled to him, where they had lain bleeding until the cavalry arrived.

"I'll get started on it right now," Alexis said.

"No, you'll get started on some sleep right now," Rick corrected her. "And some food. It doesn't matter what order you do them in, eat and then sleep, or sleep and then eat, but that's what you're going to do first. Then you can start remodeling the kitchen."

"I'll bring my laptop the next time I come, or maybe tomorrow, so you guys can pick out what you want," Alexis said.

"Sounds like a plan," Rick said. "And going home to eat and sleep goes for you too, Mother."

"A nap in an actual bed does sound like a good idea," Martha admitted.

The others were still lingering in the corridor outside the open door to Beckett and Castle's room, and Esposito stood in the entrance to the room now. "I'll make sure they get home safe, Beckett, Castle," he promised.

"Thank you, Espo," Kate said. "For everything."

Esposito nodded. "We're family," he said softly. Then he looked at Martha and Alexis. "Ladies, shall we?"

"We'll be back later," Martha said, going to hug and kiss Rick and Kate. Alexis was right behind her, and hugged and kissed her father and stepmother again.

"We'll be here," Rick said. They started to leave but Rick said, "Alexis?"

"Yeah, Dad?" she asked, turning back to look at him.

"How **did** you get the hospital to agree to put Kate and me in the same room?" he asked.

"I told them that an exception should be made because Kate's a highly decorated NYPD Captain and you're a New York Times bestselling author," Alexis replied, "and everyone else backed me up." Martha and Esposito murmured their confirmation of Alexis's explanation. After a beat, Alexis continued, "But if that hadn't worked, I was going to donate a wing to the hospital, figuring then they couldn't possibly turn me down."

"That's my girl," Castle said proudly.

Alexis smiled back at him, a tired smile, but a genuine smile. "I'll be back to see you two later tonight," she promised. "I love you both."

"We love you too," Kate said, feeling emboldened enough to speak for both herself and Rick.

"All of you," Rick added.

After Esposito had left with Martha and Alexis, Kate called for her dad. Jim entered the room. "Yes, Katie? Can I get you or Rick anything?" he asked anxiously.

"You can go home and get some sleep and something to eat," Kate replied. "Alexis and Martha are going to do that right now, and you need to do it too, Dad." Before he could protest, she said, "I haven't forgotten that I want us to talk. I'm not going anywhere. We **will** have our talk, after you've had something to eat and some actual sleep, I promise."

Jim looked at Kate like he was afraid she was going to disappear, or at the very least, change her mind about talking to him, which only strengthened Kate's resolve to start rebuilding her relationship with her father in a more complete way. "We'll talk, Dad. I promise you we will, if not later today, then tomorrow. I'm not going anywhere this time, physically or emotionally. But I need to get my bearings a little bit before we talk, and you need some sleep and some food."

Jim nodded. "All right," he said. He stepped forward to give Kate a hug and a kiss, and he closed his eyes when she returned his hug carefully. "You get some rest too," he said as he released her.

"I will, Dad," Kate replied.

Jim then stepped over to Rick's bed, and rested his hand on Rick's good shoulder. "I'm really happy you're awake and going to be all right, Rick," he said, and Kate knew what her father wasn't saying: that he was relieved to know that she wouldn't have to go through what he had when Johanna had been cruelly, brutally taken from them.

"I'd never go anywhere without Kate," Rick told Jim earnestly. "Whatever we're in, we're in together, the whole way."

Jim smiled. "That's good to know," he said. "Very good to know." He removed his hand from Rick's shoulder and said, "I'll be back to see you both later."

"We'll be here," Kate said.

Jim gave Kate one more kiss, on the top of her head, and then took his leave.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Thank you to all who are reading and enjoying. And a special thanks to my guest reviewers for taking the time to let me know what you think. You continue to inspire this story. The talks that you're waiting for are coming up soon, but in the meantime...  
**_

* * *

"We're gonna take off now," Ryan said. He and Jenny were the next ones to stick their heads in the door. "But we'll see you guys later."

"Say hi to Sarah Grace and Nicholas for us," Kate said.

"Absolutely," Jenny promised, and then she and Kevin left.

After the Ryans' departure, the scent of hot coffee reached both Kate and Rick. "Who's trying to punish us?" Castle asked, only half jokingly.

"Hey! No fair bringing real coffee around people who can't have it yet!" Kate called.

Lanie stuck her head in the door. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "I went on a coffee and pastry run. I've gotten a few nasty phone calls from Perlmutter, though, so I'd better get back to the morgue. You two take it easy, and I'll be back later."

After Lanie left, Gates entered the room. "I have to get back to work," she said, "but I'll be by to check on you again later."

"Thank you, sir," Kate said.

"Yes, Deputy Chief Gates, thank you, for everything," Castle said seriously. "Especially for letting me hang around for so long...and for letting me come back after...well...you know."

"Detectives Ryan and Esposito were Captain Beckett's team, Mr. Castle," Gates replied. "You were her partner, long before I arrived at the 12th. And even if I had removed you, I know you would have found a way back in before long, because you are nothing if not creative and persistent, Mr. Castle."

"He is that, sir," Kate agreed, doing her best to hide her smile.

Gates smiled at them then, a real smile, surprising them both. "Rest easy," she said. "After all this time, and all you've been through, you've certainly earned it. The hard way, as usual, but you've earned it nonetheless." She turned to leave, but when she got to the door, she turned back and looked at them.

"Sir?" Kate asked, slightly puzzled.

Gates gave an almost imperceptible nod of her head. "Another time, Kate," she said. Then she left. Kate and Rick were both silent as they heard Gates' footsteps disappearing down the corridor.

"What do you think that's about?" Castle asked as soon as he and Kate were alone.

"She-" Kate started to say, but she was interrupted by the arrival of both her gynecologist and the respiratory therapist for Rick.

"Well, Mr...Castle," the respiratory therapist said, consulting the patient chart in her hand, "are you ready to take a spin around the floor?" She was young, blonde, and impossibly perky. "Not a literal spin, but we do need to get you up and moving, so I can see how long you're going to need that oxygen, and determine what kind of therapy program to set up for you. I'm Janine, by the way."

"Kate," Dr. Simone Elliott greeted her. "First, I'm glad you're going to be all right. Second, your trauma surgeon, Dr. Gallison, said that you requested a consult?"

"Yes," Kate began. She looked at Rick to find him already looking back at her.

"Looks like we'll have to have that talk later," he said regretfully.

"We'll have it," Kate vowed. "I swear to you, we will. As soon as we're alone."

Janine was helping Castle out of his bed, and she had brought a portable cart of some kind for his oxygen tank, which she was busily placing in said cart, and then she began disconnecting him from various machines, chattering on about how it was only temporary and she had already informed Dr. Gallison and all the nurses on duty, and then grabbing his IV pole and suggesting he hold onto it and push it as he walked the corridor.

"Until later, then," Castle said. Once he was on his feet, he looked at Janie and Dr. Elliott and said, "You ladies will have to excuse me for a moment, but it's been way too long since the last time I did this." Slowly, he made his way to Kate's bedside, using the IV pole to help keep himself steady. Then, when he was close enough, he leaned down, biting back a groan at the pain it caused to explode in his chest, and fused his lips to Kate's. It was a warm and tender kiss, no tongues, no hands involved, just his lips on hers, a reaffirmation and a promise of what they had and what they would always have. Kate kissed him back with all the energy and passion she could muster, and he reveled in the feel of her soft, warm lips against his, her kiss making her own promises of tomorrow, and next week, and next year, and the rest of their lives, filled with her, with them, with their love, for always.

When they pulled apart, he rested his forehead against hers for an all-too-brief moment. Then he whispered, so only she could hear, "I'm sneaking into your bed after lights out. Just giving you fair warning."

"I'll be waiting," she whispered back.

And then Castle was off to walk the halls with Janine, while Kate settled in for an intensive interrogation session, accompanied by a physical examination, to determine once and for all whether she and Rick could have a baby together.

* * *

As they got closer to the loft, Esposito noticed Alexis becoming more and more tense. Martha didn't look too certain herself, but seemed determined to soldier on. Castle's mother was a lot stronger than any of them gave her credit for, he thought, except maybe Castle and Beckett and Alexis.

When they arrived, and got out of the car, Alexis froze by the car. She just stared up at the windows of the loft and tried not to hyperventilate. Martha approached her granddaughter gently, carefully. "We have to face it sometime, darling," she told Alexis. "The longer we wait, the harder it will be."

Alexis swallowed hard. Images of her dad and Kate, bloody and losing consciousness but still holding onto each other in the only way they could at that awful moment, their hands clasped together, some guy leaned up against the dishwasher with his eyes open in the fixed stare of death... Alexis violently shook her head in a failed attempt to clear it. "I know," she said shakily. "I know we do. I'm just...not sure that I can."

"You can," Esposito told her quietly, matter-of-factly. "You know I wouldn't let you go up there if it wasn't safe, right?"

"That's not what I'm worried about," Alexis replied, almost unthinkingly. She was worried she'd have a panic attack or start hyperventilating or just crumple into unconsciousness when she saw the kitchen again because of the combination of physical exhaustion and nightmarish memories of the day before.

"You won't be alone, Alexis," Martha promised her. Then, taking her hand and gripping it tightly, she led Alexis to the entrance to the building with a look of grim determination on her face that was a stark contrast to Alexis's deer-in-the-headlights, terrified-out-of-her-mind-and-trying-desperately-not-to-give-in-to-the-terror expression, with Esposito following behind them.

When Martha unlocked the front door and stepped inside, hand in hand with Alexis, nothing seemed out of place. There was no smell of cordite in the air, no evidence whatsoever that a violent ambush had occurred here nearly 24 hours ago. Esposito softly closed the front door behind them and stood in the foyer, watching and waiting.

Swallowing hard again, Alexis let go of her grandmother's hand and, trembling all the way, slowly approached the exact spot where she and the others had found her dad and Kate just yesterday morning.

The first thing Alexis noticed was that everything had been thoroughly cleaned up. The faint smell of pine still hung in the air. The kitchen looked no different than it had every day prior to yesterday.

Then Alexis looked more closely at the exact spot where they had found her dad and Kate and instantly realized why it had looked different to her. "The floorboards are missing!" she exclaimed, surprised.

"Oh," Esposito said, coughing and then clearing his throat as he slowly walked forward to join Alexis and Martha. "Yeah. Well, I, ah, couldn't get those clean no matter how much or how hard I tried, so I finally decided it'd just be easier to pull 'em up. I'm guessing Beckett and Castle are gonna want to redo at least the floor anyway, so this way, they have a head start."

"You pried up the bloody floorboards?" Alexis asked, shocked.

"I'm sorry if I overstepped," Esposito began, holding his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender, "but I just couldn't get them clean."

"You cleaned up," Alexis realized. "You put everything back the way it was...or as close as you could get it, anyway. It was you." Then she realized something else. "That's how you were the first one at the hospital after they woke up and I texted everyone! You said you'd been nearby when you got my text. You were here! You were here, cleaning up!"

Esposito dipped his chin in a nod. "I was," he said.

"Why you, Detective?" Martha asked. "And how did you get in?"

"Somebody had to do it, Mrs. R.," Esposito replied. "I had the time, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to make myself useful, because I didn't want you and Alexis, or Beckett and Castle, having to come back here and see that. I knew it would be hard enough for all of you to walk through the door the first time without having that waiting for you. And Castle told me a while back that he'd hidden a spare key and where." He did not share with the ladies that the spare key was taped to the bottom of the stapler in Beckett's desk drawer at the 12th.

Alexis surged forward and hugged Esposito then. "Thank you," she said softly. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," Esposito said, giving Alexis a pat on the back.

"Let me add my thanks, Detective," Martha said, hugging him herself when Alexis released him. "And now, if you two will excuse me, I'm going to go and lie down for a while. I think now, I'll be able to sleep." She turned her attention to Alexis. "If you need me, darling, I'll be just upstairs, in my old room."

Alexis nodded. "Okay, Gram."

After Martha went upstairs, Esposito said, "So I guess you're next, huh?"

"I don't really feel like sleeping, or eating, right now," Alexis said. Esposito opened his mouth, but Alexis held up a hand and hurriedly said, "I know, you're gonna say the same thing Dad and Kate said, that I need to sleep and I need to eat. I know I do. I just...My system needs to come down a little further from all the tension and worry and adrenaline before I do. Does that make sense?"

"It makes perfect sense," Esposito replied.

"I think I'm just gonna hang out and watch a movie," Alexis said. She shifted her weight then. This was ridiculous, she chided herself. Gram was right upstairs. But if Gram could actually sleep, then Alexis should let her.

"What'd you have in mind?" Esposito asked. He moved into the living room and started checking out Castle and Beckett's collection of DVDs.

"Something funny," Alexis said.

And then Esposito saw it. "Perfect," he said. He pulled a DVD off the shelf and held it up for Alexis to see with a flourish.

" _Airplane!"_ she said.

"The greatest comedy movie of all time," Esposito said, cracking a smile. "Guaranteed to have you laughing until your sides ache."

"You really think _Airplane!_ is the greatest comedy movie of all time?" Alexis asked, interested.

"Yeah," Esposito said. "Ryan and I have had this argument so many times. Of course, Ryan's really into The Three Stooges and The Marx Brothers. It's not that he hates _Airplane!_ , he just thinks _Room Service_ is the funniest movie of all time."

"Dad and I have had this argument a million times ourselves. He likes _Airplane!,_ but he thinks _Spaceballs_ is funnier," Alexis replied. "And it is funny, just not as funny as _Airplane!_...which I also happen to think is the greatest comedy movie of all time."

"'Surely you can't be serious,'" Esposito quoted the movie, as serious as Robert Hays in the movie.

"'I am serious. And don't call me Shirley,'" Alexis concluded the scene, quoting Leslie Nielsen with just as much gravity as he had said those two sentences in the movie. Then she smiled, a bit self-consciously, and Esposito smiled back at her, not self-conscious at all.

" _Airplane!_ it is, then," Esposito said, heading to the TV and turning it and the DVD player on. After he had put in the videodisc, he looked over his shoulder at Alexis. "Do you mind if I stick around? I haven't seen this in a while, and I could use a good laugh today." He knew Alexis didn't want to be alone, and even though her grandmother was right upstairs, he also knew that she didn't want to bother her grandmother, or make her come downstairs, or even go upstairs herself and disrupt the sleep Martha so desperately needed.

"Yeah, sure, you're welcome to stay if you want to," Alexis replied, taking a seat on the couch and hoping she didn't sound too eager or relieved at his offer to stay, though she was both of those things.

Esposito settled himself in the chair. The movie began, and Alexis was sound asleep before the plane full of comically crazed characters who narrowly, and hilariously, avoided crashing was in the air. Esposito turned the volume on the TV down but left the movie playing, then slipped Alexis's shoes off and gently laid her down on the couch. She shifted slightly, stretching out, her head pillowed on one arm, then settled back into sleep.

He sat there for half the movie, his gaze cutting back and forth between the film and the sleeping Alexis. Then, restless himself, and finally convinced that Alexis was far enough into slumber that she probably wouldn't have a screaming nightmare, and if she did he'd be there to calm her down when she awoke, he moved into the kitchen and raided Castle and Beckett's refrigerator and cabinets before quietly putting together a pot of his grandmother's homemade chicken noodle soup for Alexis and Martha to eat when they woke up.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Thank you all so much for your continued enthusiasm and support for this story.**_

* * *

Kate figured she probably looked really goofy, but she couldn't stop smiling. Dr. Elliott had read her medical file, done an examination, and then given Kate the excellent news that there was no reason at all that she couldn't carry a healthy baby to term.

She and Castle were going to have kids. As soon as they were able, they were going to start trying.

Well, if he still wanted to, but based on his reaction to the news that she had requested a consult with her OB/GYN, she was certain he still wanted to.

When Rick walked into the room, his chest aching, slightly winded despite the oxygen, and having decided that the deceptively perky Janine could give Gates a run for her money in the stern and unyielding departments, the sight of Kate lying in bed with the goofiest grin he had ever seen on her face in all the years he'd known her made him forget everything but her.

She wouldn't be smiling like that if her gynecologist had given her bad news.

He felt his heart start pounding again. Was Kate going to tell him that she wanted to have a baby, that they **could** have a baby?

A baby. With Kate Beckett. A little Beckett-Castle combination with her mother's eyes and smile and stubborn streak. Every time he pictured himself and Kate with a baby of their own, he pictured a girl, partly because he had already raised a daughter, but mostly because he wanted a mini-Kate.

A boy would be great too, of course...although Castle didn't know how to be a father to a boy. But he knew that Kate would remind him that he had been a little boy once himself, and a lot of the time, he still **was** a little boy.

Kate had never actually said that she wanted a mini-Castle running around. He wondered if she did, if she ever thought about a little boy with blue eyes and a wild imagination who really would, eventually, be the 9-year-old on a sugar rush that she had complained to Montgomery Castle was back at the beginning of their partnership.

Or did Kate want a little girl too, someone with whom she could have the kind of mother-daughter relationship she'd had with Johanna, only with herself in the mother role this time instead of the daughter role?

Girl or boy, Castle knew, any child he and Kate had would be amazing.

Castle grumbling as Janine helped him get settled back in his own hospital bed and reattached him to the various machines they had left behind for his first walk down the hall and introductory respiratory therapy session brought Kate out of her reverie, and she looked at her husband in concern. "Are you okay, Castle?" she asked anxiously.

"He's fine," Janine assured Kate. "We're off to an excellent start. I'll be back tomorrow, Mr. Castle."

"Looking forward to it," Castle replied with a grin Kate knew was obviously phony. It fooled Janine, though, who left with a big grin and a wave. "Not," he said on a groan.

"That bad?" Kate asked sympathetically.

Castle turned his head to face her. "Forget the Cheerleader Barbie facade. That woman makes Gates look like a pussycat. She's Attila the Hun with a respiratory therapy certification."

Kate smiled ruefully. "I know it hurts, babe, but speaking from experience, that's what you need in a physical therapist, or a respiratory therapist...a therapist of any kind, really: someone who will push you beyond what you believe your limits of endurance are so that you can get back to where you need to be."

They were both quiet for a moment, and then Castle asked, "Am I allowed to hate that you know that firsthand? Not the Dr. Burke stuff, but the physical therapy?"

"I don't like having that particular firsthand knowledge," Kate admitted, "so yeah, you can hate it. I hate that you're gonna know what it's like now too." She looked at him more intently now. "But I have some news that I'm sure will make you feel a lot better...at least, I hope it will."

"Yeah?" Castle asked eagerly, all the traces of the strain from his first walk up and down the halls and session with Janine disappearing.

"Well, while you were with Janine, I was with Dr. Elliott," Kate said.

"And?" Castle asked, lacing his fingers together in his lap.

Kate beamed at him. "She said that everything is fine, and there's no reason at all that I can't get pregnant and carry a healthy baby to term."

The look on Rick's face in that moment was one Kate would remember for the rest of their lives. Pure, unadulterated joy, excitement, hope...and just the slightest hint of a question. "So then, you're saying..." he began.

"I'm saying I want to have little Castle babies," Kate replied, still beaming, "and I don't want to wait one second longer than we have to to get started on that."

"Wait.. **babies** , plural?" Rick asked, surprised.

Now Kate looked doubtful for the first time. "I know that Alexis is going to be the best big sister in the world," she began, "but there's going to be a pretty significant age gap between her and our kids. You and I were both only children. That has its benefits, don't get me wrong, but it can be really lonely too. I want more than one kid because I want them to be able to lean on each other. I want to raise our kids to be friends and not just siblings. Unless you don't want more than one kid." She stopped talking, uncertain now. "I mean, we never really talked about a number. When we did talk about it, it was just ' **a** baby.' So if you-"

"Beckett-Castle babies," Rick interrupted Kate.

"What?" she asked, confused by his interruption.

" **Beckett-Castle** babies," he corrected her. "We're gonna have little **Beckett-Castle** babies. These kids are gonna be half you, Kate, which means our kids are going to be the most incredible, most badass people in the history of the world." He smiled at her, a smile so full of love and excitement and anticipation that it filled her heart with joy.

"With wild imaginations and a healthy dose of geek from their dad," Kate replied, smiling the same smile back at him, and making his own heart fill with love and joy and excitement.

" **Who's** a geek, Miss _Nebula 9_?" Rick countered teasingly.

"That's **Mrs.** _Nebula 9_ to you," Kate retorted seriously.

"I'm just saying, _Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica_ , Joss Whedon...they could all kick _Nebula 9'_ s ass."

"Well, we'll just let the kids decide for themselves what they like and don't like," Kate declared.

"Ooh, we can take family trips to Comic-Con! And when they're teenagers, we can totally embarrass them by going in costume!" Rick exclaimed excitedly.

Kate bit her bottom lip. "So you're okay with having more than one kid?" she asked.

Rick grew completely serious now, struggling to sit up, scooting to the edge of his bed, and reaching for Kate's hands. Holding her hands in his and looking deeply into her eyes, he spoke from his heart. "I can't think of anything more amazing than having and raising kids with you, Kate. And you're right: being an only child has benefits, but it's also really lonely. And Alexis will definitely be the most awesome big sister ever, but she'll be in her mid-20s by the time our first kid is born. And our daughter should have a little sister or brother to boss around and be protective of."

"We could have a boy first," Kate pointed out.

"Or we could end up with two or three girls," Rick replied. "My contribution is responsible for determining the gender." He grinned rakishly. "You can admit it, though. You want a ruggedly handsome mini-Castle running around, driving you as nuts as I did when we first met."

She rolled her eyes, but then she grinned back at him. "As soon as **you** admit that **you** want a mini-Beckett," she replied. "You should really talk to my dad about that. You sure you want to be dealing with a motorcycle-riding, tattoo-getting, rebel teenage girl in another 16 years, Castle?"

"Definitely," Castle said earnestly. "I figure my hair will already be all gray by then." Kate returned Castle's smirk at this, but grew serious again when he continued seriously, "But the best part is, I won't be doing it alone this time. I'll have you. And look at the last eight years, Kate: anything we team up on is an unqualified success. Parenting will have its days where it makes chasing down murderers look like a day at the beach, but no child could ever have a better mother than you. You have a boundless capacity for love and compassion, you're the ultimate Mama Bear, and if our daughter is you all over again as a teenager, I say bring on the motorcycles and shady underage tattoo artists. I survived Alexis's teenage years. I've heard the second kid is the polar opposite of the first one, but your parents were able to rein you in during your wild child phase. If they could do it, so can we."

"My parents," Kate realized. Her eyes grew wide then. "Castle, we saw my mom!" she exclaimed in a hushed voice.

"Yes, we did," he replied.

"You remember," she whispered.

"Of course I remember," he replied softly, still holding her hands. "I promised I would help you remember what she said to you, and how could I do that if I didn't remember for myself?"

"It was real," Kate said. "It wasn't like that government agent guy with the EMP devices, when Espo and Ryan were teasing us about having hickeys, remember that case?"

"I remember every case we've ever worked," Rick replied. "I wasn't lying back then. I wished they had been hickeys. But it was nice waking up with your head on my shoulder."

It **had** been nice waking up like that, Kate silently agreed, but right now, all she could think about was her mom. "When she died," Kate said, "one of the worst things for me was knowing that I'd never get to hear her tell me she loved me again, that I'd never get to hear her say that she was proud of me. Yesterday, I got to hear those words from her. I don't know how, but I know she said them. I heard her."

Rick looked at Kate softly, smiling at her in acknowledgment and encouragement.

Kate took a deep breath, trying to keep the tears bubbling up in her throat from welling up in her eyes and spilling over. "She also said that this is **my** life, Rick, **our** life, and that our future can be whatever we want it to be. And I know what I want it to be."

"Us raising our little Beckett-Castle babies, and still taking down the bad guys," Castle replied confidently.

Kate shocked Rick, though, when she said, "Well, actually...no."

"No?" Rick asked, confused. "But you just said-"

"Yes to the Beckett-Castle babies," Kate said firmly, certainly. "Two, or maybe three. We can figure out the number later. But no to taking down the bad guys, Rick. I'm done being a cop. I'm going to turn in my badge and leave the department as soon as I'm able to."

Now Castle looked positively gobsmacked. "You're gonna quit being a cop?" he asked, stunned.

"Yes," Kate said calmly. The last thing she wanted was to fight with her husband. "Just hear me out before you say anything, okay?" At Castle's nod, Kate went on.

"The main reason I joined the Department was to catch my mom's killer, get justice for her. And I... **we** did that. And we got justice for a lot of other people and their loved ones and friends along the way, and even after we got everybody involved in my mother's murder.

"But remember a little while back, when you talked about us being normal? Body drops at all hours of the day and night aren't normal, Castle, not really. And having people like Maddox and Coonan and Bracken and 3XK and Kelly Nieman and LokSat trying to kill you and your loved ones is not normal. And I know, we got all of **them**...but we both know there are dozens, no, **hundreds** more out there just like them, or maybe even worse than they were."

Castle couldn't disagree with that. He stayed silent, looking at Kate intently, encouragingly, as she continued talking.

"When I started out as a cop, I was so reckless, because deep down, I didn't really care what happened to me. My own life wasn't of much value to me, because I was utterly destroyed by the loss of my mother. And even when you came into my life and started following me around and assisting on cases, there were still times I was reckless. And my recklessness almost cost me my life more than once, and it almost cost me you, when I wouldn't listen to you, and Maddox threw me off a building. If Ryan hadn't been there to pull me up..." She shuddered at the thought of what would have inevitably happened that day, to both her and Castle, and then stopped herself almost instantly because it was just too horrible to even contemplate.

She squeezed his hand before going on. "I know that you would walk into a tornado for me, Castle. And I would do the same for you. But I'm not that reckless young woman anymore, and that's really because of you. Before you came into my life, all the color had gone out of it...all the light...all the joy and hope. I buried them with my mom. And then you came along, and before I knew it, you started tearing down that wall I built around myself...and I slowly realized that I **wanted** you to tear down that wall. I wanted you to grind it into dust and save me from the loneliness and the recklessness...save me from myself. And you did. You gave the color and the light and the joy and the hope I thought I'd lost forever back to me, Rick, and you have given me so much more than that. You gave me a life...a life that I once dreamed of, before I lost my mother, but that I never thought I would ever have after she died.

"And now that I, now that **we** , do have this life, I'm not going to do anything to risk jeopardizing it. I'm **not** leaving you to raise our kids alone with a folded flag and a bunch of stories and memories. And **I** don't want to have to raise our kids without **you**. I **want** that normal you talked about, Castle...or at least, our version of it.

"I won't quit working forever. But we have a summer of recovery ahead of us, and that's not going to be easy. And I want time with you and time with our kids. There are other ways for me to serve. The State Senate approached me once. I know I turned them down to be Captain of the 12th, but they're running Hawley in my place, since he beat Dungey in the primary, and they're both incompetent jerks. Winter is the incumbent, he's in the opposite party, and he's not any better, but there have been unconfirmed rumors lately that his own party wants him off the ticket, or at the very least, that this will be his last term, if he wins. Really, it's a no-win situation: Hawley, or Winter. Some choice there, right?

"But by the time the next election rolls around, I can be ready...if the party still wants me, and if we decide that's what right for us and our family, since I really hope there will be more of us by then.

"And if it turns out the State House isn't in my future, then something else will be. Teaching at the Academy, or at a junior college or university, or something else I haven't even thought of yet, because right now I'm just so grateful to be alive, and to still have you, and that you want us to have a family just as much as I do.

"It's time to concentrate on us, without all the distractions of the precinct. We've been going pretty much nonstop for the last eight years. Before she left earlier, Gates said we earned this, this... Well, I think she was referring to us being us, and me leaving the Department. I think she knows somehow that's what I'm going to do, but she knows this isn't the time and place to talk about it. But she's right, Castle. We **have** earned this. The hard way, as usual, like Gates said, but this is **our** time.

"Being a cop... I've loved it. Not all of it, but it was what I felt called to do, what I **had** to do, after my mom died, and I've done what I set out to do as a police officer and then some. And I couldn't have done even half of it without you, Rick. But it's time now to go on to something else, because you and our life, and our future kids, are much more important to me than the job could ever be."

Having said her piece, Kate bit her lip again. "That's it," she said after a long moment of silence. "That's all I had to say. What are you thinking?"

Castle looked at Beckett then. "Whatever you want to do, or not do, I'm totally on board with, Kate. We're partners, in every way. If you're happy, I'm happy. That's the deal," he said. "And while we're on the subject, I'm going to give up the PI office."

"You don't have to do that," Kate said.

"I know I don't have to. But me becoming a PI was mostly my reaction to being banned from the 12th. I've had a few cases, sure, but at heart, I'm a writer."

"And a hell of a great detective," Kate added earnestly.

"Only with you," Rick replied seriously. "It's just not the same to be working a case and **not** working it with you, and even Ryan and Esposito. If all those teachers who said I didn't play well with others could see me now..." He chuckled for a moment, then turned serious again. "The PI agency isn't much of a money maker. I don't have a lot of business, and I don't really have the time. I have books to write, I already own a business in The Old Haunt, which I'm definitely **not** giving up, and most importantly, I have a life to live with you, and our future kids to raise with you, and I'd **much** rather do those things than be a PI."

"How do you really feel about me giving up my badge?" Kate asked. "No more 12th Precinct, for either of us."

"We've had a lot of close calls over the years," Rick replied. "But this time...this time, Kate, it was **too** close. I understand your feelings and your reasoning, and I support you a thousand percent. You were right when you said we'd never be normal, but you're also right that we can have our own version of normal. And people trying to kill us is not something that's compatible with raising our kids together to adulthood."

"It's really not," Kate said. "It isn't that I feel like I have to make a choice, but my whole life was the job for so long, and you showed me there's a whole other world, a whole other life, outside the Homicide division, and that's what I want now: our life, without being locked in freezers and driving into bodies of water and people shooting us, or shooting at us, or kidnapping us or our kids." Even the thought of one of their yet-to-be born children ever being kidnapped as revenge against her and Rick made Kate's blood run cold.

"I think we've had enough of that too," Rick agreed. "When Kelly Nieman took you..." He shuddered at the memory and immediately shut down both the memory and the line of conversation. "I think we've had enough because of this last close call."

Castle focused on Kate intensely now, and she knew that he was about to bare his soul the way she had just bared hers, so she focused in on him just as intensely and gave him her undivided attention. Taking her hand in his, he played with her wedding ring as he spoke.

"When you walked out on me and we were faking being separated for Alexis and Mother and everyone at the 12th, before I knew it was just you trying to protect me and protect all of us, not having you in my life, in our home, in our bed, damned near killed me, Kate. I'm not saying that to open old wounds or make you feel guilty, that's just how it was.

"And even after we got back together but were still keeping it a secret from everyone, I hated that, because I am so proud to be your husband, and I'm so proud that you're my wife, and I want the whole world to know that. Not in a Page Six, selling books way, but in a 'Hey, I finally found the right woman, and we're gonna grow old together and raise kids together, and I'm just so incredibly happy about this that it's oozing out of me and everybody on the planet can see it every time they look at me' way." She ducked her head and smiled shyly at this, before raising her head to meet Castle's gaze, and his answering smile, once more.

"You are the first and only woman in my life that ever called me on everything. Kate, you're **MY** One and Done. I didn't think I'd ever find you. I didn't think I'd ever **want** to find you, after what I went through with first Meredith and then Gina. But I did, when I wasn't even looking, and as much as you say I've changed you, and I know I have, **you** have completely changed **me**."

Still playing with Kate's wedding ring, Rick continued. "Our very first case, the copycat murders from my books...when it was over, and Jonathan Tisdale was in custody, and I suggested we debrief each other and you said no, because you didn't want to be another one of my conquests, and I said it would have been great, that was the first time I saw you bite your bottom lip.

"And then you leaned in and said right in my ear, 'You have no idea.'

"And then you turned and walked away from me without looking back, and I just stood there in that alley, watching you walk away, and the only thing I could think was that working that case with you, being around you for those few days, I felt more alive than I had ever felt in my entire life, Kate.

"I wanted to keep being around you, I wanted to be by your side, and I wanted to watch you biting your bottom lip and walking **towards** me for the rest of my life. That was the moment that I finally started to grow up.

"That story Alexis told you earlier? It was all true, Kate. I knew you didn't want me then. Not **that** way. But more than that, I knew I wasn't worthy of you then. For us to work, I had to grow up some, and I had to be worthy of you, and I had to prove to you that I wanted you to be so much more than just one of my conquests.

"The mayor, and Nikki Heat, got me in the door with you. And no matter how much I killed your patience, you didn't outright kick me out of the precinct or make Montgomery kick me out, which was when I knew I had a fighting chance with you.

"Then, shortly after our first case, when you told me there were so many layers to the Beckett onion, how would I ever unpeel them all... Well, that's when I knew it was fate. That one comment let me know that, against your better judgment at that point, like me, you **knew** there was something between us waiting to be discovered and explored and cherished. Neither one of us was ready for each other back then, but we had **found** each other, Kate, and that was the first step.

He stopped playing with her wedding ring and laced his fingers through hers, keeping her gaze. "I never truly had a best friend, but that's what you became, and I thought that was a solid foundation for a romantic relationship, which I never did before you either: be friends first. And not just friends, but best friends. You intrigued me, and you challenged me, and you made me want to be the best version of myself because you deserve nothing less than the best of everything. You still do all of that, and I know you always will."

He rested her palm against his cheek and leaned into her touch then, covering her hand with his, his eyes not leaving hers as he continued speaking. "You will always be my inspiration, for a million reasons. But it stopped being about the books years ago. It was about you. It was about us. I kept coming back so that I could show you that I was worthy of you and your love, so that I could show you that you could trust me, and that I could be the man you needed me to be. You gave me the time I needed to tear down the wall you built around yourself after your mother's murder, and to grow up, and to be worthy of you. We both made mistakes and said and did stupid things, but I can't regret those mistakes and those stupid things because they got us here.

"Wherever we go next, that's up to us. Your mom, and you, are absolutely right: this is **our** life. It's **our** future. And we have time now to figure out where we want to go next, and time to just **be**.

"I will always be grateful to the NYPD for letting me be a part of these past eight years of your career, but as I recall, the same day I talked to you about us being normal, I told you that the sky's the limit for you, and it is, Kate. You can do and be anything you want, and whatever that anything is, I'll be right there beside you, backing your play, for the rest of our lives."

Castle always had the words, Kate thought. But the best part was that every word he spoke to her was the utter and absolute truth. To be so completely loved by such an amazing man was a gift that Kate Beckett would never know what she did to deserve, but a gift that she would be thankful for every single day for the rest of their lives.

As for Castle, Kate was a woman of action, and always had been. When she said something, she meant it with all of her heart, a heart that had slowly opened to him over the past eight years. But with or without the words, Kate's actions left no doubt in Richard Castle's mind or heart that Katherine Houghton Beckett loved him as fiercely, as deeply, as completely, as irretrievably as he loved her, and that she would love him that way for the rest of their lives.

Kate gently stroked the day's growth of whiskers along Castle's jawline with her fingertips. "Thank you for loving me, and for never giving up on me, on us," she whispered.

"Always," Rick replied softly. "Thank **you** for loving **me** and marrying me and making me happier than I ever thought I could be."

"Always," Kate echoed.

Then she raised her head and brushed her lips across his in a soft, sweet kiss that he returned just as softly and sweetly.

"It's time."

Johanna reluctantly tore her gaze from Katie and Rick to find Roy Montgomery standing beside her once more. "Will I ever get to come back?" she asked Roy.

"Anything is possible," he replied. "But for now, you've done what you needed to do here. We both have."

Knowing she couldn't extend her stay by even one second, Johanna sighed, then looked to her daughter and son-in-law once more. "Be happy, Katie," she whispered. "I love you, and I'm proud of you."

Then Johanna and Roy faded away, returning to the heavenly realm once more, both of them having found peace in the knowledge that Kate and Rick were at peace and on their way to the life they deserved and were always meant to have.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and interest in this story. I hope you continue to enjoy the journey.**_

* * *

Esposito had just checked the pot of soup, which was simmering on low on the stove burner, when Alexis suddenly jolted awake, screaming, sobbing, and gasping for breath. He dropped the lid on top of the pot, dropped the oven mitt he'd been wearing to the floor, bolted to the living room and knelt on the floor beside the couch, where Alexis was sitting up and melting down, still caught in the throes of her nightmare, great gulping sobs for Castle and Beckett tumbling from her lips almost incoherently. He gripped her upper arms firmly, and gently shook her. "Alexis, your dad and Beckett are safe and alive! Wake up! Wake up, Alexis! Your dad and Beckett are all right!"

Esposito's words reached Alexis at the exact moment Martha came rushing down the stairs, her clothes and hair rumpled because she had been woken out of a sound sleep by Alexis's screaming. Shaking like a leaf in a terrible storm, Alexis's tear-filled eyes slowly cleared as she wiped at them furiously. "They're okay?" she asked breathlessly.

"They're okay," Esposito repeated firmly. "You were just having a nightmare."

Alexis gulped, scrubbing at her face, which was soaked with tears, and nodded miserably. "It was yesterday all over again, but neither of them had a pulse when we got here, and the paramedics couldn't bring them back." Then she burst into tears all over again, throwing herself at Esposito and clinging to him tightly.

"It was just a nightmare," he repeated, wrapping his arms around her, knowing she needed both a hug and some solid grounding in the waking world. "They're in the same ICU room at New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan that you arranged for them, and they're going to be all right."

Martha approached slowly, tentatively, not wanting to spook Alexis. "Alexis, darling?" she asked softly, placing her open palm in the middle of Alexis's back, beneath Esposito's arms, and rubbing her back in slow, soothing circles.

Esposito released Alexis and gently turned her into Martha's waiting embrace. "I'm sorry," Alexis wept.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Esposito assured her.

"Of course not," Martha said. "What you saw yesterday was awful. Of course it's going to take time for you to get past it."

"I don't know how I fell asleep," she said, scrubbing at her face once more and turning to look at Esposito from the shelter of her grandmother's embrace. Alexis glanced at the TV over his shoulder and saw Robert Hays converting his Navy pilot dress white uniform into a modified version of John Travolta's disco suit from _Saturday Night Fever_ as he approached Julie Hagerty for the first time, on the dance floor of the dive bar, knowing that this scene was only a few minutes into the film. Sniffling, she asked, "I was only asleep for a few minutes?"

"You were asleep for almost two hours," Esposito replied. "I left the movie playing, and it started over again while I was making the soup."

"That's what that delicious smell is," Martha mused. "It was very thoughtful of you to heat up some soup, Detective."

"I didn't 'heat up' the soup, Mrs. R.," Esposito replied. "I made it."

"You made it? You mean from scratch?" Alexis asked, surprised.

"Yeah," he said. "My grandmother's recipe. I thought something light, and some comfort food, would be good. It's simmering on the stove, just about ready to eat."

"You didn't have to cook for us," Alexis said.

"I wanted to," Esposito told her.

"You're going to make some woman a wonderful husband, Detective Esposito," Martha said. "A man who cooks from scratch! I'll bet that soup tastes even better than it smells."

"My mom and I always thought so," he replied. "It's my _abuela_ 's recipe. My mom's mom."

"It **does** smell really good," Alexis said.

"It's ready to eat whenever you ladies are," Esposito replied.

"Only if you join us," Martha insisted.

"Will you?" Alexis asked.

"If you insist," Esposito said.

"We insist," Martha said firmly. She gently nudged Alexis to her feet and stood with her. "We'll go and wash up, and then you can do the same, Detective."

While Alexis washed her face and hands, and Martha freshened up herself, Esposito turned off the movie and the television and was giving the soup one last stir when Alexis and Martha returned downstairs. The bags under Martha's eyes and the tension in her face and the set of her shoulders were no longer as pronounced as they had been, but the change in Alexis wasn't as noticeable or as deep; she still looked exhausted, and the tension in her shoulders was more pronounced than ever after her nightmare.

Grandmother and granddaughter set the table while Esposito excused himself to wash up. Alexis was dishing up the soup, while Martha had poured glasses of water for all three of them and sliced and set out some French bread from a nearby bakery to go with the soup, by the time Esposito returned to the table.

Alexis and Martha both looked somewhat surprised when Esposito took his seat, after seating the two of them, crossed himself, folded his hands, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and prayed, "Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ, our Lord, and thank You for bringing Beckett and Castle safely through the last 24 hours. Amen," and then crossing himself again before lifting his head and opening his eyes.

Before Esposito could say anything, Alexis and Martha both echoed his, "Amen," and then they all dug in to his grandmother's homemade chicken noodle soup and the French bread.

* * *

When Jim Beckett walked into the ICU room, he was surprised to find Rick's bed empty and Kate sitting up in her bed with a scowl on her face. "Katie? Where's Rick? Is everything all right?" he asked anxiously.

"They've got him up and walking the halls again," Kate replied sourly. "But they wouldn't get me a wheelchair so I could go along, or at least sit out there and watch."

"Are you really up for that yet?" Jim asked, pulling the visitor's chair up to his daughter's bedside and then sinking into it.

"Well, it's my turn to get up and moving tomorrow, so I don't know why they didn't let me sit up in a wheelchair tonight while Rick walks up and down the corridor with his IV pole," she grumped.

"Maybe because they think you need these extra hours of bedrest first?" Jim suggested. Katie gave him a look so like Johanna's, a look of mingled incredulity and peevishness, that it took his breath away for a moment, and reinforced for him why he was there. "I know you want to be with Rick right now. But if I can be selfish for a few minutes, I'm glad you're not."

The expression on Kate's face changed then. She knew her father wasn't just there to check up on her and Castle. He was there for the talk she had promised him. "I didn't mean I'm not happy to see you, Dad," she said.

"I know that," he replied. "You just don't want to be away from Rick any more than you have to, especially right now." Jim shifted in his seat, making himself more comfortable. "He's a good man, Katie."

"He's the best," Kate replied. "I was so broken for so long, and he gave me a reason to put myself back together again, to look beyond the job." She paused. "This is not for public consumption just yet, but I'm leaving the force, Dad. It's time."

Jim exhaled a breath so forceful, it nearly collapsed both his lungs. "I thought that's what you were hinting at earlier," he said thickly. He swallowed hard, clearing his throat a few times. "I was almost afraid to believe that you were serious."

"I **am** serious," Kate replied firmly. "And I'm serious about us having a better relationship too, Dad."

"I want that too, Katie, more than anything," Jim replied. He ducked his head for a moment, then looked up at his daughter. "I know that I really let you down when your mom died. I wasn't there for you the way I should have been."

"Dad, you already made amends for that when you got sober," Kate reminded him. "And as for you not being there for me..." She trailed off, gathering her thoughts, then said, "Mom was the center of both our worlds, and when we lost her, instead of turning to each other, we turned away from each other. I threw myself into becoming a cop, hellbent on finding out who killed her and catching them..."

"And I dove into the bottom of a bottle and stayed there for five years," Jim said ruefully. "For those five years, in effect, you had lost both parents."

"But I got you back," Kate said emphatically. "I got you back, Dad, when you decided to get sober, and you've been sober for ten years. 10 years, Dad! I am so proud of you for that. I never told you how proud I am of you for getting and staying sober. I should have told you this a lot sooner, instead of keeping you at arm's length for so long."

"You were protecting yourself," Jim replied. "I had let you down so badly once, and you couldn't afford to take the risk again. I've always understood that. I've always hated it, but I've always understood it, Katie."

Kate leaned back against her pillows. "Going around in circles apologizing for and defending the past isn't exactly what I had in mind here," she admitted. Jim looked confused. "You don't have anything else to apologize for, Dad. But I still owe you some apologies, and I still have some forgiving to do."

"What on earth could you have to apologize to me for?" Jim asked, more confused than ever.

"I was going to Stanford," Kate replied. "I was going to be a lawyer like you and Mom. And when Mom died...That all went out the window. I became obsessed with becoming a cop, obsessed with finding out who killed Mom, who took her away from us, and why, and I wanted to get them and have them thrown behind bars, locked up with the key thrown away. And I know it wasn't easy for you, knowing I was putting my life on the line every time I went to work. And this is far from the first close call I've had over the years. I'm sorry I put you through that hell, Dad, and I know it had to be hell. You had already lost Mom, and it's had to have been in the back of your mind all this time that someday you'd lose me. A couple of times, you almost did."

"But I didn't," Jim said firmly, urgently. "Yes, I worried about you. But I would have worried about you even if you had become a lawyer. And I wasn't surprised when you gave up law school to become a police officer. You don't flinch, Katie. You never have. The bigger the challenge, the better you like it. If someone tells you that you can't do something, you'll go full tilt until you've proven them wrong. You've been like that since you were a little girl. That didn't bother me. I've always been proud of you for that, and your mother was too. It was not knowing exactly **how** reckless you were being that scared me the most."

"I **was** reckless to start out with," Kate admitted. "A lot more reckless than I should have been, especially when you and I weren't on the best of terms. I felt like my life wasn't of any value. Everything had been broken. **I** had been broken. When you feel like you don't have anything, you feel like you don't have anything to lose." She paused, then reached out for her father's hand, holding it tightly in her own. "I'm sorry I worried and scared you so much, Dad. I wasn't exactly thinking rationally on a regular basis at the time, which is no excuse. But you deserved better."

"You couldn't count on me," Jim said. "I know that. I will regret it for the rest of my life that there was **ever** a time when you couldn't count on me, and when you felt that your own life meant nothing."

"Life is too short to have regrets, Dad," Kate said. "When you got sober, I let you back into my life, but not all the way back in. I didn't trust you." She hurried on when she saw her father open his mouth to speak again. "I know you're going to say that at first, I didn't have any reason to trust you. But it's been a decade, Dad. You haven't had so much as one slip in all that time. And every time I had a close call these last ten years, every time I came to you with news about Mom's case... The temptation had to be there."

"It was," Jim admitted quietly. "At times, it was. More than once, I would actually go out and buy a bottle and bring it home. Sit it on the coffee table, or the kitchen counter, and then just stare at it, sometimes for hours. But in the end, I would always pour it out, the whole thing, right down the kitchen sink, because I worked too long and fought too hard to get sober, and to never let you down again, Katie."

Kate knew she had to tell her father that she had seen and spoken with her mother while she was in surgery. She just wasn't sure how her dad would react to that news.

"Dad," she began. "I saw Mom."

"You saw your mother," Jim repeated.

"Yeah," Kate replied. "Rick and I both saw her...and talked to her. While we were in surgery. I never believed in out-of-body experiences, or seeing spirits, but Dad, it was real. Mom was here, and I talked to her. We talked. She and I."

Jim's reaction surprised Kate. "I know your mom was here," he said. "I felt her here. I was talking to her in my head, and I could hear her answering and I could feel her by my side. I pleaded with her to do whatever she could to make sure you and Rick pulled through. And I felt her kiss my cheek. I told her to go to you, that you...and Rick...needed her more than ever."

Of all the reactions from her father Kate had prepared herself for, calm acceptance, and the information that he had felt Johanna Beckett's presence in the hospital and heard her voice for himself, was not among them. But she took a deep breath and continued talking.

"I saw myself on the operating table, which was really scary," Kate said. "I couldn't find Castle. I started screaming for him, I heard him screaming for me, we found each other, I saw **him** on an operating table, which was even scarier than seeing myself on one. He and I were talking, and then Mom was there. She said we weren't supposed to see her, and I didn't get to hug her or touch her, but I saw her, Dad, and I spoke to her. And so did Rick. He didn't speak to her as much as I did, but he saw her too. He remembers. We both do."

"I've wished so many times that I could see Johanna, hear her voice, even feel her presence, just one more time, for just one more moment," Jim said wistfully. "I hate the circumstances, but I just can't be sorry that I got to feel her near again, that I felt her kiss on my cheek and I could hear her voice. And you...you got to see her and talk to her. That has to have done you a world of good, Katie. We didn't get to really say goodbye when we lost her. And even now, I feel like it's not 'goodbye,' it's just 'until we meet again.' I'm so glad you got to see her and talk to her."

"You know, I am too," Kate replied. "And that's exactly how it feels: like 'until we meet again.' I never thought much about an afterlife, but now...now I think maybe there is one, and she's waiting for us someplace, Dad."

Kate and Jim were both silent for a minute. "Knowing your mother, she had quite a few things to say," Jim finally said.

"Oh yes," Kate replied, the flash of a smile on her lips. "It all happened so fast, but I remember it all. I promised Mom I always would, and Rick said he would help me remember it."

"Rick would do anything for you," Jim murmured. "So, what did she say to you?"

"Mom said that when you and I lost her, we lost each other too," Kate went on. "I don't know how she knew that, but she was right. And she said that we mended **some** fences, but not **all** of them...and she was right about that too." Kate tucked her hair behind her ear, using the hand that didn't have an IV in it. "So I want to let you all the way back into my life, Dad. No more sporadic phone calls, or visits or dinners when we can fit them in around my work. Work isn't going to be an issue for a while, for one thing. But even if it were still an issue, I want to see you more, I want to spend more time with you,I want you to spend more time with Rick and me, and really get to know Alexis and Martha."

Jim smiled. "When you and Rick were in surgery, Martha suggested I take a page from Rick's book and just keep showing up until you **had** to let me in, no matter how many times you pushed me away or tried to shut me out. That's exactly what I had planned to do."

Kate reached for her Jim's hand again. "I'm not going to push you away or shut you out anymore, Dad, I promise. We've lost too much time already. We're not going to lose one more second. And..."

She trailed off and swallowed hard. This part, admitting that she needed people, was still difficult for her, though not as difficult as it had been before she and Castle finally got together. But she knew from past experience that while she **could** recover alone, and she and Castle could leave everyone else out of their recovery if they chose to do so, Castle would never go for that, and neither would Martha or Alexis, and she also knew that this time, Lanie, and for that matter Ryan, Jenny and Espo, wouldn't let her and Rick go off somewhere to lick their wounds and recover alone.

But more importantly, Kate knew that this time, **she** didn't want to go it alone, or even just go through it with Castle, either. The bottom line was, she and Rick were going to need help, especially here at first, and they had family and friends ready, willing, and able to give that help in whatever form it was needed or wanted.

Kate looked Jim right in the eyes and continued, "And I want you to be there to help Rick and me this summer while we recover."

Jim couldn't contain his grin. "I had already planned on it. But it's nice to have a formal invitation," he said. Now he leaned closer to Kate. "Nothing and no one is going to keep me away from you this time, Katie, including you."

"Good," Kate replied. She pulled Jim closer, giving him a hug and laying her cheek against his shoulder. "I love you, Dad," she said softly.

"I love you too, Katie," Jim replied, hugging her as hard as he dared.

"And I trust you," Kate said as she leaned back to look into her father's tear-filled eyes through her own tear-filled eyes. "I know you won't let me down or hurt me again. But I also know it's going to take time for us to get close again, but we have that time now."

"Then let's make the most of it," Jim said.

"Yes, let's," Kate agreed.

The door opened and Castle entered with one of the nurses right behind him. "That was very good, Mr. Castle," the nurse said.

"Good enough that I can lose the oxygen thing here?" Castle asked, gesturing to his nose.

"Maybe in the morning, but you have to have it overnight," the nurse said in a tone that brooked no argument.

She started to help Castle back to his bed, but he said, "I can do this."

The nurse, Jim, and Kate watched wordlessly as Rick settled himself in bed once more. "Very impressive, Mr. Castle," the nurse said as she reconnected the heart and pulse-ox monitors to him and set the oxygen tank beside his bed.

"Yes, it is," Kate agreed. Rick turned to look at her, and the look in her eyes told him that she remembered his earlier promise to sneak into her bed after lights out...except that there really wasn't any "lights out" in the ICU. The look Rick gave Kate in return let her know that he would be sneaking into her bed just as soon as they were alone.

The nurse left, after making sure Rick and Kate knew where their call buttons were. Seeing the looks they were sneaking at each other, and having a pretty good idea what those looks were about, Jim said, "I should get going, let you two get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

He hugged and kissed Kate goodbye, then clapped his hand on Rick's good shoulder once more. "You remember the first time we met?" Jim asked.

"Every detail," Castle replied.

"Thank you for proving me right," Jim said.

"My pleasure," Castle said. Jim just looked at him, much the way he had looked at Rick that first day, when they were discussing _Naked Heat_. Belatedly realizing how that must have sounded, especially with the way he had just been looking at Jim's daughter, Castle tried to backpedal. "I mean, ah...you're welcome. That is, I, uh..."

Kate's chuckle broke the awkwardness. Jim laughed too. "I know what you mean, Rick," Jim said with a smile. "And like I told you then, I think you're doing just fine. Keep it up."

"For the rest of my life," Castle replied seriously.

Jim looked from Rick to Kate. "I'll see you both tomorrow. Good night," he said.

"Good night, Jim," Rick replied.

"Good night, Dad," Kate said. "And thanks for getting Rick and me our wedding rings back." She held up her left hand, looking at the band of white gold glinting there.

"It was Martha who noticed the two of you didn't have them and first said you'd want your rings as soon as you woke up. I said that we'd make sure you got your rings back as soon as you asked for them, so I was just keeping my promise when I did that."

Kate smiled at her dad at learning this. "Thank you," she said.

"Yes, thank you, Jim," Rick echoed. He hated being without his wedding ring. He'd never really paid much attention to his wedding ring when he'd been married to Meredith or Gina, and taking their rings off when they split up hadn't bothered him. He'd removed his wedding ring almost right away both times, in fact, and had even gotten rid of both those rings.

But the ring he now wore on his left hand had been placed there by Kate, and because she meant everything to him, the ring she gave him as a symbol of her love and fidelity, and the vows she made to him on that November day, meant everything to him.

He was glad that he hadn't realized he had been forced to go without his wedding ring during surgery, that one of his first conscious memories was of Kate returning his wedding ring to its rightful place on his finger, because he never wanted to be without that ring for the rest of their lives, and he knew she felt the same way about her wedding ring. He had seen after he and the boys found her standing over Kelly Nieman's dead body, and she had quietly asked him about her ring on the ride back to the 12th, the pain and regret at even the thought she had lost her wedding ring from him so clear in her eyes and her voice, and he had whispered so only she could hear that he would get her ring back as soon as he could. Indeed, with help from Ryan and Esposito, and unofficial clearance from Gates, Kate's wedding ring was back on her finger before they left for home that night, after they and the boys had given their statements about Tyson and Nieman and everything that had gone down in bringing those two to their ends.

Jim left then after bidding one last good night to his daughter and son-in-law, closing the door to their hospital room behind him. He then leaned against the door and looked heavenward. _Thank you, Johanna. Katie and I, we won't let you down. We won't let each other down, either._

Then he pushed off the closed door, walked down the corridor, and headed home for some much-needed sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

**_Millions of 'thank you's to all of you who are reading, reviewing, whether as guests or as members of the website here, and following. I hope you continue enjoying the story._**

 ** _A short author's note on this one: for the purposes of this story, Castle and Jim Beckett's first meeting takes place in the deleted scene from the season 3 episode "Knockout." Some of the elements of that scene did wind up airing in the season 3 finale, "Knockdown," but I LOVE the deleted scene from "Knockout," and so I'm going with that as Rick and Jim's first meeting._**

* * *

Once her father had left, Kate looked at Rick. "Okay, what was that about?" she asked.

"What was what about?" Rick asked distractedly as he followed the lines of his heart monitor, morphine dispenser, oxygen tank, IV, and pulse-ox monitor, in succession, with his fingers, then nodded.

"You and my dad just now. **What** about the first time you met?" Kate persisted.

"Oh," Rick said. "Just...It was when he brought that stuff by for us to look at from your mom's old files, and you went to set them up in your office, leaving me alone with him for a few minutes. We talked."

"About what?" Kate asked.

Rick carefully got out of bed and regarded the machines. "If it had been almost anyone else but your dad, I would have asked them to stay and help me with all this stuff," he mused.

"Castle, what did you and my dad talk about the first time you met?" Kate wanted to know.

Rick finally looked away from the machines and over at his wife. "Well, he did the dad thing for a couple of minutes, telling me he'd read _Naked Heat,_ and I was stumbling over myself and my words, trying to tell him that while my books are grounded in reality, a lot of it was pure fantasy...and then I realized how bad that sounded, so I said it came from my imagination...not that I was imagining you like that all the time."

"So you lied," Kate concluded, but she was smiling.

"Well...okay, yeah, I lied," Rick admitted. "But I couldn't very well tell **your dad** that every time I wrote a sex scene...every time I wrote so much as a kiss...I was thinking about you, and imagining and fantasizing about us doing what I was writing Nikki and Rook were doing. He had just said he had heard all these great things about me from you. Speaking of which, what kind of great things were you telling your dad about me for those almost three years before he and I actually met, Kate?"

She answered his question with a question. "What did he say after you made an ass of yourself in front of him?"

"He let me off the hook," Rick said. "But I've always been convinced the only reason he did that was because he already knew. I hadn't even said it to you yet, but your dad knew."

"Knew what?"

"Knew that I loved you," Rick replied. He surveyed the machines to which he was hooked up and said, "Okay, if I disconnect any of these, some nurse or doctor is going to come running in here, which is the last thing I want, because they'll never let me get in bed with you."

"What makes you think my dad knew you loved me the first time you two met?" Kate asked.

"Because of what he said to me before he left," Rick replied. He spied the cart from his walk with Janine the respiratory therapist/torture artist in the corner and said, "Perfect!" before grabbing it and pulling it closer to the bed. He deposited the oxygen tank in the cart, added the morphine dispenser, then frowned thoughtfully as he looked back at the machines.

"What did he say to you before he left?" Kate wanted to know. She had had suspects less frustrating than Castle was being at this moment, even though she knew he was so distracted because he was trying to get over to her bed, which is exactly where she wanted him to be, but she also still wanted answers.

Castle had one hand wrapped around his IV pole and the other on the stand with the heart monitor mounted on it, and was once again surveying the machines he was connected to. "As long as the cord for the pulse-ox monitor reaches, we should be okay," he murmured.

"What did my dad say to you before he left that day?" Kate repeated impatiently, hoping she wasn't so loud that a nurse would come running to check on her and Rick.

Castle looked at Kate. "He said if I cared about you, I wouldn't let you lose another twelve years of your life to your mom's case," he replied. Then he slowly began to shuffle towards Kate's bed, pushing his IV pole with one hand and the heart monitor stand with the other, while nudging the cart with the oxygen tank and morphine dispenser along with his knee. When he reached her bedside, he grinned. "This is gonna work!" he whisper-exclaimed gleefully.

"My dad knew," Kate said, wonder in her voice. Then her normal tone of voice returned as she continued, "Who am I kidding? **Everybody** knew. **We** even knew, but we were just..."

"Not ready yet," Rick replied simply. He pushed the machines into place, careful not to get any of the cords tangled, or pull on them hard enough to disconnect them from their plugs across the room, and grateful that Kate's machines were on the other side of her bed. "We had to work on ourselves and our timing, but we finally landed on the same page at the same time, and we've been looking outward together in the same direction ever since. That's all that matters."

Kate pushed her blanket back and gingerly moved over, making room for Rick in her bed. He settled in carefully beside her, and she then settled the blanket over both of them. "'Looking outward together in the same direction...' That sounds familiar," she said.

"It's part of a quote from Antoine de Saint Exupéry," Rick replied as he settled himself under the blanket beside her. "'Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.'"He looked at her now. "I have to disagree with him on the first part, because I enjoy gazing at you. I have from the beginning, and I will forever. I'm never gonna stop gazing at you. But the looking outward in the same direction part...that's so us. And that's the best part: knowing that you're right beside me, and we're looking outward together in the same direction."

"That **is** the best part," Kate agreed as she carefully moved closer to Castle in the bed.

Rick and Kate were both lying on their backs in the narrow hospital bed now, their heads turned toward each other, their foreheads touching for a long moment before they pulled back to look into each other's eyes. "So, what **did** you tell your dad about me before he and I met?" Rick asked.

"How much you bugged me," Kate replied. Rick smirked a bit here, and Kate smirked right back at him before continuing. "How you could, and did, act like a 9-year-old on a sugar rush. Some of the wilder theories you came up with, about vampires and ghosts. That I thought I would sprain my eyes, you made me roll them so many times." He smiled at that, and she smiled back at him before turning serious again.

She brushed her hand across his cheek and went on. "How you were always there to back me up, you always stood by me, you made me laugh, and you dragged me out of my head and made me see the world through your eyes, so that I started to remember there actually was more to life than murders and suspects and investigations."

Castle smiled cheekily now. "You were totally in love with me then," he said, "and your dad knew it."

"Oh, like you weren't totally in love with me then?" she countered.

"Of course I was. You were...you **are** magic to me, Kate," Castle replied earnestly. "When you smile, you put the sun to shame. You're the most beautiful person I've ever known, inside and out. You kick ass and take names better than anyone I've ever known, but you also have this soft, tender side that you only show to a precious few people, and I am privileged to be the person who gets to see that soft, tender side the most...at least for now." He paused, knowing that she knew he was referring to their future children seeing her soft and tender side someday. "You are, to use a cliche that is nevertheless absolutely true for me, the other half of my soul, and loving you is the best thing that ever happened to me."

"There was a time I didn't think I would truly survive losing my mom," Kate replied just as earnestly. "I honestly believed that I would spend the rest of my life just going through the motions, and die in the line of duty at some point. But somehow I **did** survive all that happened in the years between losing my mom and finding you, and I think now that I must have survived it all because somebody somewhere...somebody Up There, maybe even my mom herself... **knew** that you were waiting for me, that we were waiting for each other." She squeezed his hand and looked deeply into his eyes. "Long before we met, your words, your books, were such a comfort to me, and such a help to me, and then you came crashing into my life and nothing was ever the same again...and I thank God every day for that, and for you, Rick. And you did what my dad asked you to: you didn't let me lose another twelve years of my life to my mom's case. You didn't let me lose **myself** to my mom's case, and when I arrested Bracken, you were right there."

"After you shot Coonan to save me, you told me that someday you were gonna get the sons of bitches that had him kill your mother, and that you'd like me around when you did," he recalled. "Not that I'm not looking to score all the brownie points I can with your dad, because I want him to like me...but I was there when you arrested Bracken because of **you** , Kate, because of what you said that night, and because there is nowhere on Earth I would rather be than by your side...always."

"You remember that," she said, although she wasn't really surprised. It was Castle.

"I remember every word you've ever said," he replied honestly. "Every move you've ever made. I've got you memorized, Kate. And I make new memories every day."

She rested her forehead against his once more and said passionately, "I love you, Richard Castle."

"I love you too, Katherine Beckett," Castle replied just as passionately.

They kissed slowly, deeply, for long minutes. Finally, the pull of sleep became too strong to ignore, and with whispered "good night"s, they fell asleep still facing each other, their foreheads still touching, their breaths warm on each other's faces, and dreamed of one another.

* * *

Esposito stayed to help clean up after dinner, despite the protests from both Martha and Alexis that he had cooked and so he shouldn't have to do the dishes too. Alexis was looking at the dishwasher with a haunted expression, as if she expected the appliance to start shooting hollow-point bullets all over the kitchen at any second. "It's not that much, Mrs. R., really," Esposito replied, unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his sleeves. "Ten minutes, tops." He turned on the hot water in the sink, then added some cold water to temper it.

"I think we both know you're going to be around a lot this summer, Detective," Martha said, "so I insist that from now on, you call me 'Martha.'"

"Only if you call me 'Esposito,' 'Javier,' or 'Javi,'" Esposito replied.

"Very well...Javi," Martha said.

"I can wash, if you'd like to dry," Alexis said, stepping up to the sink and rolling up her own sleeves.

"Why don't you dry? You know where everything goes. I don't," Esposito replied. Martha cast a worried glance at Esposito and he gave her as reassuring a look as he could. Martha then excused herself, leaving Esposito and Alexis to the dishes.

"That was a really great dinner, Detective Esposito," Alexis said as she grabbed a dish towel.

"Lose the 'Detective,' okay?" Esposito asked kindly as he washed the soup tureen Martha had used to dish up the soup for them. "It's just 'Esposito.' Or 'Espo,' or 'Javi,' or 'Javier.'"

"Javier, then," Alexis replied as she accepted the soup tureen from him and began drying it.

He flashed a quick smile at her before he began scrubbing the soup pot. "I was Special Forces in the Army before I became a cop," he said conversationally. "Served a tour in Iraq."

"I didn't know that," Alexis said as she set the tureen in the drying rack.

"A lot of cops have military experience before joining the force. I'm one of them," Javier replied. Having finished with the soup pot, he handed it to Alexis, who began meticulously drying it. Javier went to work on the soup bowls next. "In war, and on the NYPD, you see a lot of things...a lot of darkness, a lot of the worst of people. I knew a chaplain in the Army who said that if those kinds of things didn't bother you, you weren't human. He also said that some of the things we see have the ability to haunt us...but only for as long as we let them."

Alexis had finished with the soup pot and turned it upside down over the drying rack. She grabbed another dish towel before accepting a soup bowl from Javier, her head bowed as dried it.

"I had PTSD when I got back stateside," he told her. "I talked to someone. It helped me a lot. Not that I'm saying you have PTSD," he added hurriedly. "I'm not qualified to diagnose anything like that. But yesterday, you saw something that no one, especially no loving daughter, should ever have to see, and it's totally normal that you're having a hard time processing it and getting those moments out of your head, especially as fresh as they still are."

Alexis nodded, keeping her head down, as she accepted another soup bowl and began drying it. "I saw someone a couple of times after I was kidnapped a few years ago," she said quietly. "I was thinking of going back now." She looked up at Javier then. "Dad and Kate have so much on their plates now, and they have enough to worry about. I don't need them worrying about me too."

"They're always gonna worry about you, Alexis. They're your parents, and they love you," Javier told her. He surprised himself at how comfortable he felt referring to Beckett as Alexis's mother, although he'd been outside when she read Meredith the deep-fried Twinkie and Gina the riot act, and he had heard for himself when Alexis said that Beckett had been more of a mother to her in the last eight years than Meredith had been in her whole life.

At least Alexis had a mother figure in Beckett; when Espo's own old man had taken off with his new wife to Florida, a postcard and a phone call were all he got. Even now, he didn't even know if his old man was alive or dead. Javier Esposito didn't seek out people who didn't want him, and his old man had made it clear he didn't want him decades ago. Esposito had learned to live with that fact a long time ago, but at the same time, he was grateful that Alexis didn't have to merely live with the fact that her crazy, deep-fried Twinkie biological mother never made her a priority, because he knew that kind of pain firsthand, and Alexis having Beckett as a mother figure would more than make up for Meredith's form of abandonment.

"I need help," Alexis said, looking both fragile and determined at the same time. "I need to get past this, not just for my own sake, but for Dad and Kate, too. And I just...I don't want to keep having nightmares, and I don't want to see it again and again every time I close my eyes. So maybe talking to somebody will help me process it better...or faster...or just...help me get it out of my head, and make me not afraid to even close my eyes until I'm so exhausted I literally can't keep them open any longer."

Javier handed her the last soup bowl. "It sounds like you've got a plan, then," he said.

"I guess I do," Alexis mused.

Javier started on the silverware then, and they were both silent as they finished with the dishes. After everything had been washed and dried, Javier watched as Alexis put the clean dishes away, and he took the soup pot from her when going up on her tiptoes to reach the door of the cabinet where it was was stored proved elusive for her, which they both knew was because she was so tired.

"Thank you, Javier," Alexis said as she closed the silverware drawer. "For everything."

Javier took out his wallet and removed one of his cards. "You got a pen?" he asked. Alexis found him one in the kitchen junk drawer, and he scrawled something on the back of the card before handing it to her. "If you or your grandmother need anything, anything at all, no matter what time of day or night it is, all you have to do is call. The direct line to my desk at the 12th is on the front of the card, my cell number's on the back."

Alexis accepted the card, clutching it tightly in her hand. "Thank you," she said again. "Really, you've gone above and beyond these last couple of days, Javier."

Javier downplayed Alexis's comment. "Not above and beyond," he said. "Just doing what needed to be done, helping in every way I could think of. Those things are important to me when it comes to the people who matter to me. Beckett and Castle are family to me, so you, your grandmother, and Beckett's dad matter to me because you matter to them."

He wasn't looking for praise, Alexis realized. Javier genuinely saw his role in the events of the past two days as exactly what he'd just said it was: doing what needed to be done and helping in every way he could think of, because her dad and Kate mattered to him, so their family mattered to him too.

With the dishes done, and Martha having retreated to the living room, Javier snagged his jacket off the back of the chair in which he had sat to eat dinner. "If you ladies are set for the evening, I'll take off, get out of your hair," he said as he slipped his jacket on.

"You're welcome here any time," Martha said, leaving the couch to walk Javi to the door with Alexis.

He smiled. "I'm not sure Beckett and Castle will mean that literally, Martha, but I think it's safe to say you ladies will be seeing a lot of me in the coming weeks and months."

"And we look forward to it," Martha replied.

"Remember, if you need anything at all, no matter what it is, no matter what **time** it is..." Javier began.

Alexis held up the card he had given her a few minutes ago. "We'll call," she promised.

He nodded once. "I'll see you soon, Martha, Alexis," he said, and then he left.

Martha locked the front door behind him while Alexis set the alarm. Sighing deeply with exhaustion, Martha put her arm around Alexis's shoulders. "Well, I think we should both call it an early night, darling, what do you say?" she asked.

Alexis mustered a smile for her grandmother. "Sounds like a good idea," she said. And it **did** sound like a good idea. Alexis just wasn't certain she'd be able to pull it off without more nightmares.

Martha heated up some milk for both herself and Alexis. Alexis added chocolate syrup to hers, figuring that the tryptophan in the warm milk would cancel out the sugar in the chocolate syrup. After an extra-long hug and a kiss good night, and Martha's stern exhortation that, "You wake me if you need me, Alexis, all right?" and Alexis's affirmative nod, they went to their rooms and tried to go to sleep.

Well, Martha managed to fall asleep within half an hour.

Alexis tossed and turned, gave up after fifteen minutes, and started looking at new kitchen appliances and flooring samples online, and finally fell asleep several hours later, after bookmarking a few web pages of suggestions for the new kitchen for her father and Kate to look over.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Thank you all for your interest and enthusiasm. It continues to inspire me as I continue to write this story. This is just a short update; the next one will be much longer, I promise.  
**_

* * *

The night nurse on duty in the ICU, Grace, was the sympathetic nurse who had helped Alexis, Martha, Jim, and Esposito during Kate's panic when she had first awakened and thought Castle was dead. When Grace went to check on the couple and found them sharing Kate's hospital bed, she merely smiled before checking each of their vital signs and recording them in their respective charts.

She'd been an ICU nurse for almost ten years now, and she had never witnessed the level of devotion Richard Castle and Katherine Beckett exhibited to one another in any other patients.

She had to give them credit for managing to look comfortable and at peace in that single hospital bed...although some of that could be the pain meds.

Grace regarded the sleeping couple, Castle lying on his uninjured side, Beckett on her back, her cheek resting against Castle's good shoulder, the crown of her head tucked under his chin, which rested lightly on top of her head, and amended her thinking.

It wasn't the pain meds making this couple look so comfortable and at peace.

It was the strength they drew from each other, the love and the bond they shared.

These two, Grace knew, were going to be all right, precisely **because** they had each other...and, as Grace recalled, a loving family and friends who would be there for them every step of the way during their recovery.

Grace left Captain Beckett and Mr. Castle sleeping, and made sure everyone else on the night shift knew they were not to be disturbed, and under no circumstances was Mr. Castle to be awakened and forced to move back to his own bed.

And she would see to it that the morning nurses, when they came on at 7 AM, knew to let them stay together in the same bed as well.

Clearly, their togetherness was a crucial part of their recovery process.

* * *

Alexis woke up feeling very thirsty. _Must have been the chocolate syrup,_ she mused. She shuffled quietly downstairs for a glass of ice water.

When she got to the kitchen, the entire floor was red, covered in a river of blood.

And there lay her father and Kate, clutching hands, lying in the middle of the neverending river of blood... ** _their_** blood.

Both of them were so pale and still, and Alexis knew they were dead before she even touched them, but she dropped to her knees, splashing their blood all over when she did, and reached out with shaking hands to touch first her father's cheek, and then Kate's.

Both were as cold as ice.

Alexis opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out...nothing but panting gasps. Her heart was racing. Her chest was tight and hurting badly. Was this what a heart attack felt like? It didn't even occur to her that, at only age 23, a heart attack was highly unlikely.

She felt dizzy, and numb. She couldn't breathe. And she was drenched in sweat.

Breathe. Why couldn't she breathe?

She couldn't look away from her dad and Kate, but she didn't want to look at them any longer.

The pain in her chest was unbearable. She clutched at her chest with one hand as she struggled to breathe. She couldn't get enough air. She tried to move, but she was frozen. If she couldn't stand up or crawl, maybe she could at least roll over to one side.

 **THUMP!**

Alexis woke up when she hit her bedroom floor, having fallen out of bed. She was still dizzy, drenched in sweat, her heart racing, her chest on fire.

She was at home, and intellectually, she knew that her dad and Kate were fine. They were in their hospital room and they were going to be all right, given time and physical (and for her dad, also respiratory) therapy.

But Alexis was so shaken by her nightmare that she couldn't talk herself down from this panic attack. It must be a panic attack, she thought dimly.

Hyperventilating now, she stumbled to her knees, shaking all over and feeling like she had just broken the surface in the deepest end of the deepest swimming pool. Gram was just down the hall, but Alexis was shaking too badly to move. She couldn't get to Gram, and Gram was a fairly sound sleeper. She couldn't get to Gram, and she wouldn't be able to speak above a whisper, so Gram wouldn't hear her.

Alexis's bedside lamp was still on, her laptop forgotten and kicked to the foot of the bed, apparently when she rolled out of bed and landed on the floor. Still on her knees, still shaking all over, and still hyperventilating, which raised a new fear, the fear of passing out, Alexis crawled to her bed and, with violently shaking hands, managed to knock her laptop to the floor.

Then she scooted back towards the nearest wall, not stopping until her back hit it hard, dragging her laptop behind her. She would have to ride this out on her own, and she needed to make sure that it was just a panic attack.

Her shaking fingers wouldn't let her type coherently, though.

Alexis tipped her head back and looked up at the ceiling, trying to slow her breathing, but it wasn't working.

Then, as if from a distance, she heard Gram. "Alexis? Are you in here?"

Weakly, Alexis raised one trembling arm. Martha scanned the room and spotted her granddaughter on the floor against the wall, shaking and gasping for breath.

"Oh, my darling!" she exclaimed as she rushed to Alexis's side and dropped to her knees beside her. "That thump must have been you."

"C-can't...breathe," Alexis rasped.

Martha brushed Alexis's sweat-soaked hair off her forehead. "You're having a panic attack, Alexis. Did you have another nightmare? Hold up one finger for 'yes,' two fingers for 'no,'" Martha directed. Alexis held up her right index finger. "Your father and Katherine are just fine," she said firmly. "Keep telling yourself that, in your head. Make it a mantra."

Alexis did as Gram asked, saying over and over in her head, _"Dad and Kate are fine. Dad and Kate are fine. Dad and Kate are fine. Dad and Kate are fine."_

"Now," Martha said, gently prying the laptop from Alexis's hands and setting it back on her bed, "we have to get your breathing under control. Lie back, and I'm going to coach you through a breathing exercise I do with my students sometimes. Just lie down right here on the floor, with your knees bent and your feet planted on the floor."

Alexis followed her grandmother's instructions, Martha's presence and the sound of her voice already helping to start calm her down.

"Good, good," Martha said. "Now, you're lying down because you are your most relaxed when you're lying down." She gently took hold of Alexis's hands, which were slick with sweat. "Now, you need to put one hand on your chest, right here..." She placed one of Alexis's hands, palm flat, on her chest, right over her sternum. "...and your other hand, you want on your stomach." She placed Alexis's other hand flat on her stomach. "Very good, honey. Now, take a slow breath in. Like this." Martha inhaled then, and Alexis shakily matched her grandmother's breathing.

"And...exhale," Martha directed. Alexis shakily breathed out.

And so it went, Martha talking Alexis through regulating her breathing, and breathing with her until she was back to breathing normally, and her shaking had subsided.

Martha helped Alexis to sit up, and they both leaned back against the wall. "Thank you," Alexis said to her grandmother.

Martha hugged Alexis, and Alexis hugged her back. "I wasn't sleeping myself," Martha confessed. "I had a nightmare, too. I had been awake for a few minutes, I heard the thump, and at first I thought there might be someone downstairs, but then I remembered you set the alarm before we came upstairs, and it would have gone off if anyone had broken in. So then I knew it must be you. Did you hurt yourself?"

"No, I just fell out of bed, and that's what woke me up. I started having the panic attack in my sleep," Alexis replied. "I'm such a mess, Gram."

"It's to be expected," Martha said.

"But for how long?" Alexis wanted to know, leaving the safety and comfort of her grandmother's arms. "I **hate** this! I feel so...so out of control. Dad and Kate are gonna be all right. I should be handling this better, shouldn't I?"

"You saw something very traumatizing," Martha pointed out gently but firmly. "It's only been a couple of days. You have to give yourself some time."

"I can't sleep without having nightmares. Now I'm having panic attacks," Alexis raved.

" **One. One** panic attack," Martha pointed out.

Alexis stood up. "I need to be with Dad and Kate. I'm going to grab a quick shower because I'm drenched in sweat, and then I'm going to the hospital." It was the only thing she could think to do to keep another panic attack at bay, because it was too early to call the therapist she'd seen years ago after her kidnapping.

"I'll call the car service and get dressed while you're in the shower," Martha replied.

Ten minutes later, they were on their way to the hospital. When they arrived at Castle and Beckett's hospital room, the sight that met their eyes put smiles on both Martha and Alexis's faces: Rick and Kate curled up together in Kate's hospital bed.

"We should have known your father would sneak into Katherine's hospital bed," Martha whispered.

"I doubt Kate put up a fight, Gram," Alexis whispered back. She looked at them lovingly. "What a pair."

"Yes, they are," Martha agreed.

Despite Martha's suggestions that Alexis use Richard's hospital bed since he wasn't using it himself, Alexis refused, settling herself in the chair next to Kate's bed. Martha sat on the edge of Richard's empty hospital bed and eventually lay back and succumbed to sleep. She had no nightmares and didn't waken.

Alexis propped her chin on her hand and spent the rest of the night watching her dad and Kate sleeping. She definitely needed help to get past this, to get rid of these nightmares and keep more panic attacks from happening.

She just hoped the therapist could see her today so she could get started on putting this behind her once and for all today.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Thank you to all who are reading, reviewing, following this story. And a special shoutout to two groups of people with whom I can't directly communicate through this site: the guest reviewers, and those who are reading and/or following but not leaving reviews. I thank you for the support, and the inspiration, and hope that you have enjoyed what has happened so far, and will enjoy what is yet to come.**_

 _ **Also, things were getting a bit long, so only Gina appears in this chapter, but Meredith reappears in the next chapter.**_

* * *

Kate awoke slowly. She and Castle were crowded into her hospital bed together, but she found the tight quarters reassuring, his warm, solid presence pressed against her reminding her all over again of both how much she loved this man, and how close this last close call had been. _No regrets, Mom,_ she thought, reaching out carefully to brush her hand through Rick's hair.

Unbidden, memories from years past came to her then as she looked at Castle, still asleep beside her...she those times she was so afraid of her true feelings for him, the times when she wondered if she would ever be unafraid enough, feel like she was unbroken enough and ready enough, to be with him...and wondering if he would still be there when and if she got to that point.

" _This isn't about your mother's case anymore. This is about you needin' a place to hide, because you've been chasing this thing so long, you're afraid to find out who you are without it."_

" _You don't know me, Castle! You think you do, but you don't!"_

" _I know you crawled inside your mother's murder and didn't come out. I know you hide there, the same way you hide in these nowhere relationships with men you don't love. You **could** be happy, Kate. You **deserve** to be happy. But you're afraid."_

* * *

" _Castle, wait."_

" _I did. Three months. You never called."_

" _Look, I know you're angry-"_

" _You're damn right I'm angry! I watched you die in that ambulance, did you know that? You know what that's like, watching the life drain out of someone you...someone you care about?"_

" _I told you, I needed some time."_

" _You said a few days."_

" _I needed more."_

" _Well, you should have said that."_

" _Castle, look, I couldn't call you. Not without dragging myself into everything that I was just trying to get some space from. I needed some time to just work through everything."_

" _Josh help you with that?"_

" _We broke up."_

* * *

" _So why'd you guys break up?"_

" _I really, really liked him. That wasn't enough. After my mother was killed, something inside me changed. It's like I built up this wall inside. I don't know, I guess I just didn't want to hurt like that again. I know I'm not gonna be able to be the kind of person that I want to be, I know I'm not gonna...I'm not gonna be able to have the kind of relationship that I want until that wall comes down. And it's not gonna happen 'til I put this thing to rest."_

" _Well then, I suppose we're just gonna have to find these guys and take 'em down."_

* * *

 _"She's an uncooperative, cocky, stubborn know-it-all!"_

 _"But she **is** good at her job?"  
_

 _"Well, Castle seems to think so."_

 _"And that bothers you."_

 _"Yes, of course it bothers me!"_

 _"Why?"_

 _"Because...he's supposed to be..."_

 _"Be what?"_

 _"My partner! I mean, he's supposed to be on my team, he's not supposed to be all smitten!"_

 _"Why is it complicated?"_

 _"You **know** why it's complicated."_

 _"Only what you've told me."_

 _"Kate. What are you **really** scared of? That he **won't** wait for you...or that he **will**?"_

* * *

 _"I'm telling you, something happened. Something changed. It's been weird between us lately."_

 _"' **Lately'**? Kate, it's been weird for four years!"_

 _"No! This is different. **He's** different. It's like he's pulling away."_

 _"Well, can you blame him? He's probably tired of waiting."_

 _"Waiting for what?"_

 _"What do you think? The guy is crazy about you! And despite your little act, you're crazy about him! Oh, what, was that supposed to be some big secret?"_

 _"Yes!" Pause. "No." Pause. "Do you think **he** knows?"_

 _"You remember how he **used to** be, girl on either arm? You really don't see **that** guy too much anymore. Why do you think that is? He's waiting for **you**!"_

 _"Yeah, but Lanie-"_

 _"I know. You're dealing with stuff. But you cannot ask him to wait forever. Unless, of course, you're okay with him pullin' away."_

 _"What if it doesn't work? What if it ends up like you and Javi?"_

 _"Well, at least we **gave** it a shot. And so it didn't work out. So what? Now we can move on...give or take the occasional booty call."_

 _"I just, I don't want to lose what we have, you know?"_

 _"Girl, please. What, exactly, **do** you have, **really**?"_

 _"A friendship."_

 _"No. What you and I have is a friendship. What you and Castle have is a holding pattern. How long can you circle before the fuel runs out?"_

* * *

 _"How does somebody put something like that behind them? He's gonna need therapy."_

 _"It helps. First he won't be able to deal with it. It's gonna take everything that he's got just to put one foot in front of the other and get through the day."_

 _"I didn't know you were seeing a therapist."_

 _"Yeah, well, I didn't wanna make any excuses. I just wanted to put in the time, do the work. But, I think I'm almost where I wanna be now."_

 _"And where is that?"_

 _"In a place where I can finally accept everything that happened that day. **Everything.** "_

 _"I think I understand."_

 _"And, um, that wall that I was tellin' you about? I think it's coming down."_

 _"Well, I'd like to be there when it does."_

 _"Yeah, I'd like you to be there too."_

* * *

Kate looked at Rick, sleeping there beside her. He **had** been there when the wall came down, taking the hand, and the heart, she offered him and holding fast to both, keeping them, keeping her, safe and loved through everything that happened, a gift for which she would forever be grateful and in awe, and he had given her his hand and his heart in return, and she would always hold fast to them and keep them, and him, as safe and loved as he kept her.

No sooner had she arrested Bracken and finally put her mother's murder to rest once and for all than Rick went missing on what was supposed to be their wedding day. They got _**that**_ figured out, and then LokSat landed in her lap... **their** laps, because of course, he wasn't about to let her go it alone.

For so many years, her mother's murder had defined her, Kate thought. It informed her choices, made her who she was…and gave her that hiding place that Rick had mentioned when they had that fight when Lockwood was gunning for her.

But Kate Beckett was done hiding. She had no need to hide anymore. Rick had stuck by her through all of it, kept coming back even when she had (foolishly, she now knew) tried to push him away, even when she convinced herself that it was for his own good, his own safety.

Somehow, she, the one who thought she **had** to go it alone after losing her mother because the thought of loving anyone else as much as she loved her mother only to lose them too was too painful to bear, had learned that going it alone was the last thing she wanted, or needed.

Then she remembered something Captain Montgomery had said to her at the precinct shortly before everything went down at the hangar, the way he had sacrificed himself to save her life, and taken out Lockwood in the process.

" _I could have kicked Castle to the curb years ago, any time I wanted to. Only reason I kept him around this long was because I saw how good he was for you. Kate, you're the best that I've ever trained, maybe the best that I've ever seen. But you weren't having any fun before he came along."_

Montgomery had been right.

Everything Kate thought was lost to her forever when her mother's casket was lowered into the ground was returned to her a thousandfold when Richard Castle came into her life and refused to leave.

And now, the dragons had all been slayed. The future was theirs to decide. Wherever they went from here, they'd be going together...no secrets, no lies, no misguided sacrifices trying to keep each other safe.

For everything she didn't know right now—where and when and what her next professional endeavor would be, how long it would take her and Rick to get pregnant, what kinds of choices they'd be faced with in the coming weeks, months, and years—what Kate Beckett knew, without any doubts, was that she could handle anything life threw at her because no matter what it might be, Richard Castle would be by her side through whatever it was.

And that was more than enough.

"Usually I'm the one watching you sleep." Castle's gruff, sleep-roughened voice broke Kate's reverie. She looked at him looking back at her, all sleepy blue eyes with crinkles at the corners and the trace of a smile playing on his lips.

"Well, it's about my turn to watch you sleep, then, isn't it?" she replied. "How are you feeling?"

"A little sore, but otherwise great," he replied. "How are **you** feeling?"

"Like I just had major abdominal surgery yesterday. But you're here, and we're both gonna be okay, and we'll take the rest as it comes," she said.

"You looked pretty deep in thought there. Good thoughts, I hope?" he asked cautiously.

"Not thinking so much as remembering. Remembering how close I came to not having this...not having you, having us."

He hated the shadows he saw in her eyes. "I never would have let that happen," he swore. "This...us...we were inevitable, Kate. I would have worn you down eventually."

"Excuse me, who showed up at whose door That Night?" she asked. He couldn't keep the smile off his face when he heard the smile in her voice, and saw it playing on her lips.

"You showed up at my door," he replied. "One of the top five greatest nights of my life...so far. And you're in four of the five."

"Alexis's birth," she said, instantly realizing the one greatest night of Castle's life that she, Kate, was not a part of.

"Yeah," he replied.

She grew serious again. "Thanks for never giving up on me."

"You never have to worry about that happening," he vowed.

It was then that Kate finally noticed they weren't alone in the room. "Castle," she said. He sat up and looked around, seeing his mother stretched out in his empty hospital bed, and Alexis slumped in the visitor's chair.

Rick reached out and gently touched Alexis's knee. The action caused her to jump a foot in the air with a strangled yelp and then fall on the floor next to the chair.

Kate was in the process of reaching for her call button when Alexis came up on her knees next to the chair, waving her hand. "No, really, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Rick said, looking at his daughter critically.

"I didn't sleep very well last night," Alexis admitted.

"She had a panic attack." Martha was awake now, slipping on her shoes and getting out of the empty hospital bed.

"Gram!" Alexis exclaimed.

"They have a right to know, honey," Martha said stubbornly.

Alexis looked back to Rick and Kate as she levered herself back into her chair. "Look, I'm going to talk to a therapist about it, hopefully later today. You guys have enough to worry about with yourselves right now, you don't need to worry about me too."

"That's not the way it works, pumpkin," Rick replied. "You'll be my age, and I'll still be worrying about you. It comes with the territory."

"Alexis," Kate said then, and Alexis, Rick, and Martha all three turned to look at her. "There's something you need to know. You and Martha." She paused for a beat at their expectant looks, then continued, "I'm leaving the force."

Alexis looked confused. "What do you mean, you're leaving the force?" she asked.

"I mean I'm not going to be a cop anymore," Kate replied. Alexis's eyes grew wide, and her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

"What are you going to do if you won't be a police captain anymore, Katherine?" Martha asked, looking and sounding as confused as Alexis.

"Well, that is yet to be determined," Kate replied, threading her fingers through Rick's as she met his gaze for a moment. "But we have time to figure that out. We have time for a lot of things, and first on the list is our recoveries...otherwise known as how we'll be spending our summer vacation."

"We have really got to start doing better things with our summers," Rick said, catching Kate's eyes then.

"Next summer we will, I promise you," she told him, since she already had very definite ideas about what she wanted them to be doing next summer.

"Katherine, dear, you're not just leaving the force for us?" Martha asked, motioning between herself and Alexis.

"No," Kate assured her mother-in-law. "I'm leaving the force because it's time. There are other things I...Rick and I...want to do, and the NYPD doesn't figure into those plans."

"You're **really** leaving the force?" Alexis asked, her hands having dropped from her mouth back to her sides, though she was still looking at Kate in wide-eyed shock.

"As soon as I can get to a computer and a printer, I'll draft my formal letter of resignation," Kate replied. "There'll probably be some red tape at 1PP, but my mind is made up. I'm done."

" **We're** done," Rick corrected her. "I'm also giving up the PI agency. But Nikki and Rook will keep fighting the good fight, and we don't need to be at the precinct for that."

"Richard, darling, we all know it stopped being about the books years ago," Martha said dryly.

"Hey," Kate said, seeing that Alexis had tears in her eyes. "Alexis, are you okay?"

Alexis nodded furiously. "For so long, I thought that being a cop was the most important thing in the world to you. I didn't think you'd ever give it up until you had to...when you were, like, seventy." She had tears in her eyes now.

"For so long, being a cop **was** the most important thing in the world to me," Kate replied. "But I found something...no, some **one**... **several** someones, actually...that are a lot more important to me than the job could ever be. It's just time."

Then Alexis started crying, and her dad, Kate, and Gram all immediately tried to comfort her, and she felt stupid and slightly embarrassed and incredibly relieved all at the same time. If Kate had gone back to the 12th Precinct, Alexis knew that her dad would have been right at Kate's side. And despite Kate's promotion to Captain, LokSat proved that trouble had an uncanny knack for finding the two of them.

Alexis had never doubted Kate's promises to keep Alexis's father safe and bring him home to them in one piece, and Kate had more than kept her word for eight long years.

But relief was coursing through Alexis's veins like adrenaline right now. As quickly as the storm of tears had come on, it stopped. Alexis wiped at her eyes and then laughed. "I really need some sleep," she said through a chuckle. "I'm getting seriously punchy here." She took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and then smiled. "Don't worry, I'm still talking to the therapist. I'm just-"

"Relieved," Kate finished for her.

"Yes," Alexis replied.

"As am I," Martha admitted.

The door to the room opened then, and Lanie entered. "Is this a family only party, or can anyone join in?" she asked.

"You **are** family," Kate told her.

Lanie entered the room, but before she could say anything else, someone else spoke up from the doorway. "Thank God you're going to live to write another day!"

Five heads turned in unison to see Gina standing in the doorway, holding an arrangement of red chrysanthemums and pink carnations, and looking nosy.

"And what do you think you're doing here?" Lanie challenged her.

"I merely came to drop these off-" Gina began.

"Flowers aren't allowed in the ICU," Alexis said stonily, "and what part of 'leave and don't come back' did you not get yesterday?"

"-and to tell my side of the story," Gina finished stubbornly. "And that was yesterday."

"You don't **have** a side of the story, Gina," Rick said coolly. "You upset my daughter. That's all I need to know."

"The fact that you and Kate were shot was news," Gina said.

"You're really not helping your case here, Gina," Kate said, talking to Gina as if Gina were an uncooperative suspect in the box. "Fine, it was news. And okay, you, being who you are, felt the need to hold a press conference about it, despite not having any real news to share beyond the fact of the shooting itself. But holding that press conference outside the hospital, while Rick and I were in surgery, and getting into a fight with Meredith for allegedly trying to steal the spotlight from you at your own press conference, accomplished nothing but upsetting Alexis, and that's where you made your mistake, because when Alexis is upset, we, her family, are upset."

"Is that a threat?" Gina asked haughtily.

"It's a fact," Kate informed her firmly.

Ryan and Esposito arrived then, but couldn't get into Beckett and Castle's room because Gina was still standing in the doorway.

"You again," Ryan said. "What, you didn't get enough yesterday?"

"Is your crazy buddy lurking outside someplace too?" Esposito asked.

"Meredith is no friend of mine!" Gina exclaimed.

"And you're no friend to anyone here," Lanie retorted.

"I am Richard's publisher, and besides, there's no such thing as bad publicity," Gina insisted. "You're one of the top-selling authors on Amazon right now! Do you think that would have happened without that press conference?"

"I don't give a damn about press conferences!" Rick exclaimed. "I expect this kind of crap from Meredith, but you just proved I've been giving you too much credit, Gina."

"Don't you compare me to her! She was only out for herself! I did this for you, and for your career!" Gina bristled.

"And you just happened to get a good boost in business out of it," Kate retorted.

"The business world never stops, and you have to take every advantage to get ahead," Gina persisted.

"You did not just call my dad and Kate getting shot an 'advantage to get ahead' in business!" Alexis exclaimed angrily. "You know, there **is** such a thing as common decency! But then, I'm used to people who show common decency in their dealings with others because that's what I was taught to do, and that's the way my family and friends are. I guess that explains why you don't know anything about common decency."

"You watch your mouth," Gina hissed at Alexis.

"No, you watch yours," Alexis and Kate both growled at Gina in unison.

"Okay, this conversation is over," Rick said sternly. "Gina, leave. Now. Unless you want to be escorted out."

"You gonna have your goon squad do it like yesterday?" Gina all but snarled at Rick.

"I'll get up and haul you out of here myself if I have to," Kate said.

"Yeah, right," Gina sniffed.

"Watch me," Kate said, throwing the blanket off and starting to try to sit up.

Everyone started talking at once.

"Kate, hold on a second-" Rick put a hand on her arm, not entirely sure if he was trying to help her stand or keep her in bed.

"Beckett, we got this." Esposito.

"Yeah, we do." Ryan.

"I've gotta get up today anyway," Kate said, putting one foot on the floor, with Rick still holding her arm with one hand, his other hand splayed in the middle of her back. "And this isn't my first time recovering from a gunshot wound to the torso. A walk down the hall is a good start, but I could get all of my PT for the day out of the way getting you out of the building, Gina."

"Are you crazy?" Gina asked, wide-eyed now.

"You tried to capitalize on a crime to sell books, and you think **I'm** crazy?" Kate asked. She put her other foot on the floor now and slowly, gingerly stood up, Rick still supporting her and then getting out of bed himself to stand beside her. "You don't know me, Gina. So you don't know how seriously I take the happiness and well-being of the people I love. You upset my stepdaughter, and you insulted my husband, both **big** mistakes on your part."

"You go, Kate," Lanie said.

"You stay out of this!" Gina ordered Lanie.

"She's my best friend, and part of our family. You don't talk to her like that, Gina!" Kate exclaimed.

"Being a cop, a civil servant, you don't understand how big business works, Kate," Gina said, speaking in her placating, condescending, serve-up-the-BS-with-a-snow-shovel tone. "Anyone in my position would have done the same."

Now Castle spoke. "Kate is a million times more intelligent than you could ever be, Gina. You upset my daughter, you insulted a dear friend, and now you're insulting my wife. You know, once, a sniper had a bead on Kate in a warehouse, and right before he could squeeze the trigger, I jumped on that son of a bitch's back and pummeled him in the face until he was unconscious, and my fist" here he held up the hand he had used to bash Lockwood's face in, "was my only weapon. Your verbal shots are making me as angry as the literal shot that scumbag tried to take at Kate that night, so I'm telling you for the first and last time to knock it off. You can say anything you want to about me, but my wife, my daughter, and our friends and family are **off limits** , do you understand that?"

"You nearly broke your hand on some thug's face?" Gina shrieked. "When was this, and why didn't I know about it until now? Now **you're** the one who's crazy! You **need** your hands to write, Richard!"

To everyone's surprise, Martha stepped forward then. "That's quite enough," she said, taking Gina's elbow firmly. "Gina, your presence is neither welcomed nor required here. All you're doing is bothering everyone. So take your Botoxed face, your lifted derriere, and your tucked tummy back to your Midtown office, and, as they're so fond of saying in my business, don't call us, we'll call you." Then, with a firm grip on Gina's elbow, she said, "Excuse me, everyone. I have some trash to take out, but then I'll be back."

And with that, Martha marched the stuttering, sputtering, outraged Gina, still holding the floral arrangement, out of the room, and the angry click of Gina's high heels and the fading sound of her screeching voice echoed down the hall as Martha physically removed Gina from the premises.

Everyone was silent for a long moment. Then Lanie spoke. "Castle, your mom is **awesome**!"

"She really is," Ryan agreed, looking a bit in awe himself at the way Martha had just handled Gina.

"That's my Gram," Alexis said proudly.

"My mother does know how to use her powers for good instead of evil," Rick mused.

Martha returned then. "My ears are burning," she sing-songed. "I don't think Gina will be back at the hospital, but I'm afraid you're in for a bad time the next time you have to talk business with her, Richard."

"That would have happened whether you escorted her out or not," Rick assured his mother. "And thank you for doing it. I was afraid Kate would rip her stitches kicking Gina's ass Beckett-style. Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed seeing that."

"What, without the mud pit?" Lanie said. Ryan and Esposito choked on their laughs, and even Kate, Alexis, and Martha looked amused.

"Ha ha," Rick said dryly.

"You were the one practically salivating over the so-called Gina/Meredith catfight yesterday," Lanie reminded him.

"The Deep-Fried Twinkie vs. The Opportunistic Witch? Now that one, you could sell tickets for, Castle," Esposito said.

"Would you buy one?" Castle asked him.

"Sure!" Esposito exclaimed.

"Gina couldn't have a catfight without risking massive silicone rupture," Martha said, tsk-tsking. "If only I'd been able to escort her out by way of the plastic surgery floor, and show her a derriere lift gone terribly wrong."

Lanie practically hooted with laughter. "Mrs. Rodgers, you can be downright evil!" she exclaimed. "I **love** it!"

"All right, I've already had this conversation with Javi," Martha said, "so now I see it's time I have it with you two." She looked from Lanie to Ryan, addressing them both. "You're part of our family, Richard and Katherine's dearest friends, and we're going to be seeing a lot of each other this summer and beyond, so it's not 'Mrs. Rodgers' or 'Mrs. R..' Just call me 'Martha,' and I shall call you 'Lanie,' and you 'Kevin.'"

"Okay," Lanie agreed. "I'm not one to stand on ceremony, Martha. You're on."

"If you're sure," Ryan said, a bit uncertainly.

"I insist, Kevin," Martha said, firmly but kindly.

"Well, if you insist, then, okay...Martha," Ryan replied, although addressing Castle's mother by her first name would definitely take some getting used to for him.

Kate and Rick, meanwhile, had been holding a private conversation with their eyes. "We're glad you're all here," Kate said, "because we have something to tell you, and it's only right that you all hear it straight from us, and at the same time." She paused, then looked from Lanie, to Ryan, to Espo, to Castle, and back to their friends and colleagues. "I'm done, guys. I'm leaving the force." She paused to let the statement sink in, but none of the trio looked surprised by her news. "You don't seem surprised," Kate realized aloud as she took in the looks on their faces.

"We figured it out yesterday," Esposito admitted.

"We were just waiting to hear it from you," Ryan added.

"It's not unexpected," Lanie agreed. "I'll miss you two at work, though, especially when you're doing that thing you do, that mind meld."

"The 12th won't be the same without you guys," Esposito agreed, "but you have to do what's right for you."

"Well, you're not getting rid of us completely," Castle said. "You're our best friends. That will never change."

"Does that mean we can still call you when we get really weird cases?" Ryan asked, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Absolutely." "Sure." Rick and Kate answered in unison.

"You can call even if it's not a weird case, if you just need a fresh pair of eyes or two," Kate added. She paused for a moment, frowning slightly. "Well, unless whoever becomes Captain after me has a problem with it."

"We can keep it on the down low, like when Gates first came to the 12th," Esposito said.

"She somehow always knew we were up to something, though," Kate pointed out.

"But no matter how much she protested, she always let it ride," Ryan replied.

"That's true," Kate mused. "Still, we'll have to be careful."

"You taught us everything we know, Beckett. We can do careful," Ryan said.

"We'll miss you at the 12th," Lanie said, "but you gotta do what you gotta do. For so long, Kate...for **too** **damn** long...your life was all about the job. And then along came Castle, and you started having fun. You became...lighter, I guess, is the way to describe it—although even that was a slow process-because you had finally found a partner in every sense of the word to share the load with you, and to give you all the stuff you were missing out on, everything you didn't have and **swore** you didn't want."

"Is this the part where you remind me again of how much money you lost because nothing happened between Rick and me the first year we worked together?" Kate asked, but she was smiling when she asked the question.

"I wouldn't say **nothing** happened the first year," Lanie replied. "You two were laying the foundation for what you have ultimately become." She wheeled on Ryan and Esposito then. "And no cute remarks from the peanut gallery!" she exclaimed. Ryan and Esposito put on their best innocent faces, and Castle's expression was remarkably similar to theirs, but none of the men said a word. "Work won't be the same without you two, but we're family. That won't change just because we're not working together anymore."

"That's exactly right," Kate said.

"You're still our best friends," Ryan said. "Nothing will ever change that."

"Definitely," Esposito added.

It was then that Espo, Ryan's, and Lanie's phones all started to ring. "It's the 12th," Lanie said, retrieving her phone first.

"For me too," Ryan said.

"And me," Esposito replied.

They each answered their phones.

"Esposito."

"Detective Ryan."

"This is Dr. Parish."

A moment of silence ensued while they all listened.

"I'm heading in right now," Lanie said, ending her call.

"Got it," Ryan said, ending his call.

"We're on our way," Esposito said, ending his call.

The trio looked at Beckett and Castle apologetically. They didn't have to say a word; Kate and Rick knew what was going on.

Kate smiled quickly, wistfully. "Get whoever did this," she told them.

"You know we will," Esposito promised.

"I'll be back later," Lanie said. "I can't say for sure when, but sometime later today, or tonight."

"We'll be here," Kate said.

"Call if it's a weird case," Castle reminded Ryan and Esposito.

"We will," Ryan promised over his shoulder as he headed for the door. "And we'll be back when we can," he added, referring to himself and Esposito.

Esposito paused for a second on his way out the door. "Everything okay?" he asked Alexis and Martha quietly.

Alexis looked from her grandmother to Rick and Kate to Javier. "Getting there," she replied truthfully.

"Good," Esposito said. "Catch you guys later." He looked from Alexis and Martha back to Castle and Beckett, then headed out into the hall to catch up with Ryan.

Dr. Gallison came in then. "Well, Captain Beckett, Mr. Castle, it's safe to say there's never a dull moment with the two of you around," he greeted them before consulting their charts.

Kate and Rick exchanged a look and laughed until they physically hurt and literally had to lean on each other just to remain upright.

When they recovered themselves, and the physical pain had begun to fade, Dr. Gallison said, "Well, Captain Beckett, since you're already on your feet, do you feel ready to take a walk down the hall?"

"Yes," Kate replied.

One of the daytime nurses came in to help Kate, even though she and Rick were both still standing following their confrontation with Gina. They made her take her IV and her oxygen tank, the same as Castle had done yesterday. Martha and Alexis moved to the side of the room closest to Rick's unused hospital bed, giving Kate plenty of room to make it out the door.

Castle was still standing by Kate's hospital bed, watching her slowly shuffle forward, limping slightly due to the pain in her left hip from the bullet that had been removed from there the day before, and, as he had done, using her IV pole as a way to keep herself upright. He wanted so much to go on this walk with her, but wasn't sure Dr. Gallison would allow it. God knew they had bent—outright broken—enough hospital rules already.

But Kate herself settled the matter when she reached the doorway and looked over her shoulder at her husband. "You comin', Castle?" she asked. Despite the pain moving through her torso and hip, the smile on her face was also in her eyes.

Rick grinned back at her, grabbing his own IV pole and oxygen tank. "Always," he replied before moving to follow Kate out the door of their room.

When they reached the corridor, and had more room to maneuver, they walked side by side, Kate reaching out on the third step to take Rick's hand in hers. And holding hands, with their other hands holding their IV poles, nudging the carts with their portable oxygen tanks ahead of them with their knees, Kate and Rick walked together down the corridor, the nurse following behind them, and Alexis, Martha, and Dr. Gallison watching from the doorway of their hospital room.

Before they had turned around to return to the room, Alexis was on her phone, and, after looking up the number, had an appointment for 2:30 that afternoon with the psychiatrist she had seen after her kidnapping a few years prior.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

Later that afternoon, Alexis returned to the hospital from her first appointment in three years with Dr. MacRae. After hearing her story, and helping Alexis through the accompanying panic attack that came with her telling of finding her father and stepmother shot in the family kitchen, bleeding all over the floor, Dr. MacRae was nothing but encouraging, assuring Alexis that they would work together to find a way for her to process this traumatic event and overcome her fears and the panic attacks they caused. Alexis left Dr. MacRae's office with a standing appointment for Wednesday afternoons and a feeling of relief that she would, indeed, be able to get past this in time.

Alexis stopped by the loft to pick up her laptop before returning to the ICU. She paused in the doorway at the sight that met her eyes: her dad and Kate, once again smushed together in Kate's hospital bed, only this time they were kissing. She hadn't encountered anyone else from their family, so she figured Dr. Parish, Javier, and Detective Ryan were still working on their case; Gram had called her to say that her father and Kate had insisted that she teach her class that day, saying the normalcy of the routine would be good for her ("...although I think they're just looking for an excuse to be alone...or at least as alone as they can get in that hospital room," Gram had concluded with more than a hint of laughter in her voice, and Alexis had agreed with Gram's assessment, the proof of which was now right before her eyes). She hadn't seen Kate's dad or Deputy Chief Gates since the day before, but she was certain that at least Mr. Beckett would be back soon.

Alexis just stood there, watching her dad and Kate kissing, and couldn't help but smile. They had survived the trauma. They had survived other traumas before this one—the time Castle and Martha had been held hostage during a bank robbery, Alexis's kidnapping, Kate's first shooting, Castle going missing for two months on what was originally supposed to have been his and Kate's wedding day—and Alexis knew in that moment that they would get through this trauma the same way they had gotten through all the others: together, as a family.

She cleared her throat and rapped her knuckles against the half-open door of Rick and Kate's room. "Sorry to interrupt," she began, going for levity.

Rick and Kate pulled apart so fast, it was all Alexis could do not to laugh out loud. "Alexis!" Kate exclaimed, reflexively pulling the sheet and blanket up higher over herself and Rick, even though their stitches, and Kate's taped broken ribs, kept them from letting their hands wander beneath each other's hospital gowns.

"Hi, Pumpkin," Rick greeted his daughter, his hair a complete mess from Kate running her fingers through it for the past several minutes. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Alexis replied honestly, entering the room and sitting down in the chair beside Kate's bed, resting her messenger bag containing her laptop and billfold beside the chair. "Or, I will be. I saw Dr. MacRae this afternoon, and it went well. She's going to help me process what's happened and overcome the fears that are causing the panic attacks."

Kate looked at Alexis guiltily then. "Alexis, I am so sorry you had to see that. I tried so hard to keep it away from you and your grandmother...and even your dad...precisely because I didn't want any of you to have to deal with something like this."

"Kate, this isn't your fault!" Alexis exclaimed. " **They** came after **you.** And of course they came after Dad too, because where else is he ever going to be but by your side?" She scooted to the edge of her chair and extended her arm as far as it would go until she could reach Kate's hand. "We're a family," Alexis continued fiercely, threading her fingers through Kate's. "If something happens to one of us, it affects all of us. But we're also strong. We've survived other traumas before, and we'll get through this one too, the same way we did all the others: as a family."

Castle looked from Alexis to Kate, marveling at how amazing they both were, each in her own way. Like Alexis, Rick didn't blame Kate for them getting shot. But it was clear to him now (especially with the morphine starting to work its way out of his system) that Kate had been blaming herself, and he couldn't let that go on. "Alexis is right, Kate," Rick said then, placing his hand on top of Alexis and Kate's joined hands. "What happened was **not** your fault in any way. And we're all going to be okay. It's just going to take some time, and some help, and leaning on each other."

Kate was starting to look convinced now; Rick could see it in her eyes. She wasn't all the way there yet, but he would tell her, and Alexis would tell her, as many times as were necessary that what had happened was not her fault, until she truly believed it the way they did.

Kate, needing a change of subject, fixed her gaze on Alexis's messenger bag on the floor beside her chair. "Did you bring your laptop?" she asked.

"Yes!" Alexis exclaimed eagerly, retrieving the laptop from the messenger bag and firing it up. "We have a kitchen to redecorate."

"No time like the present," Rick said cheerfully. "Show us what you found."

Alexis pulled up one of the websites she had bookmarked, then set the laptop on her father's lap. Rick and Kate pored over the screen, looking at the various options for flooring on the page before advancing another few pages, with both of them, as well as Alexis, sharing their ideas and putting in their respective two cents, which quickly devolved into the trio laughing and joking around.

From the moment Alexis had entered the ICU room, neither she, nor Rick or Kate, had paid any attention to anyone but each other…

...which is why they didn't notice Meredith, who had seen and heard everything beginning with Alexis apologizing tongue-in-cheek for interrupting Rick and Kate's make-out session, peeking around the corner of the door with a resigned expression on her face.

Meredith was selfish and self-involved. She had heard it often enough, from enough people, and had just enough self-awareness, to know that it was true.

But Meredith was not stupid. Standing there, peeking around that door, staring intently at Alexis, Rick, and Kate as they unanimously agreed on a type of flooring before moving on to look at appliances online, Meredith had the feeling that she had lost something, but if anyone had asked her exactly what it was she had lost, she wouldn't have been able to put it into words.

"So, are you finally realizing what you gave up all those years ago? What you will never have for yourself?" Martha Rodgers' cool, tight voice broke through Meredith's concentration on the scene before her. She stepped out of the line of sight of the door before turning to face Martha, who had retreated several discreet steps down the corridor, out of both sight and earshot of Alexis, Rick, and Kate.

Meredith followed Martha, then stood facing her ex-mother-in-law. "I didn't come here to cause trouble," she said defensively.

"Really," Martha said in a tone of voice that made it clear she didn't believe that for a second. "For as long as I have known you, Meredith, you have excelled at causing trouble. So you'll forgive me for not believing you now."

Meredith didn't say a word, just regarded Martha warily.

"Perhaps neither of us has been as successful an actress as we would have liked," Martha began, "but I never abandoned my family. The story is the same from time immemorial: charming, roguish, good-looking man, it's not serious, but you're not looking for serious. Serious is everything you want to avoid. The sex is hot, and it's good, maybe even great. Whether it's one night or several months or three years, the amount of time doesn't matter, because you live for fun, and you live in the moment.

"When you're young, you always think that getting pregnant is what happens to other women, but it'll never happen to you. You're too careful for that, too busy for a child, too selfish to be a mother. But it only takes once, and when you wake up every morning for several mornings in a row, vomiting repeatedly _,_ and you realize your clothes aren't fitting right, they're getting tighter for some reason, especially around your waist and in your chest, and that your breasts are suddenly more tender than they've ever been, you start to wonder, and to panic. You have been known to starve yourself occasionally, sometimes out of necessity, because the competition for a part that you would do almost anything to get is so fierce, but you've never been one to get on the binging and purging merry-go-round, or to purposely deprive yourself of food, ever-conscious of your weight and your figure though you may be. You're not making yourself throw up, or gain weight, but something...or rather, someone...is.

"But you connect the dots eventually, the doctor confirms it for you, and you are faced with a reality for which you never prepared: the reality that you are going to be a mother, that in a matter of months, you will be responsible for a tiny, innocent baby. This little life will be totally dependent on **you** for everything.

"I'll never win any Mother of the Year awards, I know that. But Richard is the best thing that ever happened to me, and from the moment he was placed in my arms in the delivery room, he became the center of my universe, the great love of my life, my greatest achievement. He never went to bed hungry, he always had a roof over his head and clothes to wear, he received medical care when he needed it, he got a good education, and he forgave my shortcomings, for reasons I still don't fully understand, and accepted me as I am, unconventional, unorthodox, and occasionally wild. More than that, he accepted the lack of a father in his life, and he never pushed me too hard for answers. I think he sensed that it was a sensitive subject for me. I knew going into it that while I could have been serious about him eventually, he would never be serious about me. Not the way I would have wanted and needed him to be, and certainly not the way that Richard needed and deserved.

"And despite my many flaws as both a mother and a human being, if I do say so myself, I raised an amazing, terrific son. And when he found out that he was going to be a father, what he wanted most was to give his child the one thing he didn't have in his own childhood: roots, a stable home with two loving parents."

"Martha-" Meredith began.

"I'm not finished," Martha interrupted her firmly. "I will always be grateful that you gave birth to Alexis. But looking back, Meredith, your part in her life really ended once you had pushed her out of your body. I know that the turnaround that must accompany becoming a mother, putting your child and their needs and wants ahead of your own, that doesn't happen for every woman, but for so many years, it made me angry to watch how cavalierly you approached motherhood and marriage. Richard and Alexis are everything to me, you see. Or rather, you **don't** see. And that is your loss. But it is your loss alone.

"Because those roots, and that stable home with two loving parents that Richard wanted to give Alexis? She has it. She has always had the roots, and the stable home with a loving father that would do, and has done, anything in the world for her. But since Katherine came along, she has had a second loving parental figure. Because long before Richard and Katherine finally admitted what the rest of us saw almost from the start, Katherine was a part of **all** of our lives. That's when I knew that she would be the last one, the only one, for Richard for the rest of his life. He never let any woman he dated even **meet** Alexis, let alone get close to her. But Katherine...I don't think it had been much longer than a month after they met that Katherine showed up at our front door one night for something about work, and while her arrival was unexpected, Richard immediately introduced her to us, and she became a part of all of our lives from that moment on. And she kept coming back to our home, and it wasn't always about police work. Years before they made it official by getting married, Katherine Beckett was already an important part of our family...and she quickly became someone Alexis trusted, someone that she could talk to about things that, for whatever reason, she couldn't or didn't want to discuss with Richard or me first. And she certainly helped keep Richard sane during those times of teenage girl angst that Alexis went through.

"Katherine has always admired and respected the relationship and the bond that Richard and Alexis have, encouraging it as much as she can. But her own contributions to Alexis's life are deep and far-reaching. Alexis didn't say anything about you, or about Katherine, yesterday that wasn't true, Meredith."

"I know. I know that," Meredith said. "It's not a competition. Not anymore. I guess it never was. I knew from the second the stick turned pink that I wasn't cut out for motherhood. I did try to make it work, but I just didn't have it in me. I'm too selfish to want anyone else to be the center of attention." At Martha's shocked look, she said, "I've heard that from so many people over the years, I figure there has to be some truth to it. And I'm not as much of an airhead as you and Rick have always thought. When Alexis had mono, I knew she didn't really want me there any more than you or Rick, or for that matter, Kate did. That's why I didn't put up a fuss about leaving. Alexis didn't need me. She already had everyone she needed: you, Rick...and Kate."

Meredith shifted her weight uneasily from foot to foot. In a moment of rare candor, she looked Martha right in the eye and said, "I feel like I've lost something here today, but then, it wasn't really mine to lose, was it? I gave it up decades ago."

"Motherhood is not something you can do only when you feel like it," Martha replied. "It's not just shopping sprees and being there for the fun times or the good times. It's everything. It's the dirty diapers and the colic and the 102-degree fever and chicken pox or stomach flu at 2 in the morning. It's the battles over homework and going to bed and taking out the trash, and going down to school to find out that your child has been suspended, or expelled, or that he's won the Young Authors competition.

"Being a good parent is finding within yourself a bravery you didn't know you had, the first time you watch your child go into their classroom alone, or go out with their friends unchaperoned, or ride the subway alone for the first time, or get behind the wheel of the car to drive it with you sitting in the passenger seat chanting a mantra of 'I will not yell or overreact' over and over again in your head, and then waiting for them to come home the first time they take the car out by themselves, waiting for them to come home from the prom, waiting for them to come home from college. It's getting them through their first broken heart, their first hangover, the first time they are rejected for something they really want. It's encouraging them to be the best human being they can be, but not living their life for them. It's being strong enough to let them make their own mistakes when that's the only way they'll learn, and being there to pick up the pieces afterwards.

"It is all of the triumphs, little or big, and all of the things that, at the time, your child considers tragedies, which are hopefully small and not **really** tragedies, all wrapped up together over the course of a lifetime. It is loving another human being with a depth and a strength and an intensity you had no idea you were capable of. It is a balancing act of holding on and letting go. It's being willing to **die** for your child if that's what it comes down to, even when your child is over 40 with a child of his own. And you never felt even one-tenth of those things, Meredith."

"You're right, I didn't," Meredith surprised Martha by admitting. "But I presume that Kate does. And Alexis should have that. She deserves that."

"Ewww, Dad, really?" Alexis exclaimed incredulously then.

"I have to put my foot down, Castle. We are **not** redoing the kitchen as an exact replica of the one on _MasterChef_!" Kate chided, but Martha and Alexis could both hear the amusement in her voice.

"Oh, all right," Castle grumbled in a put-upon voice. "But I **really** want the dishwasher with the interior lights, and the window that you can watch the washing process through!" he continued excitedly.

"Because you spend so much time watching the dishwasher," Alexis said sarcastically, but it was tempered with fondness.

"I know you're a big gadget guy, Rick, but if you don't have anything more exciting to do at home than watch the dishwasher literally wash the dishes-" Kate began.

"I didn't say that! I would never say that!" Rick exclaimed. "Especially when you-"

"Hey, no scarring your daughter for life with your innuendo!" Alexis interrupted, but her burst of laughter at the end of her proclamation, joined by Kate's own laughter and even Castle laughing, ruined any serious effect.

Meredith and Martha exchanged a look then. Meredith looked back down the hall towards the open door of Kate and Rick's hospital room. "They don't need to know I was here," Meredith said. "This isn't my place. It never was, as you pointed out. I guess I just needed to see it for myself to be absolutely certain that it was true." Then Meredith turned and walked down the hall, away from Martha, without looking back or saying another word.

Martha stood rooted to her spot, watching Meredith leave. She wasn't sure if or when any of them would see or hear from Meredith again, but Meredith wasn't what mattered now. What mattered now was their family, and Meredith was not now, nor would she ever be, a part of their family.

Martha entered Richard and Katherine's room then. "Hello, Mother," Richard greeted her.

"Hi, Martha," Kate said.

"Hi, Gram," Alexis said, getting up to give her grandmother a hug, which Martha returned.

"How goes the kitchen remodel?" Martha asked.

"I think we're done," Rick replied. "Kate?"

"It looks great to me," she said.

"Does that mean I can call and start setting everything up?" Alexis asked eagerly.

"Absolutely," Rick replied.

"Great!" Alexis exclaimed. "Excuse me, everyone. I'm going to start making calls right now." She took her laptop with her so that she would have all of the necessary information readily at hand and pulled her phone out of her pocket as she left the room to go down to the waiting area and set the remodeling of the kitchen into motion.

After Alexis left the room, and Martha had settled herself in the chair Alexis had vacated, Kate asked Martha, "So, is Meredith gone?" At Martha's surprised look, Kate continued, "She may have been trying to be subtle-"

"That's an impossibility for Meredith," Rick muttered.

"-but I saw her lurking outside our door," Kate concluded. "Was she here to try and play the concerned mother and ex-wife?"

"No," Martha said. "It just took her this long to realize what she threw away. I can't even say for certain that she regrets it."

"Again, that's an impossibility for Meredith," Rick said.

"I made it clear to her that Alexis didn't say anything about her, or about you, Katherine, that wasn't completely true, and then I spelled out in no uncertain terms for her exactly what being a good parent is. What shocked me was her admission that she never possessed any of those qualities. She said that she tried-"

"I find that hard to believe," Kate said.

"She tried in her own way," Rick said. "But it was too hard for her, not enough fun, not enough about her. If it's not about her, Meredith's interest in the subject lasts as long as the life span of the average fruit fly."

"But Alexis is her daughter!" Kate exclaimed.

"Only biologically," Rick replied. "You're the one who's been here for the past eight years, Kate. Don't underestimate yourself, or your impact on Alexis's life, because even if she has inherited our bad habit of not saying specifically what needs to be said when it most needs to be said, although I hope she's better about that than we used to be, don't you doubt for one second that Alexis loves you, and that she looks at you as a mother figure, because she does. All those years ago, when I asked you to take care of Alexis if anything happened to me, I didn't only do it because I trusted you to do right by her. I did it because I love both of you so much, and I knew that you loved each other too, and I wanted you to have each other to lean on if anything ever happened to me." He looked down at the blanket for several seconds before looking up and into Kate's eyes once more. "In some way, I guess I was trying to correct the universe's misstep by making you Alexis's mother. Even then, I wanted you to be the mother of my child, even though that child was already a teenager at the time."

Martha didn't miss the subtext of Richard's comments but knew better than to ask if Richard and Katherine were planning to make her a grandmother again, although now that the seed had been planted in her brain, she would definitely be awaiting an announcement.

Kate looked awestruck. "I can't imagine raising a child by myself. Don't underestimate yourself, Rick. You're an amazing father. Alexis is living proof of that."

Rick leaned in then and whispered in Kate's ear, so Martha couldn't hear him. "Our kids are going to be amazing, Kate. And you'll never have to do any of it alone with them, I promise you." When he pulled back, Kate smiled at him, brushing the back of her hand across his cheek.

Then Rick looked at Martha. "Well, at least Meredith left quietly," he said.

"Did you know she was here, Richard?" Martha asked her son.

"I caught a glimpse of her when I followed Kate's gaze to the door," Rick replied. "But I don't think Alexis needs to know that Meredith was here. She's upset enough right now, and Gina already added to that today. Alexis doesn't need Meredith adding to it too, even _in absentia."_

"I agree," Martha said. "Besides, Meredith truly ceased to be her mother ages ago. The only mother Alexis has ever truly known is right here in this room." She looked at Kate, and now Rick followed Martha's gaze to Kate.

Before Kate could find the words to reply to that, Alexis returned, flushed with excitement. "The flooring guys are coming tomorrow, and the new appliances will be delivered on Friday!" she crowed with delight.

Rick, Kate, and Martha all immediately mustered smiles for Alexis. "Is everything okay?" Alexis asked, puzzled by the knot of tension that even now was draining from the room like water draining from a bathtub.

Her dad answered for all of them when he looked from Kate beside him in the small hospital bed, to Gram seated in the chair at the bedside, to Alexis herself standing at the foot of the bed, cradling her laptop in one arm.

"Everything is great," Rick assured his daughter heartily. Kate and Martha's answering smiles grew wider, less strained.

So Alexis smiled back. "And it's only going to get better," she said fervently.

"Yes, it is," Kate agreed, reaching her hand toward Alexis, who walked around to Kate's side of the bed and took hold of Kate's hand and squeezed it, both of their smiles widening as the also-smiling Rick and Martha looked on.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading and reviewing. I hope you continue to enjoy the adventure.**_

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The new kitchen at the Beckett-Castle loft was completed by week's end, much to Alexis's relief. Although the counters, sink, refrigerator and cooktop remained the same, everything else was brand-new: the cabinets were now maple, and the new hardwood floor was tongue and groove Southern pine, a light, unstained wood that looked rustic; the new dishwasher, while it did have an interior light, did not have a window in it and was stainless steel, and the new double oven was ivory in color.

Ryan and Esposito solved the case they and Lanie were called out on after two days and came back to the hospital to tell Beckett and Castle all about it. Unspoken but nonetheless acknowledged was the fact that it was the first of many cases that the boys would be working without Mom and Dad, a fact that the four of them would each have to take the time to get used to in their own way.

Beckett and Castle dove into physical therapy (and in Castle's case, respiratory therapy as well), with a vengeance. After three days in ICU, they were moved to the stepdown unit, where they continued to share a room, and kept working hard at their respective therapies. Their first morning in their new room, where they were both thrilled to learn they were now held to regular visiting hours as opposed to ICU where visitors could come and go at any time of the day or night, after the nurses and doctor had left, Kate got out of bed, slowly but surely. Rick watched with no small amount of concern as she crossed the few feet from her bed to his, and then climbed into his bed, settling herself next to him with a grin.

Rick grinned back, cupping her cheek in his palm. "Very impressive," he said.

"Well, the right motivation is key," she replied, sliding her arms around his neck before going in for a slow, sweet kiss.

When the need for oxygen forced them to break the kiss, Rick rested his forehead against Kate's. "What you do to me, Kate Beckett," he said softly, breathlessly.

"Not everything I'd like to be doing to you right now," Kate replied just as softly and breathlessly, "but as soon as we're medically cleared, I'm gonna do things to you that make page 105 look like Dr. Seuss." She ran her hands up and down the length of his back.

Rick groaned, half frustration, half anticipation. "Will you do the thing with the ice cubes?" he asked.

"If you want," Kate replied, pulling back just enough to look at him, so he could see the naughty twinkle in her eyes.

"Oh, I want," he said emphatically. "I **definitely** want."

Kate bit her bottom lip, then said hopefully, "And after we're medically cleared, we can officially get started on-"

"Operation BBC," Rick pronounced with sparkling eyes of his own.

"British Broadcasting Corporation?" Kate asked, frowning slightly.

Rick looked over at the door to make sure no one was near enough to hear them before he corrected Kate in a stage whisper. "Baby Beckett-Castle."

Kate looked both happy and relieved at the same time. "Yes," she said just as emphatically as Rick had said he wanted her to do the thing with ice cubes a moment before. "But I don't want to tell any of our family or friends until it's a done deal. I don't want any pressure, or any 'helpful hints,' or to have to worry about Martha interrupting any moments, or my dad giving you that 'I know what you're doing with my daughter, and I don't like it' look, or Alexis feeling awkward, and I love Lanie and the boys, but I don't want them to know about our sex life. Let them keep their speculations. Why mess with a system that's worked for years?"

Rick grew serious. "I totally agree. This is nobody's business but ours." He laced the fingers of one hand through one of Kate's hand, and brushed an errant strand of hair off her face with his other hand. "This is us, and the only word I can think of to describe making a baby with you is 'sacred.' They will all be a huge part of our future child's life, but not yet."

Kate smiled, then leaned forward and kissed Rick. He had just deepened the kiss when an amused voice from the doorway said, "Is that what they're calling respiratory therapy nowadays, Castle?"

Rick and Kate stopped kissing and looked to see the very amused Lanie standing in the doorway. "It's **much** better than what they're making me do in actual respiratory therapy," Rick retorted.

Lanie had just taken a seat beside the bed Rick and Kate were sharing when Janine, the respiratory therapist, walked into the room. "Speak of the devil and she will appear," Rick muttered.

"Time for your session, Mr. Castle!" Janine greeted him, not batting an eye at the fact that he and Kate were in the same bed. So many of the hospital staff had found them in the same bed together that it was just accepted all the way around by now.

Alexis and Martha had brought Rick and Kate actual clothes the day before, so Rick was in lightweight sweatpants and a t-shirt, while Kate was in yoga pants and one of Rick's t-shirts, since his shirts were larger than hers and therefore less likely to aggravate her still-healing ribs and her still-tender abdomen. "I shall return," Rick said once he was out of bed, bending down to give Kate a kiss goodbye.

"I'll be here waiting," she told him. "Go do your respiratory therapy. I want to be the only thing taking your breath away by summer's end."

"You've been taking my breath away for years, Kate. That'll never change," he replied before he followed Janine out of the room for his next exercise in torture, Kate smiling after him.

When they were alone, Kate looked at Lanie, who was smirking at her. "It's Castle's fault I've become this sappy," she said defensively, but the smile still on her face significantly lessened any harsh tone in her words.

Lanie's smirk turned into a genuine smile. "And we're all grateful to him for that, Kate," she said seriously. After a beat, she said, "The boys solved that case."

Kate nodded. "Yeah, they came by yesterday and told Castle and me." She smiled wistfully. "It was weird not being involved in this one."

"We missed you, that's for sure," Lanie said.

"It's gonna take some getting used to, for all of us," Kate replied. "But I know this is the right move to make."

"Speaking of making moves, and you and Castle, do you remember Alan Masters?" Lanie asked then.

"Alan Masters," Kate repeated. The name sounded familiar. "Wait a minute...I do remember him. He's the guy that wouldn't die, right?"

"Yeah," Lanie said, "and thank God he didn't die. He and I are dating. We have been since you closed his case."

"That's terrific, Lanie!" Kate exclaimed, genuinely happy for her friend. "I know that Castle and I met Alan in an official capacity, but that was several weeks ago. As soon as we're out of the hospital and back home, the four of us have to get together and have dinner."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Lanie said.

"You're my best friend. I have to make sure Alan's treating you right. Just because I'm leaving the force doesn't mean I can't still kick his ass if I have to," Kate said.

Lanie looked at Kate seriously, somewhat nervously. "He's definitely treating me right, Kate. No ass kicking will be required. And I want you to meet him...Castle too."She paused again, then said, "It's serious, Kate."

"And that's a bad thing?" Kate asked.

Lanie shook her head. "No, it's not bad at all," she said. "In fact, it's just the opposite. Alan… He's been my rock these past couple of weeks. He knows you're my best friend, and that Castle is my friend too, and he's been so supportive and understanding. He's really been there for me. Before the last couple of weeks, I knew I had never felt this way about anyone before, but now..."

"Now?" Kate said encouragingly, but also curiously.

"Now… Alan… He and I... He's..." Lanie trailed off, trying to figure out how to put it into words, how to make Kate understand what she, Lanie, felt. "Kate, Alan is my Castle," she finally said.

Kate was shocked but happy. "Really?" she said.

"Yeah," Lanie replied with an awed smile.

"Lanie, that's wonderful!" Kate exclaimed. "Well, it's wonderful if you're Alan's Beckett," she added after a moment, a question in her tone of voice and her eyes.

"I am," Lanie said with certainty. "I'm really in love with him, Kate, and he's really in love with me. It just slipped out last night. We weren't even doing anything special. We were brushing our teeth, and I was washing my face, and we were talking about what we'd be doing today. Standing there in my bathroom, all of a sudden I just couldn't wait another second, so I told him, 'Alan, I love you,' and he looked surprised for a second, but then he looked really, really happy and said, 'That's good, because I love you too, Lanie.' We were in **my bathroom** , Kate, and that's the first time we said 'I love you' to each other! But nothing ever felt more right, or more real." Kate saw now that Lanie was glowing, and the glow intensified the more she talked about Alan. "He makes me laugh. He makes me happy. He makes the good **and** the bad things in my life better, and the tough things easier. He **gets** me, Kate. He completely **gets** me, warts and all, and he loves me, and I love him!"

"Then he's definitely your Castle," Kate said with a smile. "Now I really can't wait to properly meet him. I'm so happy for you, Lanie."

Lanie looked uncertain again then. "I'm happy too, but I'm also scared, Kate. I've never loved **anyone** the way I love Alan. What if I screw it up?"

"Boy, does that sound familiar," Kate said. "I think..." Kate paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. Rick was so much better with words than she would ever be, and the fact that Lanie was tacitly seeking relationship reassurance from her, Kate Beckett, of all people, made Kate determined not to give Lanie bad advice.

"Lanie, I think it's normal to feel scared when you fall in love with the right man, no matter how happy you are," Kate began. "I had so many walls up for so long with Rick, and yeah, a lot of it was because of what happened to my mom, but the rest of it was just plain terror. I never met anyone like Richard Castle before. And he made everything fun again, and fun was something I hadn't let myself have since my mom died. And Castle...he became my friend, my best friend. I mean, you're my best friend too, but-"

"No, that part I get, because I feel the same way about Alan. He's my best friend, but you, Kate, are my best girlfriend. There's a difference. One doesn't mean less than the other, but it's different, in a good way," Lanie said.

"Exactly," Kate replied. "And I think if you asked Ryan, he'd say that while Esposito is his bro and his best male friend, Jenny is his best friend. Given my track record, and how much it hurt when I lost my mom, I was **terrified** to be in love with Rick. I fought it and resisted it for so long. It took almost losing him and almost dying myself to realize that I would regret it a lot more if I never took the chance with him than if I kept denying how much and how deeply I really felt for him. Of course, Castle is the forever kind of man. I knew that going in, because of his commitments to his daughter and his mother. But it still surprised me in the best possible way when he asked me to marry him. As much of a mess as I was, and he still loves me and married me."

"I always said I never wanted to get married, but Alan has made me seriously rethink that position," Lanie confessed then. "Not that we've talked about marriage," she added hastily at Kate's surprised look. "But as much as I love him, Kate, I can see myself growing old with Alan. I've never been able to see myself growing old with **any** man until now. And I'm not in any hurry. But in another year or so...oh hell, if he asked me today, I'd say yes. I just wouldn't run out and get married right away. Am I crazy?"

"Crazy in love, from the sound of things," Kate said. "I don't really feel qualified to give relationship advice, but as your best girlfriend, Lanie, if Alan is your Castle, and you know you're his Beckett, hold on tight and don't ever let go, because it'll be the most amazing way you could spend your life, in a true partnership with the one man you love more than anything or anyone in the world, and that loves you that exact same way."

They were interrupted when the door to the room opened and Kate's physical therapist entered, pushing an empty wheelchair. "Time for your physical therapy, Kate," the physical therapist, a fiftyish woman named Emily announced.

Lanie stood up, prepared to help Kate out of bed, but Kate said, "It's okay, Lanie. I got this." She tossed the blanket back and slowly stood up, a minor grimace on her face. "No wheelchair today," she told Emily the physical therapist.

"Good for you," Emily said, pushing the wheelchair into the corner of the room and folding it up.

"Well, I'll let you get to it," Lanie said then, giving Kate a careful hug goodbye, which she returned just as carefully. "Thanks for the talk."

"That's what best girlfriends are for," Kate replied. She braced a hand on Lanie's shoulder. "Who would have thought Kate Beckett would **ever** be giving relationship advice?"

" **Good** relationship advice," Lanie amended.

"Another something we can thank Castle for," Kate said. "It's good to see you so happy, Lanie."

"Back atcha, girl," Lanie replied. "I'll see you later."

"See you later," Kate said as she left the room walking slowly behind Emily. "Okay, Emily, what are we doing today?"


	19. Chapter 19

_**Thank you all so much for your support and enthusiasm. We're heading into the next stage of the story now, starting with this chapter, and I hope you'll all stick around for the ride. And a special thanks to my guest reviewers, whom I can't answer personally. You know who you are, and I appreciate you taking the time to read and review.  
**_

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Alexis stepped off the elevator, feeling only slightly strange that she wasn't coming here to see her dad and/or Kate. Having interned for Dr. Parish a few years back, she had spent a fair amount of time at the 12th Precinct, but most of it had been in the morgue and the surrounding environs. Dr. Parish wasn't working today, and Dr. Perlmutter, while never outright rude to her, was backed up, so Alexis elected not to bother him even for a quick hello.

She instead focused on the people she had come to see as she walked towards the bullpen. Javier and Detective Ryan...Kevin, she mentally corrected herself...were both staring at a computer monitor intently.

Javier looked up to see Alexis standing there holding a huge bag of Chinese takeout. "Alexis," he said, surprised to see her. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," she replied. "I was just in the neighborhood, and it's about lunchtime...you guys haven't eaten yet, have you? Hi, Kevin."

Ryan scrubbed at his face before smiling tiredly at Alexis. "Hi, Alexis. No, we haven't. Is that mu shu pork I smell?" he asked.

"Yes," Alexis replied, holding out the bag. "If this is a bad time, though-"

"We could use a break," Kevin said, looking at Javier and taking the bag from Alexis.

"Caught this case this morning. We're not getting anywhere yet," Javier said, rolling his stiff neck on his shoulders. "And while we're waiting on the uniforms to bring in the vic's wife and his girlfriend, we can take time out for lunch. Can you stay, Alexis?"

"Are you sure it's all right if I do?" she asked as she followed Javier and Kevin into the break room.

"Karpowski's the acting captain. She won't mind," Javier reassured Alexis as they sat down at the table.

Soon they were seated around the table in the break room with the Chinese food Alexis had brought and drinks from the machines. "Any idea yet when your dad and Beckett will get to go home?" Kevin asked.

"A couple more days was the last report, as of last night, as long as they keep progressing the way they are," Alexis replied. "Thankfully the kitchen's done."

"How'd it turn out?" Javier asked as he and Alexis reached for the carton of orange chicken at the same time.

"Go ahead," they said in unison.

"Ladies first," Javier insisted.

Alexis scooped out roughly half of the orange chicken into the empty side of her Styrofoam container of chicken lo mein, then handed the carton back to Javier. "I think it turned out great," she said. "So does Gram. Hopefully Dad and Kate will approve. They picked everything out online. I've shown them a couple of pictures, but Gram says the pictures don't do the space justice."

Kevin swallowed a mouthful of mu shu pork before saying, "So did you redo the whole kitchen?"

"Almost," Alexis admitted. "The floor, the cabinets, and the dishwasher are all new. We didn't change the counters, the sink, the refrigerator, or the cooktop." She took a drink of her bottled water and said, "Once Dad and Kate are out of the hospital and settled at home, we can get started on meeting to study for your sergeant's exam, Detective Ryan," she said. He opened his mouth to remind her to just call him Kevin, but she hastily corrected himself. "Sorry...Kevin. It's going to take a little getting used to."

"That's okay," Kevin replied. "I still have my study guide. I think I need some new highlighters, though."

"And index cards," Alexis said firmly. "Index cards are your friends when studying for exams."

"Index cards for what?" Kevin asked.

"You can make flash cards," Alexis replied. "Write a question on one side of the card, and the answer on the other side."

"I still have my study guide too," Javier said. "And flash cards are an excellent idea. I don't know why we didn't think of that before. I guess because we didn't have the valedictorian of the Marlowe Prep Class of 2012 as head tutor 'til now."

"You know about that?" she asked, surprised.

"It was all your dad talked about for weeks," Javier replied.

"'My daughter is the valedictorian of her class!'" Kevin said in his best Castle impression.

Javier laughed. "Remember what Gates said when she found out? 'Do brains skip a generation or two in your family, Mr. Castle'?"

"Ouch," Alexis said. "My dad's smart. So is Gram. We Castles are an intelligent bunch. But where Gram's passion is acting, and Dad's is writing, mine is different from theirs."

"Medicine, right?" Kevin said, remembering Alexis's internship with Lanie.

"Actually, no," Alexis admitted. Both men looked somewhat surprised, but not too surprised, to her relief. Gram had been very surprised, but to her credit, Martha had recovered quickly and then been nothing but supportive. Alexis was a bit concerned at how her dad and Kate would take the news, since she hadn't had a chance to tell them yet, but Gram was convinced they'd be fine with it, and Alexis was hoping that Gram was right.

"I thought about it for a long time...being a doctor, I mean," Alexis continued, "but lately, I've realized that's not what I'm really passionate about, so then I started thinking about what I **am** really passionate about, and I've decided that I'm not going to be a doctor." She looked from Kevin to Javier. "I haven't had the chance to tell Dad and Kate yet because there hasn't really been time. But I know this is what I want to do. I'm sure of it. And now I know exactly where I'm going and how I'm getting there, educationally and professionally speaking."

"Well, don't keep us in suspense," Javier said.

"Yeah, what's the good word?" Kevin asked.

"After I graduate in December, I'm going to law school," Alexis said with a smile. "I've already applied to the law schools at Columbia, NYU, Fordham, and St. John's University here in New York City. I should be hearing from them all soon, and depending on where I get in..." She trailed off. "Of course, Columbia's my first choice, since I've been there for four years already, but if the law school doesn't take me, I'll go where I get accepted."

"Columbia Law School would have to be crazy not to accept you," Javier replied.

"Yeah," Kevin said. "You should be a lock for Columbia Law."

"Well, once upon a time, I thought I was a lock for Stanford," Alexis replied, "and I didn't get in. So I'm not taking anything for granted. But I know I want to go to law school, and I know I want to stay here in New York City. And I also know that I want to be a prosecutor. I want to put away the murderers and criminals that you guys and the rest of the police catch, the kind of people that Dad and Kate caught for so long." She paused and smiled. "I guess you could say I'm going into the family business, just a slightly different branch of it."

"Well, congratulations," Kevin said.

"Yeah, that's great news," Javier said. "And you'll make a great prosecutor."

"You really think so?" Alexis asked hopefully.

"Absolutely," Javier said.

"Definitely," Kevin added.

Karpowski stuck her head in the break room then. "Lunch break's over, guys. Unis just brought in Paul Carstairs' wife. The girlfriend's out in Queens, so they're not here with her yet. See what you can get from the wife."

"We're on it," Kevin said, scarfing down half a spring roll and chasing it with a gulp of soda. "Thanks for lunch, Alexis. If you see Castle and Beckett before we do, tell 'em we caught a case, but we'll be by to see them as soon as it's wrapped up."

"I will," Alexis promised. "I hope you get somewhere with the guy's wife...or his girlfriend."

"They might be too obvious," Javier said. "But we'll get the killer, whoever it turns out to be."

"I know you will," Alexis replied.

"Thanks for lunch," Javier echoed Kevin as they left the break room to go and talk to their latest murder victim's wife in one of the interrogation rooms.

"You're welcome!" Alexis called after them. Then she cleaned up from lunch and headed home to the loft.

* * *

Kate stood in front of the large glass windows, trying not to look like she didn't belong there, even though technically, she didn't. She glanced at her watch; of course Castle's final all-clear was taking longer because he had to be cleared by two therapists—his respiratory therapist and his physical therapist—and she had had to be cleared by just her physical therapist. She hadn't told him why she wanted to meet here before they left the hospital, which they were lucky enough to be able to do a day earlier than they were originally told. She had both of their overnight bags with her, parked on the floor at her feet. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text, which was immediately answered. Smiling, she replied, telling the person she had texted where to meet her and Rick, then pocketed her phone once more.

After two weeks, they were finally going home. They were a long way from full recovery. They would both have to continue with physical therapy, and Castle with his respiratory therapy, on an outpatient basis for most of the summer. The magic number, at least for Kate, was eight weeks. Since her surgery had been performed what Dr. Gallison termed "the old-fashioned way," her body would take longer to heal from the bullet to the abdomen and the subsequent removal of her spleen, so with the exception of physical therapy, she was, to her disappointment, restricted as to what, exactly, she could and could not do for the next two months. And having been through this before, she knew better than to push herself too hard too fast, because she might only do more damage that way.

She rubbed idly at her hip. The Weather Channel had forecast an 80% chance of rain in the city, and if the ache in her hip was any indication, they should be getting quite a cloudburst at any moment.

At least her ribs were healing well, and cleanly. Her ribs would be healed first, the bones knitting themselves back together without any kind of outside aid. In the meantime, they would make the physical therapy for her abdomen challenging, to say the least, but Kate Beckett never in her life backed away from a challenge, and she certainly wasn't going to start with this one.

The last time she'd been in a position similar to this, she had gone it alone, by her own choice. Looking back, she could see that she had made it harder on herself. Her dad had wanted to be of more help than she'd let him be. Castle would have been there 24/7 if she had only asked him to, given him any kind of indication that she wanted him around. She had restricted Lanie, Ryan, and Espo to phone conversations. She hadn't even started seeing Dr. Burke regularly until after the case with the sniper that brought her PTSD raging to life.

This time, though, Kate knew she wouldn't be recovering alone. She'd come so far from that closed-off, emotionally walled-up woman she'd been after her first shooting. _My_ _ **first**_ _shooting. That's sad_ , she couldn't help thinking. But then she looked through the glass windows and couldn't feel any sadness at all, only joy, and anticipation of the time in the not-too-distant future, hopefully, when she would be standing here with Rick, and they would be here because they both belonged here.

She felt Rick approaching and smiled before she turned around and saw him, striding confidently down the corridor towards her, wearing his own smile. "There you are," he said happily when he reached her side. "All cleared?"

"To leave the hospital and to start physical therapy, but not cleared for much else," Kate replied. "How about you?"

"Yeah, all the 'i's are dotted and all the 't's are crossed, and I can leave the hospital as long as I come back for respiratory therapy and start physical therapy." He put his arms around her waist carefully, and she put her arms around his neck. "I was surprised when I saw the signs when I stepped off the elevator on this floor," he said.

"I wanted to meet you here because I want to make you a promise," Kate said seriously.

They were standing in front of the nursery windows, and Rick followed Kate's gaze to all of the babies inside. He couldn't wait until they were here and looking in the windows at their own baby.

Kate's gaze left the babies in the nursery and returned to Rick. Looking deeply into his eyes, she said, "I promise you that the next time we're in the hospital, this will be the reason: because we've just had our first child, and we'll be standing here looking in the nursery at our baby."

"You've got a deal," Rick replied before dipping his head to kiss Kate gently, a kiss she returned just as gently.

They touched foreheads for a moment before Kate pulled back and said, "While I was waiting for you, I texted someone to pick us up and take us home."

Rick smiled. "I called someone on my way up here in the elevator to pick us up and take us home." He bent down carefully and picked up both of their overnight bags. Kate immediately took hers from Rick. He opened his mouth to say something, then stopped. It was just her overnight bag, not a bag of anvils. She could handle it. He gave a wry, rueful half smile as they headed for the elevator. Once inside, seeing it was just the two of them, he confessed, "I just...I don't want it to be just us the first time we go home."

"I know," Kate replied, her expression mirroring his. "Neither do I. I'll be damned if that bastard scares us out of our home, but the first time is going to be the hardest, and it's important that we face it the best way we can, and that means we don't have to do it alone, or even just the two of us." Right before the elevator doors opened, Kate said, "It wasn't Alexis I texted. I know she's getting help, but I don't want to put that particular burden on her and maybe set her back."

"I didn't call Alexis, either, for that very reason," Rick replied.

They spoke at the same time, the words only slightly different.

"So who did you call?" "So who did you text?"

The elevator doors opened on the ground floor of the hospital, and standing not five feet away from the elevator as Kate and Rick disembarked was Jim Beckett. "Hi, Katie, Rick," he greeted them both with a smile, a kiss to Kate's cheek, and a clap on Rick's good shoulder. "You know, Katie, I had just answered your text when my phone rang and it was Rick, calling to ask if I could meet you two here and take you home."

Kate and Rick looked at each other and smiled before turning back to face Jim. "Well, you know what they say, Jim," Rick said. "Great minds think alike."

"So, are you two ready to get out of here?" Jim asked.

"More than ready, Dad," Kate replied.

Jim smiled at his daughter and son-in-law. "Then let's go," he said, and the trio left New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan Hospital and headed straight to Rick and Kate's loft on Broome Street.


	20. Chapter 20

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting. And to guest reviewer Nancy W., first, thank you; second, at this point, the plan is to cover as much of the seven years as I can, with time jumps here and there.**_

 _ **I hope everyone continues to enjoy the story. And now, the next chapter:**_

* * *

The ride up to the loft in the elevator was silent. Kate's heart was pounding hard, and she had her overnight bag in one hand, and her other hand tightly gripping Rick's hand. His grip on her hand was just as tight, and he hoped that Kate couldn't see that he was literally sweating.

Jim knew that Katie and Rick were having a hard time with this, but they were both being so brave about it, he couldn't do any less, as much as he wanted to protect his daughter from the very real monsters lurking in hers and Rick's minds. Logically, all three of them knew that no one was waiting to ambush them when they walked through the front door of the loft. And thanks to Alexis's steely determination, the kitchen had been redone, wiping out several potential triggers that might bring them back to that horrible morning.

Jim stepped off the elevator first when the doors opened, and he was halfway down the hall before he realized that Katie and Rick were following him slowly and at a distance. He stopped and waited for them, willing to let them take as much time as they needed here.

Kate wished she had her gun on her. Irrational? Probably. Illogical? Another 'probably.' But if she had her gun, she could shoot first and ask questions later.

"Maybe we should have called Ryan and Espo, huh?" Rick whispered so only Kate could hear him. "At least had them bring our vests by the hospital before we left."

"There's no one in there waiting to get us," Kate said firmly. She was trying to convince both herself and Rick of that fact.

"So, who has the key?" Jim asked when Katie and Rick reached the loft's front door.

Rick dropped his overnight bag to the floor and dug into his pants pocket, retrieving his keys and holding them out to Jim, then bending to retrieve his overnight bag. Jim initially put the wrong key in the lock, and they all heard the tumblers clattering at the attempt to open the door with the wrong key. "It's the next key up on the key ring, Jim," Rick said. Jim pulled the incorrect key out of the door, inserted the correct key in the lock, and this time when he turned the key, the door easily unlocked. Jim pulled the key out of the lock and opened the door, pausing just long enough to hand the keys back to Rick before pushing the door wide open.

Jim entered first, and for one awful moment, Kate's breath caught as she feared that bullets would come flying out of nowhere and her father would hit the floor with multiple gunshot wounds.

That did not happen.

However, an angry female voice shouted out, "Don't move, you scumbag! I've got the 12th Precinct on speed dial, and they're on their way!"

Jim, Kate, and Rick all three knew that voice.

"Alexis?" Rick asked, entering the loft then, still hand-in-hand with Kate.

The trio looked over to find Alexis standing halfway up the stairs with a Louisville Slugger wooden baseball bat raised over her head like a Samurai sword, her eyes huge and her face pale but her posture rigid and determined. Her face fell as the bat clattered to the ground, dropped by her suddenly nerveless fingers. "D-Dad? Kate? Mr. Beckett?" she asked incredulously.

"Surprise?" Jim offered, smiling understandingly.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Alexis chanted as she fumbled in her pockets for her phone. When she finally pulled it out, she punched a number quickly and when the person on the other end answered, she blurted, "Javier! I'm so sorry, but it's just Dad and Kate and Mr. Beckett! The hospital apparently let Dad and Kate out early! So you guys don't need to come after all!"

"It's just Castle and Beckett and Beckett's dad?" Javier asked, making sure. Kevin, who was driving, cut the siren as soon as he heard Javi ask Alexis this.

"Yeah," Alexis said, and she felt her face heat, mortified now that she realized she had actually called Kate's dad 'you scumbag.' Thank God she hadn't clocked him over the head with the Louisville Slugger, or they'd all be back at New York Pres, and she'd never be able to apologize enough, or look Jim Beckett in the eye again, for the rest of her life.

"Are you okay?" Javier asked.

"Completely embarrassed," Alexis murmured.

"Hey, you did what you thought was right," Javier reassured her. "That's nothing to be embarrassed about, Alexis. You thought somebody was breaking in, so you were right to call us. Tell your dad and Beckett welcome home from Ryan and me, and we'll catch you guys later, all right?"

"I will. Thank you...for everything," Alexis replied.

"Anytime," Javier replied before ringing off.

Alexis disconnected the call on her end and pocketed her phone, swallowing hard as she slowly came down the stairs, blushing furiously and looking more embarrassed than Rick could ever remember seeing his daughter look. "Mr. Beckett, I am _**so sorry**_ that I called you a scumbag. I didn't mean it. I didn't know it was you. I just, I heard somebody fumbling with the lock on the front door and I thought somebody was trying to break in because I didn't know that you were bringing Dad and Kate home today, and Gram is at an audition so I'm here by myself, and when I heard what I _**thought**_ was somebody trying to jimmy the lock, I panicked and called the police and grabbed the baseball bat I bought a couple days ago. I..." She trailed off, casting her gaze down to her feet before gathering the courage to look Jim in the eye. "I am really, really, **really** sorry."

"It's all right, Alexis," Jim assured her. "In your shoes, I would have done the same thing." When she looked at him skeptically, he said, "I would have. Honestly."

She looked at her dad and Kate then. "I'm sorry," she said.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Alexis," Kate assured her. "You did the right thing." She looked at Rick before returning her attention to Alexis.

"We should have called you to let you know we were coming home today, but I didn't think you'd be here until tonight, and that's on me," Rick said.

"Welcome home," Alexis replied. She went to her father and hugged him then, as hard as she dared, and Castle hugged her back with all his might. When Alexis released her father, she hugged Kate as fiercely but as carefully as she could, and Kate returned Alexis's embrace just as fiercely and just as carefully. "And Javier and Kevin said to tell you welcome home too."

"It's good to be home," Kate said as she and Alexis carefully released each other. She and Rick dropped their overnight bags by the coffee table, and then slowly, hand-in-hand, headed for the kitchen. Alexis started to follow them, but then stopped herself, realizing they needed this moment alone.

Kate could feel Rick's hand trembling in hers. Her heart was pounding again, and she didn't know whose palm was more sweaty, hers or Rick's. She turned her head to look at him, only to find that he was already staring at her. Kate held up their joined hands, just as Rick had done the day he had disarmed the dirty bomb at the very last second. Then, each of them took a fortifying deep breath and headed into the kitchen.

They stopped and stared at the new dishwasher. Stainless steel, with a window inside it, but the appliance bore absolutely no resemblance to the one against which Caleb Brown had fallen dead after shooting Rick, and then getting into a gun battle with Kate. The cabinets had been replaced as well, a light maple now.

Kate and Rick walked further, still holding hands, Rick's hand still trembling, Kate's heart still pounding hard and fast, their eyes now trained on the floor. They stopped at the exact spot where Rick had fallen after Caleb Brown shot him, and they stood there for a long moment, Alexis and Jim keeping watch from the floor at the foot of the stairs. Then they moved together to the spot where Alexis, Lanie, and the boys had found them, bleeding out and clutching each other's hands. The whole area was covered by the unstained tongue and groove Southern pine hardwood flooring, a stark contrast to the darker wood that had once made up the flooring in the kitchen and the dining room.

"The place looks great," Rick pronounced.

"It really does," Kate added. "Thank you so much, Alexis, for taking point on this."

"I just figured none of us needed the PTSD triggers," Alexis said, trying to play off her involvement. "We have enough of those already."

"That we do," Kate said ruefully. She extended her arm, and Alexis crossed the room to Kate and her father. "You too, Dad," Kate called. Jim followed Alexis.

A moment later, the four of them were standing together in a loose circle, arms around each other's shoulders. "We're going to get through this," Kate said firmly. "And the best way we can do that is to do it together... **all** of us, including Martha, and Lanie, and the boys, and Jenny. Everyone we love and care about."

"Even Gates?" Rick asked playfully.

"If she wants to be involved, sure," Kate replied. They exchanged a smile.

"You're home!" Martha exclaimed joyfully, having just entered the apartment. "And you're a day early!" She rushed to join the others, hugging Richard, Katherine, and Alexis all in turn, and patting Jim Beckett on the shoulder.

"Yes, so the wild party for tonight is officially canceled, Mother," Rick said.

"Oh, you," Martha said, smiling, her eyes bright and wet. "No wild parties tonight or any other night. At least, not until you and Katherine are up to it, and I'm guessing that will be a while."

Everyone sobered at Martha's unintentional mood changer. "That's true," Kate said after a long moment of silence. "But this time, we're counting on all of you, and our friends, to help us out. No going it alone this time," here Kate looked meaningfully at her father, "and no shutting everybody out and gutting it out just the two of us." Kate looked at Rick now.

"Well, we'll have to do the hardest parts ourselves," Rick said, speaking the truth, "but we'll have the best support system on the planet on those days when everything about therapy stinks, and we're grumpy and tired and frustrated."

"And this is an incentive for us to stick around?" Martha asked, but everyone knew she was joking when she said it.

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away," Alexis said.

"Nothing's going to keep me away either," Jim vowed.

"You know I'll be there," Martha added.

Kate looked at Rick, whose arm had slid from her shoulders down to her waist. Her own arm was wrapped around his waist, her other arm still around her father's shoulders (Alexis was on Rick's other side, and Martha was in between Alexis and Jim), and she squeezed Rick's waist with her arm. "We're counting on that," she replied as Rick murmured his agreement.

Rick and Kate spent the first part of the afternoon resting and talking with Alexis, Martha, and Jim. They ordered in from the nearest deli, with Alexis begging off because she had already had lunch, but she stuck around and nursed a bottle of iced tea while the rest of the family ate and talked.

Alexis broke her big news to her dad and Kate. They, like Martha, were surprised, but they were also both very supportive. "A prosecutor," Kate said after digesting the news that Alexis had applied to nearly every major university in New York City with a law school.

"Yeah," Alexis said, somewhat uncertainly. Sure, Gram and Javier and Kevin all thought it was a great idea, but would her dad and Kate? "I know I was on the pre-med track for quite a while, and there were a few semesters where I didn't take as many classes as I really should have, which is why I'm not graduating until December, instead of graduating this month-"

"Alexis, you can do anything you set your mind to," Rick interrupted her. "More than once, you helped us with a case by saying something or reaching a conclusion we hadn't that put me on the right track, which I immediately took to Kate at the precinct. You definitely have the brains for it. If you have the passion for it, then absolutely, go for it. All I've ever wanted is for you to find a career that makes you as happy and fulfilled as writing makes me, and as acting makes your grandmother, and as law enforcement makes Kate."

"Are you thinking you want to be a federal prosecutor?" Kate asked.

Alexis visibly cringed. "No!" she blurted forcefully. "No," she said more calmly. "You really didn't enjoy your work with the FBI very much, Kate. It wasn't as black-and-white as local law enforcement is. And, well, LokSat…" Alexis trailed off, not wanting to dredge up the LokSat mess again now that it was finally all over and they were all on the other side.

"You're right, about all of it," Kate replied. "If anyone has what it takes to be a criminal prosecutor, Alexis, it's you."

"Then you guys aren't disappointed that I'm not going to be a doctor?" Alexis asked, just to make sure.

"Why in the world would we be disappointed that you're following your passion and doing something that you want to do and that you feel called to do?" Rick asked, genuinely puzzled. "But can I just say, I'm glad that all of the law schools you applied to are right here in the city." He grinned unrepentantly.

"Yeah, well, once a city girl, always a city girl," Alexis replied, smiling at her dad and reaching across the space between them to squeeze his hand.

"Alexis, you know you have our support," Kate said.

"All of us," Rick added.

"Yes, about law school," Jim said, and everyone turned to look at him. "It's funny that you mention it, Alexis, because I have some news about law school myself."

"Um, Dad, you've had your J.D. for decades," Kate pointed out.

"Yes, I have," Jim said. "But Columbia has offered me a teaching position in their law school. It's just a part-time thing, one course, which I'll be teaching in both the fall and spring semesters. Advanced Civil Procedure: Scholarly and Lawyerly Perspectives. I'll be providing the lawyerly perspective." He looked at Alexis now. "If you wind up going to Columbia Law School, and frankly they would be fools not to accept you, maybe we'll see each other on campus, Alexis."

"That would be great, Mr. Beckett. Or should I call your Professor Beckett? Will they allow me to take your class?" Alexis wondered.

"First of all, you can just call me Jim. I think it's about time, don't you?" he said kindly. "Secondly, the course I'll be teaching is for third-year law students only, so you're a couple of years away from being ready to take it. If I'm still there when you're a third-year, you may not be able to take the course from me, but you'll have an excellent instructor. Columbia has one of the best law schools in the country."

"That's just one reason I'm hoping I get accepted there," Alexis said. "I learned from Stanford's rejection not to consider anything a lock or take anything for granted. I did look it up, though. I have two things in my favor with Columbia Law School going in: they want a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.7, and I have a solid 3.98. They also want a median LSAT score of 172, and I got a 175 on the LSAT when I took it. But if Columbia Law School doesn't accept me, I have a lot of other options, and I believe that at least one of them **has** to accept me, so I'll go wherever I'm accepted."

Jim picked up his glass of tea. "I'd like to propose a toast," he said. "To the next lawyer in the family. It won't be an easy profession, Alexis, but it will be very worthwhile."

"To Alexis," Rick, Kate, and Martha echoed.

"And to Katie and Rick," Jim continued, raising his glass high once more. "Wherever the road leads next, the important thing is that you're on it together. And I know I speak for everyone here, and a few people who aren't, when I say that we're all very grateful for that fact."

"To Kate and Dad." "To Katherine and Richard." Alexis and Martha echoed Jim as everyone clinked their glasses together.

After lunch, Martha had another class to teach, and Jim had to get back to work. Alexis said something about getting some highlighters and doing some research, so after hugs goodbye, Kate and Rick were alone at home together.

They unpacked their overnight bags from the hospital. Kate started some laundry ("I think I can handle laundry, Castle."), and then did her physical therapy exercises. By the end of them, she was a sweaty, pain-riddled mess. Rick had disappeared into his office after loading the dishwasher after lunch, and he emerged just in time to see Kate toweling the sweat from her face, which was pinched with pain, and taking a long swig from a cold bottle of water.

"Physical therapy," Rick said.

"Yeah," Kate replied, taking a deep breath, then letting it out. "Still hurts like a son of a bitch, but it's actually not as bad as it was years ago. I don't know if it's the exercises or what, but my hip isn't hurting anymore."

"It's been raining for the last half hour," Rick said, and Kate followed his gaze out the living room windows where they both watched sheets of water pouring from the sky.

Kate sighed then as she gingerly rose to her feet, Rick rushing to help her up, and then steadied herself with a palm against his chest, feeling his heart beating beneath her fingertips. "Any other time, I'd invite you into the shower with me, and then re-create the greatest rainy night of our lives," she said. "But we have to wait eight weeks for that, according to Dr. Gallison."

"I could still take a shower with you," Rick offered.

"Yeah, I don't think so. We have absolutely no self-control when we're in the shower together."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

Kate laughed. "It's not a bad thing at all. Just...not feasible for the next couple of months. Unfortunately."

Rick gently pulled Kate into his arms. "We went four years without making love. I think we can survive two months."

"Well, at the risk of inflating an ego that **really** doesn't need it, for those four years, I did a **lot** of fantasizing about you...and the reality far surpasses every single one of the fantasies. And if you smirk or preen, I swear I'll twist your earlobe," Kate concluded.

Knowing all too well how painful Kate's earlobe twists were, Rick refrained from smirking and preening. But he did remind her, "You were the one who said I had no idea...and you were right, in so many ways. But we'll get through it. Nikki and Rook are gonna be really busy for the next couple of months, though."

"Have you done your physical therapy yet?" Kate asked. She knew Rick had done his respiratory therapy for the day at the hospital before they left.

"Not yet," he said. "I was on the phone with Black Pawn, actually. It turns out that Gina got so ticked off over what happened at the hospital that she has asked to be reassigned, so starting with my next book, I'll have a new publisher."

Kate's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "How do you feel about that?" she asked.

Rick considered for a moment before answering. "I think it was time," he said. "Gina's clearly ready to move on to other projects, and she's not necessary to the process. The new guy wants to meet in a few weeks."

"A guy, huh?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, and he sounds young. But he also sounds eager, so that's a plus," Rick replied.

Kate stretched up to kiss Rick quickly. "I'm gonna take a pain pill and then hit the showers."

Rick nodded. "I'll get my physical therapy out of the way, and then tonight we can order in and watch a movie?"

"Sounds like a plan," Kate said. She draped the towel around her neck and headed for the bathroom while Rick did his own physical therapy, after which it was his turn to shower.

Then they ordered pizza-but since they were both still on pain medication as needed, and after their physical therapy they both needed it, they didn't have their usual wine with the pizza-and after they ate, they settled on the couch together and watched _Forbidden Planet_.

When the movie ended, they were both nearly asleep, so they headed in to brush their teeth and wash their faces.

When they were both in bed, Kate stretched languorously. "It feels really good to be back in our own bed," she said.

"It sure does," Rick replied. Kate looked at Rick a bit uncertainly. Reading her mind, he said, "My shoulder's a bit stiff and sore, but there's no way I'm not holding you in my arms while we sleep, Kate."

Kate laid her head on Rick's chest, right over his beating heart, her own arms going around him as he wrapped his arms around her. In the darkness of their bedroom, Kate said quietly, "This is the safest place I've ever been: in your arms, Rick." She lifted her head to look at him and found him gazing back at her with a tender smile.

"I've always loved holding you. Before we became us, every time I got to hug you, or hold you in my arms, I never wanted to have to let you go," he admitted.

"And now you don't have to," she replied, smiling tenderly back at him.

"Thank God," he said.

"Thank God," she echoed before craning her neck, pressing her lips to his again before settling in his arms for the night, the two of them wrapped together, ready even in sleep to face whatever came their way together.


	21. Chapter 21

_**Thank you all so much for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story. I greatly appreciate it.**_

* * *

May gave way to June, and Kate and Rick settled into their new routine of physical therapy, Rick's daily visits to the respiratory therapist, and healing.

The nightmares came to Rick, Kate, and Alexis all three, although the longer she continued with her therapy, the fewer and farther between Alexis's nightmares became.

A week after they came home from the hospital, Kate dreamed that Castle really had been dead when she awakened in the hospital, that only the machines were keeping him alive until she, as his wife, could give her consent to turn them off. She awakened in their bed in much the same manner she had awakened in the hospital, screaming and sobbing and repeatedly crying out, "Castle! No! I'm so sorry!" However, blessedly, it took Rick considerably less time to get through to Kate that night than it had taken Alexis, Martha, Jim, and Esposito to get through to her at the hospital.

When the sound of Rick frantically chanting her name finally broke through Kate's sobs and screams, her conscious mind re-engaged. She began wiping at her eyes, but was stopped by Rick, the fingers of one hand gently brushing away the tears that had been streaming down her face, his other hand cradling the back of her head. "C—C—Castle?" Kate stammered, her voice breaking.

"I'm right here, Kate," he said urgently. "I'm okay. I'm right here. You were having a nightmare."

She blinked several times, her eyes adjusting to the dim light of their bedroom and seeing him there in their bed beside her, looking at her anxiously, worriedly. She grabbed onto him, holding tightly to him, burying her face in the spot between his neck and shoulder, inhaling shakily, breathing Rick in, concentrating on the feel of him in her arms, his breath warm against the side of her face as he crooned reassurances in her ear, the timbre of his quiet voice, the feel of his warm breath and solid form and his arms banded around her, one hand rubbing circles between her shoulder blades, until finally he brought her completely back to the present moment.

After inhaling and then exhaling another shaky breath, Kate pulled back, looking into Rick's eyes. Her fingers traced the contours of his face. "The first time I woke up in the hospital," she said, her voice raspy and trembling, "you were still out, and I didn't know yet that your lung collapsed when you were shot. You were on a respirator, and I was so out of it from the drugs and from coming out of the anesthesia that I thought you were dead, Rick, that the machines were the only thing keeping you alive, and I lost it." She fought a fresh wave of tears as she said, "I thought you were dead, that I had gotten you killed, and I..." She trailed off as Rick held her tighter.

"It wasn't your fault, Kate," he said. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to reassure you when you first woke up." As irrational as it was, he felt badly that Kate had thought, even though it was caused by the fog and confusion of anesthesia and post-op drugs, that he was dead. He remembered that feeling, when Tyson and Nieman had had Kate, and he and the boys had thought she was the dead woman in the chair. It wasn't a feeling he liked remembering, and he hated that Kate had felt that about him in the hospital.

"Actually, you were," Kate told him. At his confused look, she explained. "Alexis and Espo were there...I still don't know what Espo was doing there, because it was the middle of the night, and my dad and Martha. They were all trying to get through to me, and I was trying to get out of my bed and get to you in your bed across the room, and Alexis finally had the idea to move your bed close enough to mine that I could see you and touch you, and know that you were alive. It still took some time to sink in that you had a collapsed lung and were on a respirator to help you breathe because of that, but that you'd be okay, but once it did, I finally calmed down." She shuddered in Rick's arms, the adrenaline surge of the nightmare finally starting to subside.

"I'm right here," Rick repeated. "And I will **always** be right here, Kate." His lips quirked in the hint of a sad smile. "I guess we should have expected this."

Kate's head was resting in the crook of his neck now, her head turned sideways so she could both hear and feel his pulse pounding strong and steady at the base of his throat. "I hate it," she said. "It's true, we should have expected this, but I still hate it."

"Me too," Rick said.

The cover of darkness, and the safety of Rick's embrace, gave Kate the courage to say what she was feeling in that moment. She lifted her head and looked at Rick. "This is why I can't lose you," she said emotionally. "I survived losing someone I loved more than anything in the world once. I know what it's like to be without you, and I don't want to even think about my life, or a world, without you in it."

"You're not going to lose me," Rick promised. "You cannot leave behind what is always at your side, remember?"

Kate nodded. "I remember," she said. "I love you."

"I love you too," Rick replied. "And you're stuck with me, Kate Beckett...for the time of our lives."

She burrowed into his chest, and he held her tightly. "I'm not hurting you, am I?" she asked anxiously.

He kissed her hard and fast. "No," he assured her. "I've got you, Kate. We're gonna be okay. We're gonna get through this."

"Will you remind me of that when I need reminding?" she asked.

"Always," he replied.

Four nights later, it was Rick in the throes of a nightmare, crying and calling out for Kate, begging her to stay with him, not to leave him, and declaring his love. "Castle! Castle! Rick! Wake up, babe! It's me, Kate!"

Rick jolted awake, choking on a sob. "Beckett? Kate?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, brushing her hand through his sweat-soaked hair. "I'm here, Rick. I'm with you."

He shook his head violently, as if to clear it. "What year is it?" he asked.

"2016," Kate replied. Her heart picked up speed as she began to worry. Why was Rick asking her what year it was?

Rick looked down at his left hand then, at his wedding ring glinting in the moonlight shining in the room, and he took Kate's left hand out of his hair and looked at the matching ring on her finger. Then he let out a sigh of relief so big, it could have collapsed his lung all over again. "Everything got jumbled up in my head," he said, wiping one hand across his eyes before turning to meet her gaze. She was brushing one hand through his hair and had her other arm wrapped around the middle of his back. "We were back in the cemetery at Montgomery's funeral, and I was telling you I loved you and begging you to stay with me and not to leave me, and everybody was there, but the shooter was Caleb Brown, and Lanie tried everything, she tried so hard, but in the back of the ambulance, you..." He couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. "And Lanie couldn't...and the paramedics said...Oh, god, Kate." He was shaking now.

"Oh, Rick," Kate said sympathetically. He all but launched himself at her, and she held him as tightly as she could. "I'm okay, babe. I'm alive and I'm safe, we both are, and I'm not going anywhere."

He drew back and framed her face in his hands, his fingertips brushing lightly against her cheeks. "Promise?" he whispered.

"Always," she whispered back, resting her forehead against his.

His breathing slowly evened out, but he didn't leave the comforting shelter of Kate's arms.

After several minutes, Kate, her arms still wrapped around Rick, laid them down. Rick laid his head on her shoulder and felt her press a kiss to the top of his head. "I want to tell you a story," she said softly.

She felt him smile against her shoulder. "You want to tell me a story?" he repeated, and she heard the smile in his voice.

"I may not be as good with words as you are, but yeah, I want to tell you a story," Kate replied.

"You're plenty good with words, Kate," Rick assured her. "Especially when it matters most." He left unspoken, but they both understood, the added, _"Like now."_

"Well," Kate began, "there was this woman-"

"All great stories start 'Once upon a time,'" Rick corrected her.

"Right. Once upon a time, there was this woman, and one night, she went to a rooftop to question this man that she thought was involved in a murder case she was investigating. And this man was all kinds of annoying to the woman: he was cocky and arrogant and everything about him bugged the hell out of her. He wasn't involved in the murder, but he wouldn't stay away from the investigation. Even when she handcuffed him to a police car, he didn't stay away from the investigation...which is how he came to be running after the perp, carrying one shoe and with the handcuffs dangling from his wrist.

"After that case was over, the woman thought that was it, that she'd never see the man again. But she was wrong...and for once in her life, she was glad to be wrong."

"She was glad to be wrong at the time, or she was glad to be wrong in hindsight?" Rick asked.

"Both, really," Kate admitted. "Oh, at the time, not at first. At first, he killed her patience. She was honest about that. But she had to admire his persistence, and she did. And still does.

"Because this woman? She had been really closed off from the world for a really long time. Like a house where all of the windows are closed and the blinds and the drapes are drawn for years. And this man, he just kept coming around. He would bring her coffee, and he would come up with all these crazy theories, and he made her work more fun than it had ever been. He made this woman **feel** so many things...some that she hadn't felt in a decade, and some that she had never felt in her whole life.

"All of the joy and the hope and the dreams that she lost when she lost her mother...everything she thought had been buried in the ground that bitterly cold, windy January day...he gave it back to her, little by little. And he made her want things that she had been afraid to want. He made her want to believe in things that she had stopped believing in when her mother was ripped away from her.

"And there were obstacles and setbacks. They both said and did stupid things, thoughtless things, things that hurt each other, intentionally or not. But what the woman realized...in hindsight...was that when he got out of his handcuffs and was running down the alley holding his shoe in one hand, with his phone at his ear, telling her the perp was running away, he didn't do all that **just** to catch the killer, or just because he wasn't going to stay in the car even with the handcuffs. He did it because he would follow the woman anywhere, and do anything at all to keep her safe. He spent the next four years proving that over and over again in a variety of ways.

"The woman fell in love with the man. She fell in love with him again and again and again. She's still falling in love with him again and again and again. She knew he was the forever kind of man. Which worked out very well, since she was a one-and-done kind of girl. And there was a time, several hours, that the woman was very afraid that she had blown it for good with this man, that she'd kept him waiting too long while she worked to be worthy of him and his love, that she had put her obsession with getting the men who killed her mother ahead of him one time too many, and she couldn't fathom her life without him.

"So she did what he would have done, she did what she had wanted to do for so long: she showed up at his front door and told him that she just wanted him, because she had learned...the hard way, but she had learned...that nothing mattered to her as much as he did, and nothing ever would."

Rick lifted his head from Kate's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "And what did he do, when she showed up at his door and told him that she just wanted him?" he asked.

"He let her into his home, his life, his heart, his arms," Kate replied.

"She was already in his heart and in his life, and he wanted her there, and in his home and his arms, forever," Rick said.

Kate smiled at him in the dim light of their darkened bedroom. "And from that night on, they were together," she concluded. "They had a few missteps, obstacles, made some mistakes, but she knows, they **both** know, that they're partners in every way for always."

"Yes, they are," Rick said. He paused for a beat, then added, "That's a great story."

"The best part is that it's not over yet," Kate replied. "It's not anywhere **close** to over."

"It certainly isn't," Rick agreed.

They settled themselves in each other's arms again. Sleep stole over them gradually. And when the nightmares returned, in the weeks to come, they were there every time to console each other, hold each other, and talk each other down.

The physical therapy was grueling for both of them. Rick found the repetitive range-of-motion exercises boring, and Kate cursed the pain in her abdomen and her hip until it gradually started to lessen. Sometimes Kate accompanied Rick to his respiratory therapy. The respiratory therapy was the more grueling part for Rick, and Kate couldn't always hide her anxiety when Rick struggled. But they talked it out afterwards, with Rick assuring her that as much as it sucked, as much as her physical therapy sucked, it wouldn't go on forever, and by the end of the summer, they'd be back to normal, an opinion with which their physical and respiratory therapists heartily concurred.

Their family and friends were there as much as they could be, to talk and listen and give every kind of support they could.

A new tradition was instituted at the loft: Sunday dinner with the immediate family. The Beckett-Castle clan gathered around the dining room table every Sunday night beginning two weeks after Kate and Rick came home from the hospital. Jim, Martha, and Alexis were there every week, as the family caught up on each other's news. Sometimes Rick cooked, with assistance from Kate and Alexis. Sometimes they ordered in. But everyone was seated at the table at 7 PM every Sunday night to partake of a meal together, to talk and laugh and bond.

Alexis and Esposito started meeting with Ryan three times a week to help him study for the sergeant's exam, and Alexis waited to hear back from all the law schools to which she had applied.

Work kept intruding on both Lanie and Alan, so their proposed dinner double date with Kate and Rick was postponed twice. After the second last-minute cancellation the third week in June, Rick got the idea to invite everyone up to the Hamptons house for the upcoming long Fourth of July weekend. Ryan already had the weekend off, but he and Jenny hadn't made any definite plans. Lanie managed to switch weekends with Perlmutter, since Perlmutter wasn't big on holidays of any kind, and Alan had had the time off for weeks. Esposito got the weekend off at almost the last minute, and with Alexis, Martha, and Jim's blessings, it was agreed that everyone would spend the Fourth of July weekend at the Hamptons house.

Alexis had a study date with Ryan and Esposito, and Martha, Jim, Lanie and Alan were all working, but they would all be there, along with Jenny, Sarah Grace, and Nicholas by Friday night. Kate and Rick decided to go up early, arriving on Thursday afternoon, after checkups with their respective physical therapists, Castle's respiratory therapist, and their doctors.

They packed their bags and loaded the car before getting the latest progress report from the physical and respiratory therapists—they were doing very well and were to keep up the good work.

They walked into the hot July sunshine hand in hand, both wearing sunglasses. "You ready?" Rick asked Kate.

She smiled. "Oh yeah," she said.

And with that, they were off to the Hamptons for the long holiday weekend.


	22. Chapter 22

_**Thank you all for your continued support of this story.  
**_

* * *

Rick and Kate stopped for coffee before leaving the city. Rick was surprised to hear Kate order decaf. "Decaf?" he asked her while they waited for their coffees.

"I'm hoping my caffeine intake is going to be limited soon," she replied. "I figured I might as well start getting used to it."

Rick looked at Kate, in awe of her all over again. Coffee was serious business to Kate Beckett; he had learned that long ago. The fact that she was willing to start forgoing caffeine in her coffee before they even started trying to get pregnant was yet another measure of how amazing she was.

"Excuse me," Rick said to the barista. "I'd like to change my order. I want the same thing, but in decaf, please."

The barista grumbled under his breath but duly changed the order.

"You didn't have to do that," Kate told Rick.

"You go decaf, I go decaf," Rick replied. "Besides, we both know if I kept drinking regular coffee while you were drinking decaf for months on end, there would come a point where you would be twisting my earlobe, if not another part of my body that would cause more pain, because you wanted the caffeine but knew you couldn't have it and wouldn't drink even a small amount. So it's half supportive husband, half self-preservation on my part."

She smiled at him, a full wattage smile that made his heart beat faster, and he found himself hoping that their future daughter (he was already convinced their first baby would be a girl) had Kate's smile. He absolutely wanted a mini-Beckett running around.

"Just a few more weeks," Kate said, trying not to sound as anxious as she felt about getting the medical all-clear. As cliched as it was, she understood now, in a way she hadn't before, how making love after coming so close to death was an affirmation of life. She wanted that affirmation of life. She wanted to be as close to her husband as it was humanly possible to be. And she wanted to get started on making a baby with him.

Honestly, she just wanted Rick, in every possible way.

"Operation BBC," Rick said so only she could hear him.

Before Kate could come up with a reply to that, the barista called their names. They paid for their coffees and headed back outside, to the car. After they had each had a couple of experimental sips, Rick said,"This is going to take some getting used to." He had managed to conceal his distaste for the decaf coffee, but it was definitely not what he, or Kate, was used to drinking.

"Yeah," Kate said, trying not to grimace and just barely succeeding. "But it'll be worth it." Kate slipped her sunglasses back on. She was dressed casually, in a lavender-colored v-neck t-shirt and light blue denim shorts. Rick was in khaki cargo shorts and a navy blue crewneck t-shirt. He pulled his own sunglasses from his shirt pocket and slid them on. Then he started the car and they were on their way, escaping bumper-to-bumper traffic by leaving so early, and it wasn't long before they were out of the city and traffic was even thinner. Kate pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head since the sun was now behind them, and Rick removed his own sunglasses and put them back in his shirt pocket a couple of minutes later for the same reason.

They sipped at their decaf coffees on the drive, and talked over the things they would need to pick up at the grocery store when they got to town. Kate scribbled a list on a napkin. The air conditioning was pouring out cool air since the temperature was in the upper 90s, and after Kate took the last sip of her coffee she reached over to turn on the radio.

She recognized the song immediately and hummed along with the radio, then turned to meet Rick's glance with a big smile. "I haven't heard this song in forever!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Led Zeppelin," she replied.

"I only really know 'Stairway to Heaven,'" he admitted.

" **Everybody** knows 'Stairway to Heaven,'" Kate said. "This is 'Thank You.'"

Then she began to sing along with the radio.

" _And so today my world, it smiles_

 _Your hand in mine, we walk the miles"_

Kate reached over and put her hand on top of Rick's right hand on the steering wheel. He glanced at her again, seeing both the joy and the love all over her face as she sang, looking right at him, and wishing he knew the words so he could sing along with her.

" _Thanks to you, it will be done_

 _For you to me are the only one_

 _Happiness, no more be sad...happiness, I'm glad_

 _If the sun refused to shine_

 _I would still be loving you_

 _Mountains crumble to the sea_

 _There will still be you and me"_

The song concluded with a slow instrumental fadeout. Kate leaned her head back against the headrest, squeezed the top of Rick's hand, and when she took her hand off of his, he caught hold of it and brushed a kiss across the back of her hand as they shared a loving look.

Two minutes later, they entered town, and Rick turned off the main street to go to the grocery store. They stocked up on everything for the long weekend, and after paying for their purchases and loading everything into the car, they left the grocery store.

When they were back on the main drag, Kate suddenly said, "Oh! Can you stop over there?" and gestured to a boutique that she'd been to a few times on previous visits to the Hamptons.

Rick swung the car into a parking spot right in front of the boutique. "Did you forget something at home?" he asked.

"Sort of," Kate said, not quite meeting his gaze. He shut off the ignition and Kate nearly vaulted from the car, proof that her physical therapy was working out very well. Rick got out of the car and followed Kate into the boutique, but she was nowhere in sight when he entered. Something was obviously going on with her, but he honestly didn't know what it was.

He pulled out his phone and found a text from Alexis, letting him know that she'd be taking the train up the next morning, and she'd text him again with her arrival time. He returned her text, then opened iTunes and downloaded Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" to his phone. He didn't have any other messages to return and was about to settle himself into a chair and start a game of Angry Birds 2 on his phone when Kate emerged from the back, where the fitting rooms were, carrying a navy blue garment of some sort over her arm. He wasn't close enough to see exactly what it was. She quickly paid for her purchase, accepted the paper shopping bag with handles that the sales clerk handed her, and pulled up short when she saw Rick waiting for her near the entrance and exit doors.

"Got what you need?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Any other stops we need to make?" he asked.

"No," she said. "We'd better get to the house before those steaks thaw. Javi and Kevin are definitely expecting steaks on the Fourth."

Rick held the door for her, and they got back in the car and were soon at the house. Kate left her purchase in the car while she and Rick carried in the groceries and put them away.

Part of her knew she was being ridiculous. If anyone would understand, Rick would.

When he went back outside to bring in their suitcases, Kate followed him, letting him get her suitcase, but retrieving her purse and the shopping bag from the front passenger seat of the car.

A few minutes later, they were in their bedroom, and Rick began unpacking. He was showing remarkable restraint at not asking her what was in the shopping bag, Kate mused. She bit her bottom lip, then said, "Rick?"

He closed a dresser drawer, then turned around to look at her. "Yeah?"

"You want to know what's in here," she said, holding up the shopping bag.

"Very much," he replied, "but I know you well enough to know when you need space. You'll tell me when you're ready."

Kate mused, not for the first time, how far she and Rick had come. She sat down on the edge of the bed with the shopping bag in her lap and patted the edge of the bed next to her. Rick sat down beside her. She pulled the garment out of the bag and handed it to him. He unfolded it and looked at it. "It's a swimsuit," he said.

Kate nodded. "A **one-piece** swimsuit," she said, emphasizing the words "one-piece."

Rick instantly understood. "Ohhhhhhh," he said, drawing out the lone syllable.

"Yyyyyyyyyyyyyeahhhhhhhhhhhh," Kate replied, drawing out her reply. "I wasn't really thinking about anything at home except getting up here, so I packed my bikini, and then I realized everybody's gonna be here this weekend, and I don't want everybody seeing my new scars. I don't want anybody to see them but you and my doctors. And when I saw the boutique, I remembered going in there with Alexis once when she was buying a swimsuit, so…." She trailed off.

Rick put his ever-strengthening arm around her shoulders and drew her against his side. She climbed into his lap instead. "I understand," he said. "I understand completely." He rested his other hand on her abdomen gently. "But your scars... **all** your scars," he added, letting his hand drift up to her chest for just a moment before returning to her abdomen, "are beautiful. They are the proof of how hard you fought to live, of everything you wouldn't let those scumbags take away from you, from us."

Kate hugged Rick, and he hugged her back. "Thank you," she said. "For understanding."

"Always," he said. He drew back to look at her and confessed, "Actually, I'm not crazy about everyone seeing my scars either, especially my chest tube scar. Alexis and Mother haven't seen it yet. Ryan and Esposito will do the 'cool badass scars, Castle' thing, but Alexis and Mother haven't seen my scars yet, and I don't want my scars to upset them."

Kate gave a rueful smile. "So does that mean we don't go swimming all weekend?"

"I don't know," Rick answered honestly. "Ryan mentioned something about volleyball in the pool. We could get out of playing, I'm sure."

"But that's not our style," Kate said.

"No, it isn't," Rick replied.

"Alexis and Martha have to see your scars sometime," Kate said gently. Now it was she who rested her hand on Rick's shirt, over the scar on his upper chest, then let her hand drift down to the place where Rick had a small scar from the chest tube used to reinflate his lung in the hospital. "Yours aren't as bad as mine. Mine look like someone tried to carve out a road map on my abdomen with a ten-blade, which I guess is exactly what happened. And **your** scars are proof that **you** survived everything those bastards tried to take away from us too, babe."

Rick rested his forehead against Kate's. "One step at a time, right?" he said.

"Right," she said. "We just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It's getting better. **We** are getting better. That's all that really matters."

"It is," he agreed.

Kate got up from Rick's lap then and headed to her suitcase, which she had not yet begun to unpack. She opened it, rummaged through it, and when she had her bikini in her hand, she began to undress.

"Get changed," she told her husband. "Let's go for a swim."

Not needing to be told twice, Rick went to the dresser and retrieved his own swim trunks. A few minutes later, they were both changed, and pool ready. "I remember the first time I saw you in a bikini," Rick said as he tied the drawstring on his red swim trunks. "L.A. You were the hottest thing I'd ever seen. You still are."

Kate ducked her head shyly, then looked up at her husband and smiled. "You're pretty hot yourself," she said.

"So does this mean you'll still wear bikinis for me?" he asked after they had grabbed towels and sunscreen before heading outside.

"Yes, but only for you," she replied, laughing at his leer, then brushing her thumb across his lower lip at his exaggerated pout in response to her laugh.

They were standing poolside now. After careful application of sunscreen, Kate stretched up as if she were going to kiss Rick...but at the last second, she spun away from him and dove into the pool.

"I thought you were about to kiss me!" Rick exclaimed, affronted.

Kate treaded water and looked up at him, laughing. "You want your kiss, Castle? Come in here and get it," she challenged him. She took off swimming, and Rick dove in and swam after her, finally catching up to her and wrapping himself around her. She shrieked with laughter as he moved her wet hair aside to plant kiss after kiss on the back of her neck. Then she turned into his arms and kissed him long and hard, her questing tongue seeking and finding his as he deepened their kiss. He pulled her closer, their arms going around each other, their hands sliding over each other's wet bodies as they indulged in a long, hot makeout session in the pool.

Finally Kate drew back, not leaving Rick's arms, but stopping things right before they crossed a line they weren't physically ready to cross yet by order of their doctors. They were both out of breath, and it took a moment for Kate to draw in enough air to give a frustrated sigh."I wish it was three weeks from now," she said.

"Me too. But we'll get there," Rick said, brushing one fingertip down her jaw.

"We will," she said. "We'll get everywhere we want to go." He brushed his nose against hers in both affection and agreement.

"I think right about now, we could use a shower," Rick said.

" **Separate** showers. **Separate cold** showers," Kate amended. "We've been tempted enough today."

"Yeah," Rick agreed. They got out of the pool, toweled off, and went inside. Before parting to take their separate cold showers, Rick kissed Kate once more. "Start thinking about dinner," he said.

"I will," Kate replied. Then, both still smiling, they headed for their separate showers.


	23. Chapter 23

_**Thank you all for your continued support, and for your follows, favorites, and reviews.**_

* * *

Alexis had just texted her dad that she was on the 9:12 leaving Penn Station and expected to arrive in the Hamptons at 11:55, wondering if he and Kate were still sleeping, but knowing one or both of them would be there to meet her train. All the years of getting up early for school had made Alexis into a morning person. She wasn't as reliant on coffee to be functional in the mornings as her dad and Kate, and even Gram, were, but she had stopped off for a chai tea on her way to catch the train.

She was busy sipping on her tea and reviewing the next chapter of notes for Kevin's sergeant's exam so she could make more flash cards when she heard a familiar voice ask, "Is this seat taken?"

She looked up from the papers in her lap to the smiling face of Javier Esposito, dressed in denim shorts, an NYPD t-shirt, and flip-flops, a battered duffel bag slung over one shoulder. "Javier!" she exclaimed, delighted. "You made it!"

Javier stowed his duffel bag in the overhead compartment, then sank down in the seat across from Alexis. "It was close. Ryan and Jenny were apologizing all over the place because by the time we got everything and everybody loaded, there wasn't room for me to ride up with them, but I told them not to worry, I was already taking the train." He leaned back in his seat, crossing one ankle over his knee. "You promised Ryan no studying this weekend," he reminded her, a hint of teasing in his voice and his eyes.

"And I am a woman of my word," she replied. "I was just getting a jump on the next chapter." At his teasing look she said, "I know, I know. But a lifetime of being a serious student, when the most serious years of school for me are coming up, is one habit I'm not about to break. When I was in high school, I used to take homework to my dad's book launch parties. I was doing homework at the party the night he and Kate met."

"Dedication is important," Javier agreed, all traces of teasing gone from his face and voice. "But this weekend is a long-overdue, well-deserved break. for all of us."

"Yes, it is," Alexis agreed.

"We've been so busy with helping Ryan study, and me with work and you with school, we haven't had a chance to just talk in a while. How are you doing? Really?" he asked her as the train started to roll out of the station.

"I haven't had a nightmare or a panic attack in a whole week," Alexis said proudly.

"That's wonderful!" Javier exclaimed. "Heard from any law schools yet?"

"NYU and St. John's both accepted me, and Fordham wait-listed me," Alexis replied flatly.

"Try not to sound so excited," Javier deadpanned.

"I just **really** want to stay at Columbia for law school, and I don't know if they're going to accept me or not," Alexis said.

"They haven't said no yet," Javier reminded her.

"I know," Alexis said. "I just haven't wanted anything this much in a really, really long time."

"Have a little faith, Alexis," he said seriously. "Columbia would be insane **not** to accept you. I truly believe you're gonna get in."

"I hope you're right," Alexis said, her face clouding at the possibility of being rejected by the law school she most wanted to attend.

Javier nudged her foot lightly with his. "Holiday weekend, remember? No worrying about anything allowed."

Alexis smiled. "By order of Detective Esposito," she said.

"And don't you forget it," he said mock sternly.

She laughed shortly. "Thank you," she said.

"Anytime," he replied. "So, what are we gonna be doing this weekend?"

"Well, we'll be having a cookout and fireworks on the 4th," Alexis said. "The rest of it, I don't know, because we've never had everybody up for the 4th before."

"Do you feel like we're intruding?" Javier asked.

"No," Alexis replied honestly. "It was fine when it was just Dad and me, or Dad and Gram and me. But then Kate became part of our family, and she brought her dad, and Kate and Dad both brought you and the Ryans and Dr. Parish into it. Maybe it's because I was an only child, but I like having this bigger family. And I'm glad that I'm getting to be friends with all of you in my own right, not just because you're Kate's and Dad's friends."

"I'm glad too," Javier said. "I was an only child myself. It can be pretty lonely sometimes." Alexis nodded her agreement. "But over the years, my family has grown too. Ryan and your dad are the brothers I never had, Jenny's my nice sister, Sarah Grace and Nick are my godchildren and my niece and nephew, and Beckett's my kickass sister that I'll still always watch out for no matter what. Not that Beckett's not nice," he added hastily.

"I know what you meant," Alexis assured him. Then she asked, "So what does that make me?"

Javier thought about it for a moment as he and Alexis looked at each other. "A good friend who's becoming a better friend all the time," Javier replied honestly.

"That's exactly how I feel about you, Javier," Alexis said.

The miles sped by out the train window as Alexis and Javier talked and laughed about her summer classes and the cases he and Ryan were catching at work and things to do in the Hamptons, since Javier had only previously been to the beach house for Beckett and Castle's wedding-that-wasn't. They were indeed good friends who were becoming better friends all the time. But would friendship be the extent of their relationship...or, perhaps, at the right time, was something more waiting for them, waiting to take them by surprise?

* * *

The first arrival at the Hamptons house was Jim Beckett, around ten AM. "Dad!" Kate exclaimed happily, giving her dad a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Jim hugged his daughter back. Kate stepped back and then said apologetically, "Uh oh, I didn't get you all sweaty too, did I? I just finished my physical therapy for the day." Her face was flushed, her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, and the front of her t-shirt was sweat-soaked.

"It wouldn't matter to me if you did," Jim replied honestly. "You look wonderful, Katie."

"I'm feeling really good these days," Kate said. Then she called over her shoulder, "Rick, my dad's here!"

Castle entered from the kitchen, chugging from a bottle of water. He had already done his physical therapy and had just finished his respiratory therapy. When he removed the bottle from his mouth, he took a slow, deep breath, held it for a few seconds, exhaled, then said, "Hi, Jim. Good to see you."

"And you, Rick," Jim replied, taking Rick's outstretched hand and pulling him into a one-armed hug.

"You didn't overdo it back there, did you?" Kate asked Rick worriedly.

"No," Rick said. "I think it's just the heat. The humidity's already brutal."

"I'll crank up the air conditioning on my way upstairs," Kate replied. She kissed Rick's cheek, then said, "If you two will excuse me, I'm going to get cleaned up. I'll just be a few minutes."

After Kate had headed upstairs, Jim said, "Katie looks better than I've seen her look in years, and I think you have a lot to do with that, Rick."

"We're a team," Rick replied. "Kate and I are getting each other through all this." Going through it with her firsthand this time, and now having some concrete idea of what it must have been like for her years ago when she was recovering from being shot at Montgomery's funeral all by herself, made Rick's heart ache to think of how much more difficult it had to be for Kate alone after the first shooting.

"It's a lot different than it was last time, that's for sure," Jim said. "And thank God for that."

"Kate and I were thinking you'd like the room at the west end of the hall," Rick said, banishing the dark thoughts of Kate recovering from her first shooting alone, those months they had had no contact at all but not an hour had gone by without him thinking about her, wondering how she was doing, worrying if she was going to be okay. "My mother and Alexis have permanent rooms here, of course, and since Ryan and Jenny are bringing the kids, we're giving them the guest suite in the East Wing. You can have your pick from the rooms that are left if the west end of the hall isn't to your liking, but that room has a view of the ocean and more privacy than any other room but ours. As long as Esposito doesn't mind, we'll put him in the East Wing with the Ryans, and Lanie and Alan can have the room across from my mother."

"Sounds great," Jim said. "Let me just take my bag upstairs, and I'll be right back." Jim returned, finding Rick in the living room, finishing his bottle of water.

"Is the room to your liking?" Rick asked, standing up.

"It's fine, thank you, Rick," Jim said. "Sit down. You just got done with therapy."

Rick smiled sheepishly. "Not that I'm in really bad shape, but Kate's in better shape than me. I'm thinking I need to start jogging with her or something."

Jim and Rick sat down across from each other. "You've been following her around for eight years. She could probably tolerate you coming along on a jog."

"And I'll follow her for the rest of my life," Rick said. "I don't know if she'd want me along when she jogs, but it's a thought."

"While we have a minute alone, Rick, I want to thank you," Jim said. At Rick's questioning look, Jim elaborated. "I want to thank you for opening Katie up to the world again. I'd given up hope of that ever happening after we lost Johanna, but you changed all that. I'll never be able to thank you enough for making my daughter so happy and getting her to embrace life and happiness again."

"It is my privilege and my pleasure," Rick replied. "But it's also a two-way street, Jim. Kate does the same thing for me. She makes me work to be the best version of myself every day, because she deserves the best."

"I agree," Jim said, smiling wistfully because Katie and Rick reminded him so much of himself and Johanna.

Kate entered the living room then, fresh from the shower, her still damp hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail. She sat down next to Rick, resting her hand on top of his hand on his lap. "Is your room okay, Dad?" she asked.

"It's fine," Jim assured her. "Looks like I'm the first one here."

The sound of a car pulling up outside and two car doors slamming got everyone's attention. "Not anymore," she said. Jim followed Kate and Rick to the front door, which Kate opened to reveal Lanie and Alan standing and staring up at the house.

"Wow," Alan said as he took in the house for the first time. "Wow."

"Mmm-hmm," Lanie replied.

Kate shaded her eyes with her hand and then called, "Are you two gonna stand out there admiring the exterior of the house all day, or get in here where we have air conditioning and food and drinks?"

Lanie squeezed Alan's hand before rushing forward and engulfing Kate in a big hug, which Kate returned. Lanie drew back and said, "You look **so** good, Kate! And the sex ban is still on?"

"Lanie!" Kate exclaimed, her voice a couple of octaves higher than normal as she jerked her chin in the direction of her father, standing behind and to the right of her.

Rick coughed to cover his laugh, and was met with twin glares from Kate and Lanie. Jim Beckett looked amused. "Hello, Mr. Beckett. I didn't see you back there," Lanie said, chagrined.

"It's nice to see you again, Lanie," Jim said.

Alan approached then, balancing three suitcases, one his, the other two Lanie's. "You have a really nice place here," he said. "Thanks for the invite."

"Well, you're with Lanie now," Rick said. "That makes you part of the family."

"Castle," Lanie said warningly.

"What?" Rick asked innocently. "What do you think I'm going to do, Lanie? Embarrass you?"

Now Alan laughed and was met with the twin glares of Lanie and Kate. "Oh, come on, honey," Alan said, giving Lanie a big smile, his eyes twinkling. "You don't embarrass easily."

"He knows you well," Kate said to Lanie in an undertone.

"Have you ever been to the Hamptons before, Alan?" Rick asked, trying not to sound too eager for a change in subject.

"Does seeing _Weekend at Bernie's_ count?" Alan replied. "Because otherwise, no."

"No it is, then," Rick said. "Come on in. Let me take one of those bags for you, Alan."

"Are you sure?" Alan asked cautiously.

"It'll be good practice," Rick replied. He took the suitcase in Alan's right hand, hefted it experimentally, and then nodded once, satisfied. "The range-of-motion exercises may be boring, but they're working!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

Kate smiled as Rick followed her dad into the house, and Alan hurried after him. Remaining outside with Lanie for a moment, Kate said, "Could you do me a favor and please not talk about sex this weekend? My dad's here, after all...and Alexis will be here by this afternoon."

"As I recall, Alexis was in the morgue when you and Writer Boy were having that argument about that CIA woman when bodies kept disappearing on us and heard **you** tell Castle to sleep with whoever he wanted to, the more the merrier," Lanie reminded her.

"Yeah, well, I was jealous," Kate said. "And I was trying to get myself together so **I** could be with Rick. It wasn't one of my finest moments. Besides, you know that what happens between Rick and me in that area of our lives **stays** between Rick and me."

"To my eternal disappointment," Lanie said, slinging an arm around Kate's shoulders as they headed into the house.

"I haven't noticed you talking about booty calls or giving details about Alan," Kate pointed out.

Lanie shook her head with a smile. "You can take the detective out of the precinct," she said, "but you can't stop her from investigating."

"You know it. Now, why aren't you talking about you and Alan in that way?" Kate persisted. Before Lanie could answer, Kate continued, "I'll tell you why: because it's just between the two of you. You're in love with him, Lanie. He's your Castle. You said so yourself. And when **that's** the kind of love you're in, you don't discuss your life in the bedroom with anyone but him."

"Well, don't go buying bride magazines and looking for matron-of-honor dresses," Lanie warned Kate.

"I know. You never want to get married," Kate replied, closing the front door behind them.

A long, pregnant pause ensued before Lanie quietly said, "Actually, I've been rethinking my stance on that lately."

Kate looked at Lanie, shocked. Lanie was the only person Kate knew who was more anti-marriage than she herself had once been. Of course, that was before Castle, so Kate knew better than anyone how the right man could change your views on marriage a decade or more after you had sworn it off and decided it was not for you. "Don't you dare say a word to anyone about it, Kate," Lanie continued firmly. "I'm thinking. That's all."

"I won't say a word, I promise," Kate said. "But can I say one thing, to you? Lanie, this is **big**."

"You're tellin' me!" Lanie exclaimed.

"She's telling you what?" Lanie and Kate both started when Rick and Alan returned then. It was Alan who had asked the question.

"Kate was telling me it's a beautiful day and we should get outside," Lanie replied. "We can unpack later."

"Good thing I brought this down, then," Alan said, holding up a bottle of sunscreen.

Lanie smiled and grabbed Alan's other hand. "How about a walk on the beach?" she asked him.

"You read my mind," he replied with a smile. "Excuse us."

"What time are you planning lunch?" Lanie asked.

Rick and Kate exchanged a glance. "We're still waiting on Alexis, the Ryans, Esposito, and Mother, who probably won't arrive before tonight, since she loves to make an entrance," Rick said.

"If you're not back by the time we're ready to have lunch, we'll send out a search party," Kate said cheekily.

"Ha ha," Lanie replied, but her eyes were dancing.

Alan chuckled and gently tugged on Lanie's hand in his. "Let's go take that walk," she said.

After Lanie and Alan had headed outside, Rick said, "I'm gonna go take a quick shower myself." He checked his watch. "I should have just enough time to clean up before I have to go and meet Alexis's train."

"Are you okay?" Kate asked seriously.

Rick flexed the bicep on his recovering arm. "Getting stronger all the time," he said. "The respiratory therapy is the tougher part, but I'm improving there too. At least, that's what Janine said before we left to come up here." He kissed Kate's forehead. "Try not to worry so much."

"Comes with the territory when you love someone this much, Castle," Kate informed him. "But as long as you're sure you're okay..."

"I am," he assured her, catching her chin in his hand to look deeply into her eyes for a long moment. Once he saw that by the change in the look in her own eyes that Kate was reassured, he smiled. She returned his smile, gently stroked his jaw line with her thumb, and then he headed upstairs to the shower.

When Kate turned back towards the kitchen, she saw her father standing just inside the living room, his thumbs tucked in the pockets of his khakis, watching her with a wistful smile on his face. "I really wasn't eavesdropping," he said. "But I couldn't help seeing and overhearing. You're so much like your mom, Katie, that sometimes I forget that there are aspects of me in you too."

Kate looked at her dad. "What do you mean, exactly?" she asked.

"Well, you're a hard charger, and that definitely comes from Johanna," he said. "Although you have taken it to extremes that even she didn't, and I'm proud of you for that...and she would be too."

Kate swallowed hard at the direct comparison to her mother. "I know," she said softly.

"But just now, seeing how concerned you are about Rick...boy, did **that** bring back a lot of memories of myself," Jim continued, strolling into the room and stopping at his daughter's side. "Of course, there were times she was concerned about me too. Like you told Rick, it comes with the territory when you love someone so much," Jim continued. "Rick's a good man, Katie. I couldn't have chosen better for you if I had picked him out myself."

"He's the best thing that ever happened to me, no doubt about it," Kate agreed.

"It just really makes me happy to see **you** so happy," Jim said. "No one in the world deserves it more than you do."

"I think you might be slightly biased," Kate said with a smile.

Jim smiled back at her. "Paternal privilege," he replied, "honed by a lifetime of knowing how brilliant and intelligent and incredible and brave my daughter is."

"I'm familiar with the type," Kate said, not able to keep the smile off her face. She knew how much Rick wanted, as he put it, "a mini-Beckett," and for all of her teasing about how he really needed to have a long chat with her dad about what she was like as a teenager, and as much as she herself wanted a mini-Castle, 9-year-old-on-a-sugar-rush tendencies and all, she didn't have any doubts that, girls or boys or some of each, Rick would be just as proud of their future children as he had always been of Alexis.

"Then you understand the exceptions made by and for proud fathers," Jim said.

"Yes," Kate replied. Then she hugged Jim. "I love you, Dad."

Jim was surprised, but he was also grateful that Kate couldn't see his face as he hugged her back, since his eyes were wet, though there was no mistaking that he was choked up when he softly answered her, "I love you too, Katie."

Rick came downstairs then, his hair wet from the shower. Kate released her father with a squeeze to his shoulder, and Rick said, "I just got a text from Alexis. She's due at the station in half an hour, so I'm heading out to pick her up."

"Okay, I'll wait here for Espo and Ryan and Jenny and the kids," Kate said. Rick stepped forward and they shared a quick kiss before he checked his pockets and, satisfied that he had his phone and his keys, headed out to the train station to pick up Alexis.

After Rick's departure, Kate linked her arm through her father's. "So," she said, "are you going to start preparing to teach your class at Columbia soon?"

"I am," Jim replied as they headed out to the deck. "I'm looking forward to it. Has Alexis heard back from Columbia Law School yet?"

"Not yet," Kate said. "That's the school she really wants. NYU and St. John's have accepted her. Fordham wait-listed her. But she really wants Columbia. I hope she gets it."

"So do I," Jim said as he settled himself in a chair on the deck in the shade. Kate settled herself in the chair next to his.

"So, tell me more about your class," Kate said.

And Jim proceeded to do so, very animatedly and excitedly, as father and daughter basked in the simple pleasure of each other's company.

* * *

Rick was practically bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet as he stood on the platform, watching Alexis's train pull into the station. She had assured him that she was fine with all the guests for the long holiday weekend, but he wanted to ask her one more time just to make absolutely sure. He knew there would be a concert in town tonight, and he thought about suggesting she go, just so she wasn't stuck with him and Kate and all their friends for the whole weekend. He was wondering idly if any of Alexis's friends from past summers were in the Hamptons this weekend when people began pouring off the train.

Rick spotted Alexis almost instantly, her messenger bag slung over one shoulder, her head turned over her opposite shoulder, laughing at something the person behind her must have said or done.

He was surprised when Alexis stepped off the train onto the platform, immediately followed by Javier Esposito, who was laughing too, a battered duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a suitcase Rick recognized as Alexis's in his other hand.

"Alexis!" Rick called.

She turned away from Esposito, still laughing, and her face lit up even more brightly when she spotted him. "Dad!" she exclaimed happily. She went rushing over to him, Esposito lagging behind her, and threw her arms around her father in an enthusiastic hug, which Rick returned.

"Esposito," Rick greeted Espo after he and Alexis ended their hug. "I thought you were riding up with Ryan and Jenny and the kids?"

"So did I," Esposito replied, "but by the time we got everything and everybody loaded up, there wasn't any room for me. You'd be amazed how much equipment two little kids need for one long weekend away from home. I wasn't sure we were going to get it all in Ryan's sister's SUV. So I took the train up, and it turned out Alexis was on the same train."

"Are Kevin and Jenny and the kids here yet?" Alexis asked.

"Not yet," Rick replied, as they headed for the car, Esposito still carrying Alexis's suitcase along with his own duffel bag. "Neither is your grandmother."

"Well, you know Gram," Alexis said fondly. "She'll probably breeze in in the middle of dinner tonight, making a grand entrance with some story about running into Barbra Streisand and James Brolin, or Liza Minnelli, or Meryl Streep on the island."

"Anything is possible with her," Rick agreed. They had reached the car, and he opened the trunk and took Alexis's suitcase from Esposito.

"I told Javier I was perfectly capable of carrying my own suitcase, but he insisted he would get it," Alexis said, with a Beckett-worthy eyeroll.

After Esposito had put his duffel in the trunk, and Rick had closed the trunk lid, they all got in the car, Rick driving, Alexis in the front passenger seat, and Esposito in the back.

"So are Lanie and her new guy at your house?" Espo asked as they drove back to the house.

"Yeah," Rick said. He caught Espo's eye in the rearview mirror. "This isn't going to be awkward for you, is it, Esposito? You could have brought somebody up."

"There isn't anybody," Esposito replied, meeting Castle's gaze squarely in the mirror. "And no, it's not going to be awkward. Lanie and I were on and off—mostly off—for a long time, and we agreed ages ago that what we had...it wasn't like you and Beckett, or Ryan and Jenny. And neither one of us is willing to settle for less than that."

Before Castle could reply, a honking horn attracted their attention. "It's Kevin and Jenny and the kids!" Alexis exclaimed, rolling down her window and waving at them, since they were in the next lane, their car right next to Castle's.

Ryan rolled down his window, and they could all hear Jenny telling Sarah Grace, "We're almost there, sweetheart. Then you can build a sandcastle on the beach with Daddy."

"YAY!" Sarah Grace cheered.

Ryan grinned and gave a little wave. "We're gonna have a great weekend!" he declared.

Rick looked at Alexis beside him, and thought of Kate back at the house, with her dad and Lanie and Alan, and Esposito and the Ryans with him and Alexis, and his mother sure to be there by tonight. "We sure are," Rick said aloud softly, grinning himself.


	24. Chapter 24

_**Thank you all for your continued support of this story, especially the kind guest reviewers to whom I cannot respond personally. I hope you keep enjoying the journey.**_

* * *

The first afternoon in the Hamptons, after a lunch of pasta salad coupled with a big green salad with pretty much every vegetable known to mankind in it, everyone just hung out together in one big group. Rick unearthed a cache of sand molds and toys that had been Alexis's when she was little, and Ryan and Sarah Grace went to work on a huge sandcastle, after they had changed into their swimsuits and Jenny had sprayed them both all over with sunscreen, since Sarah Grace had inherited her father's fair Irish skin.

Beckett watched Castle watching Ryan and Sarah Grace build their sandcastle with a smile on his face. "You saved Alexis's old beach toys because you're sentimental," she said.

He turned his head to meet his wife's gaze. "Partly," he replied. "At least, that's why I kept them originally. But another reason to hold onto them came to me, oh, about eight years ago."

"And what reason would that be?" Kate asked, even though she was sure she knew exactly what Rick was going to say.

"You," he said. "Because I've carried this picture around in my head since realizing I was in love with you...a daydream that I hoped would one day become a reality, as so many of my daydreams about you have. It was about us using those toys with **our** kids on this beach, Kate."

Kate felt warm inside, and it had nothing to do with the humidity or temperature, since the ocean breeze tempered the effects of the heat. "It's gonna happen, Rick," she said so only he could hear.

He pulled Kate against his side and kissed her forehead. "I know," he replied. "And in the meantime, Sarah Grace and Ryan can enjoy them."

Kate, Rick, and all the Ryans were down on the beach, baby Nick snoozing in his infant carrier under a beach umbrella with Jenny splitting her attention between him, and Kevin and Sarah Grace building their massive sandcastle nearby.

Alexis was on the deck with Jim Beckett, discussing law school in general and Columbia in particular. "I haven't spent a lot of time on campus yet, but I do know that they haven't sent out all of their acceptances yet," Jim told Alexis. "It's way too early for you to get discouraged."

"Javier said something similar to me earlier," Alexis admitted. "It's just that I **know** this is exactly what I want. I have nothing against NYU or St. John's, really, except that they're not Columbia. It wouldn't be the end of the world if I went to either of those law schools. But I want to go to Columbia more than anything."

"Well, for whatever it's worth, I believe in your abilities and qualifications, and in the ability of the admissions department of Columbia Law School to see what an asset you would be to them as a student," Jim said.

"It's worth a lot," Alexis said. "I just have to stop driving myself crazy about it. Get my mind off of it." She smiled ruefully. "If only I knew how to do that."

Javier had gone inside to get a soda out of the fridge. As he was headed back outside, he nearly literally bumped into Lanie and Alan in a liplock right next to the doors leading out to the deck. "I'm sorry," he apologized as the couple hastily pulled apart.

"I think this one was our fault," Alan said, trying to discreetly wipe at his mouth, where he knew Lanie's lipstick was smeared. Then he looked at Esposito. "Look, I don't want to start anything here, or make things awkward, but I believe it's better to get everything out on the table right off the bat. I know that you and Lanie dated. Now, I don't have a lot of experience in dealing with exes, but I followed Lanie's lead here. Beckett and Castle...that is, Kate and Rick...invited all of us up here for the weekend, but I don't have the history and the attachments here that you do."

"Maybe not yet, Alan, but you will," Lanie insisted. "Castle himself said you're part of the family now."

"And I would like to be," Alan replied honestly, looking from Lanie back to Javier. "But you guys have all been a family for years. I know these things take time, and I'm willing to put in the time, earn my way into the inner circle. I just don't want there to be any awkwardness or problems between you and me, Detective Esposito."

"Alan," Javier began, "can I call you Alan?"

"Sure," Alan said.

"Lanie and I, we were together," Javier began. "And then we weren't. And then we were, and then we weren't. It was on and off, up and down, back and forth. I have nothing but respect for her, and she knows that. The last time we broke up was really the last time, and it was a mutual decision. What we had when we were together, it wasn't what you build a life on. Luckily we came away from the relationship as friends, which we're much better off being.

"You two have been together for a few months now, and I've worked with Lanie during all that time. And I tell you honestly, I have never seen her as happy as she's been since she started dating you, Alan. You two..." He looked at Lanie now. "I think maybe you've found with Alan what we didn't find with each other, _chica,_ and if that's the case, then I'm very happy for you, and I wish you both all the best."

Alan let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "So we're good?" he asked, just making absolutely certain.

"We're good," Javier said, holding out his hand for Alan to shake. "But if you break her heart, I'll break your face."

Alan shook Esposito's hand vigorously. "You won't have to worry about that, Detective," he vowed.

"Just call me Esposito, or Javi," Javier said. Then he looked at Lanie again. "Keep being happy," he said. "You deserve it."

Lanie hugged Javi, then pecked his cheek. "You're a good man, Javier Esposito," she said. "And some lucky woman is going to realize that one of these days."

Javi let Lanie go, and she stepped back next to Alan, taking his hand and twining her fingers with his. "I'll let you two get back to what you were doing," he said with a smirk then.

"Don't **make me** come after you with a fire extinguisher again, because you know I'll do it!" Lanie called after Esposito as he walked away, laughing out loud.

Javier approached Beckett and Castle then. "Everything okay?" Kate asked, tilting her head towards Lanie and Alan, who were heading out of sight now, probably towards the garage for a more private makeout spot.

"Everything's fine," Esposito assured Kate. "How 'bout with you guys?"

"Everything is great," Castle said, wrapping an arm around Beckett's waist.

Esposito raised his soda can to them in salute. Before he could say anything, Sarah Grace started yelling for everyone to come and look at the big, pretty castle she and her daddy had made. As everyone trooped down to the stretch of beach where Ryan and Sarah Grace had built their sandcastle, then took turns exclaiming over what a wonderful, big, pretty castle it was, Kate and Rick looked around at their friends, their **family** , and Kate brushed the back of her hand against Rick's. He brushed the back of her hand with his in reply, both of them happy and grateful to be in this exact place, at this exact moment, with almost all of the people they loved most in the world gathered around them.

* * *

True to form, Martha breezed in while everyone was eating dinner, but instead of name-dropping celebrities, she surprised the group with the news that she had run into a theater friend of hers who was casting for a production of _Steel Magnolias_ that would be running that fall at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania, and she'd been holding auditions here at the Hamptons. "To make a long story short," Martha concluded with a flourish, which was, of course, lovably impossible by this point, "I have been cast as Clairee!"

A flurry of hugs and congratulations followed, and Alexis corralled Javier into helping her pour wine for everyone, although Jenny declined, as she was nursing Nick. "To Gram," Alexis said, raising her glass high, as everyone else followed suit. "The best Clairee in the history of _Steel Magnolias_!"

"To Mother," Rick echoed, "a brilliant actress who gets to strut her stuff on the stage. We'll be in the front row on Opening Night."

"Of course we will!" Kate said.

After dinner, and after Kevin and Jenny got Sarah Grace and Nick to sleep, Ryan approached Esposito. The two of them held a whispered conversation, and Ryan nodded. Noticing this, Kate asked suspiciously, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Ryan said. Esposito had excused himself to go upstairs.

"It's not 'nothing,'" Beckett retorted in her detective voice. "Come on. What are you two up to?"

"This," Esposito announced as he returned, a deck of cards in one hand, and a box of poker chips in the other. "When you two were in the hospital, Ryan and I decided we were gonna play poker with you when you were back on your feet again. There's no time like the present."

"Yeah, just, you know, don't throw your hands for each other this time," Ryan said. "It's sweet, but it won't be nearly as interesting."

"Can anybody get in on this?" Lanie asked.

"What are the stakes?" Martha wanted to know.

Esposito and Ryan exchanged looks. "We were thinking penny ante," Ryan said, rubbing uncomfortably at the back of his neck. Money was still tight for him and Jenny, and he hated calling attention to that fact, even around his closest friends, his family, but it was obvious to everyone who would have the most money to throw around at a poker game in this group, and Ryan figured he was at the bottom of the list.

"Perfect," Rick said.

Everybody got in on the game. Jenny had the portable nursery monitor at hand so she could listen for Sarah Grace and Nick. Martha skunked everybody the first three hands.

"Incredible," Ryan said, shaking his head. "Just incredible. You have the best poker face I've ever seen, Martha."

"I'll second that," Esposito said as he set his cards aside.

"Never play poker with a professional actress," Rick said, tossing his cards down on the table in disgust. He'd been trying to pull an inside straight, but the cards weren't with him.

Martha raked the pile of chips in the middle of the table towards herself. "Now, Richard, nobody likes a sore loser," she teased.

"Oh, that's it. It's on," Rick said.

"Well, we know Castle won't be giving up a hand to his mother," Lanie said then as she shuffled the cards in preparation to deal another hand.

"I'm still waiting to see if he's gonna give up a hand to Beckett," Ryan said.

"He hasn't so far," Jenny pointed out.

"Because one or both of them keep folding," Alexis said.

" _Et tu_ , Alexis?" Rick asked.

"It was just an observation," Alexis replied with a half shrug as she gathered up her cards after Lanie finished dealing them.

"You know the old saying," Kate said. "'Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.' I waited long enough to be lucky in love, so I don't care if I don't win a hand all night."

"What she said," Rick said as he and Kate exchanged a smile.

"Sappy," Esposito coughed.

"What's the matter, Espo, jealous?" Beckett countered, kicking off her sandal and running her foot up and down Castle's calf under the table, since they were seated across from each other.

"It couldn't be that," Castle said. "I'm not his man crush. Ryan is."

Ryan and Esposito both looked wounded when Jenny, Alexis, Beckett, and Lanie all cracked up laughing.

"I do not have a man crush on Ryan!" Esposito protested.

"That's right," Ryan agreed. "We have a bromance. They're two totally different things."

Alan said, "All of you are way more fun than any of my friends. And I'm not just saying that to suck up. I really mean it."

"A quick study," Kate said approvingly. "You're a good man, Alan Masters."

"Actually, it's _You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown,_ " Martha corrected.

"All we need now is a _Star Trek_ reference," Lanie snorted.

" _Nebula 9_ ," Kate and Alexis said in unison.

"I prefer Joss Whedon myself," Alan said.

Everything at the table stopped then as everyone turned and stared at Alan.

Alan tugged at the collar of his polo shirt and laughed nervously. "What did I say?" he asked. He looked from Kate to Alexis. "I don't hate _Nebula 9,_ " he hastily assured them. "Really. It's a good show. But Joss Whedon..."

"How hardcore a Joss Whedon fan **are** you?" Kate asked seriously. Rick was staring at Alan slack-jawed.

Alan sat up straight. "Look, I've always been the first one to admit I'm a nerd," he said. "And if that means I take some good-natured teasing for it, so be it. I was into D&D when it first became a phenomenon in the '80s, a skinny, short, junior-high kid with glasses who hung out in his friends' basements playing on weekends, and having marathons in the summer."

Rick dropped his cards to the table and clapped one hand to his chest. "And Whedon?" he asked, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.

Alan met Rick's gaze squarely. "I own every season of every TV show the man has ever done on DVD," he said. "I once got into a fight in a bar because I insisted _Buffy_ and _Angel_ were better fantasy shows than _Lost._ I have every movie he's ever done on both DVD and Blu-Ray. I'm a regular at Comic-Con. My go-to Halloween costume is Robert Downey, Jr.'s Tony Stark as Iron Man in _The Avengers._ The year the movie came out, I stalked eBay for six months before I found the exact Black Sabbath t-shirt he wore in the movie, and I grew the modified goatee he had in that movie. I have first editions of every comic book and graphic novel he's worked on."

Kate looked at Lanie. "I don't know whether to thank you or kick you in the shins right now," she said.

"I swear I didn't know about all of this," Lanie said, wide-eyed.

"What's going on?" Esposito asked.

"To put it in your vernacular, I believe another bromance is about to be born," Jim Beckett piped up.

"You love Joss Whedon," Rick said seriously.

"The only people I love more are Lanie and my family," Alan replied just as seriously.

Rick reached his arm across the table to Alan. "8.4 million people in New York City," he said, "and the only person I have ever met who shares the depth of my appreciation for all things Joss Whedon crosses my path thanks to the NYPD and the best medical examiner in the world." He held out his hand to shake. "I see many, many double dates and Whedon marathons in our future, Alan."

"What have I done?" Lanie asked, only half-jokingly.

"Now, see, **that** is a man crush," Kate said, gesturing to Rick and Alan shaking hands.

"Bromance," Rick and Alan said in unison.

"No way will you guys have a better bromance than us," Esposito said, gesturing between himself and Ryan.

"Never," Ryan declared, fist-bumping Esposito.

Jenny set her cards down face down on the table. "Who needs poker when we have this kind of entertainment?" she asked, leaning back in her chair as she tried not to laugh. Nick Ryan's shrill, piercing wail came through the baby monitor then, startling everyone at the table.

"We're out," Ryan said as he and Jenny both got up and hurried upstairs, Jenny to tend to the baby, Ryan to help soothe Sarah Grace back to sleep if her brother's cries awakened her, as had become their routine since bringing Nick home from the hospital.

"Should we play one more hand, or call it a night?" Lanie asked.

Everyone agreed to play one more hand, and Ryan and Jenny rejoined the group after getting the kids back to sleep to find that the only players remaining in the game at this point were Beckett and Castle.

"I'll raise you twenty-five," Kate said, tossing a blue poker chip into the middle of the table. They had all agreed at the start of the evening that blue chips were worth a quarter, red chips a dime, and white chips a nickel.

"I'll see your twenty-five," Rick said, tossing one of his blue chips into the middle of the table, "and raise you another thirty." He pushed three red chips into the sizable pot in the middle of the table.

"I think she's got you, Castle," Esposito said.

"I think Beckett has the best poker face after Martha, so I'm with Javi on this one," Ryan said.

"Dad's too cocky. He's a good bluffer, but he's not _**that**_ good. I think he's got you this time, Kate," Alexis said.

"I concur," Martha said.

"Nobody's throwing their hand this time, right?" Lanie said.

"There's no need for that, Lanie," Kate said, her eyes locked with Rick's. "Okay, Castle." She dropped three red chips on top of the pile and said. "I call. What have you got?"

Castle dramatically fanned out his cards. "A full house," he announced triumphantly. "Literally, figuratively, and in terms of poker. Three kings, two tens. Read 'em and weep, Beckett."

"I'm not the one who needs the Kleenex, Castle," Kate replied, laying her own hand down on the table, "because that full house is nice, it really is. But I have four of a kind, and my four aces beat your full house."

Rick's eyes flew to the cards, followed a split second later by everyone else's eyes. "Four aces," Ryan said in a hushed, reverent voice.

"That is the best poker hand I have ever seen in my life!" Esposito exclaimed.

"That's my girl," Jim said proudly.

"Four aces," Rick said, looking from the cards to Kate. "You have _**four aces**_?!"

"I do." She smiled as she raked in the pile of chips. "Better luck next time, Rick," she said.

Castle leaned back in his chair and just smiled at Kate as the others began to drift away from the table.

"Bro, Beckett just handed you your ass in front of all of us, and you're sitting there smiling," Esposito said as he stood up. "What gives?"

Castle looked at Esposito. "As much as I hate cliches, Esposito, this is one I'm happy to live up to," Rick replied. "I'm unlucky at cards, it's true. But I'd much rather be lucky in love."

Esposito watched the look Castle and Beckett exchanged, since she had heard what they said. Glancing around the room, he saw Ryan and Jenny lingering in the doorway headed to the hall with the staircase, Jenny's arms around Ryan's neck, Ryan's arms around Jenny's waist, their foreheads touching as Jenny laughed softly. Alan and Lanie had said something about a moonlit walk on the beach when they left the table, and since they were no longer in the room, Esposito figured that's where they were. Alexis was chatting with Martha and Jim, and Esposito finally got up after Castle helped Kate finish packing up the poker chips and cards to return to Esposito.

As he headed upstairs to put the poker chips and cards away, Esposito couldn't help but reflect that he, like Castle, and Beckett, would rather be lucky in love than lucky at cards.


	25. Chapter 25

_**Infinite "thank you"s to everyone reading, reviewing, and following. The holiday weekend continues in the Hamptons.**_

* * *

Saturday was the perfect pool and beach day, and that's how everyone spent the majority of the day. Everyone was out by the pool or on the beach except Kate and Rick, who were still in their bedroom.

Rick was sitting on the edge of the bed in his swim trunks and flip-flops, his head bowed as he looked down and brushed the tip of his index finger over his scars over and over again. He looked up when he heard Kate exit the bathroom, and his breath caught.

She stopped a few feet away from him and bit her bottom lip. "So?" she asked.

"Wow," Rick breathed. The navy blue nylon and spandex one-piece swimsuit hugged Kate's body in all the right places (and more importantly to her, covered all of her scars), the thick shoulder straps ensured the suit wouldn't slip (which Rick inwardly cursed for a second before remembering all their family and friends were there and they still wouldn't be cleared to launch Operation BBC for another two weeks), and she looked amazing.

Kate smiled, one of her sun-breaking-through-the-clouds smiles. "Thank you," she said.

"You'll be the hottest one out there," Rick said.

"You do know that group includes your daughter and your mother," she reminded him.

"They're not hot," Rick said. At Kate's amused look, he said, "You know what I mean."

"Yes, but sometimes you're so easy," she replied.

"In another two weeks, I'll show you just how easy I can be," he said.

"Maybe we can come back up here, just us, in another two weeks," Kate mused. "Only no dead body floating in the pool this time." She sat down next to him. "I still have that black thing I wore the first time we came up here."

Rick groaned low in his throat. "Two more weeks," he said.

"We'll get there," she said. She leaned closer to him. "We'll both have to be peeled off the ceiling after the first time..."

"Ooh! Can I buy us anti-gravity boots?" he asked eagerly.

"No," Kate said, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"But that would make it so much easier," he countered.

"It would make me feel like a bat," Kate replied. He was still absently fingering his scars. The sounds of everyone else down at the pool and on the beach filtered up to them.

"I'm kind of stalling," he confessed.

"I know," she said. His hand stilled on the scar on his pectoral muscle. Kate covered Rick's hand with hers, her chin still resting on his bare shoulder. "It's going to be okay," she whispered, her breath warm and softly tickling his cheek.

They sat there silently for a long moment, Rick's hand covering Kate's hand on his chest, her chin still resting lightly on his shoulder. "Come on. You don't want to keep your man crush Alan waiting."

"Bromance," Rick contradicted. "It's an entirely different thing."

Kate stood up, holding her hand out to Rick. "You can do this, babe. I'll be right beside you."

Rick slid his hand into Kate's and got to his feet. He smiled nervously, and she smiled back at him encouragingly. Then they went outside hand-in-hand.

Alexis was sitting poolside with Martha and Jim, and the three of them had charge of Nick. Ryan and Jenny were in the shallow end of the pool with Sarah Grace, who wore floaties with her little pink bathing suit. Esposito was in the deep end by himself, since Lanie and Alan were out on the beach. Everyone at the pool looked up when Kate and Rick approached. Four pairs of eyes (Ryan and Jenny were focused on Sarah Grace) flew to Kate and Rick, and those same four pairs of eyes got their first look at the scars on Rick's chest.

Alexis and Martha couldn't completely hide their reactions, and Rick hated himself for the flash of fear he saw in their eyes, knowing the memories it brought back for both of them, especially for Alexis, who had been among those who had found him and Kate wounded in the kitchen.

But then he saw something he wasn't expecting in the eyes of both his daughter and his mother: joy. Pure, unadulterated joy shone in Alexis's and Martha's eyes, and Rick realized that they were looking at his scars the same way Kate did, and the same way he did when he wasn't feeling self-conscious about them: that those scars were worth celebrating, because they were proof that he had survived what Caleb Brown had tried to do to him.

Jim was busy watching Kate, who only had eyes for Rick. She had started off tense, but when she realized no one was going to make any upset, or upsetting, comments about Rick's scars, the tension in the set of her shoulders eased considerably. Jim let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding when he saw that Kate had relaxed.

Esposito swam over to the side of the pool and hoisted himself out. On his way to the cooler parked nearby, filled with all manner of drinks both soft and hard, he passed by Castle and Beckett and said so only they could hear, "Cool scars, Castle. Proof that the bastards didn't win." He didn't even break stride as he said it, and Rick felt the knot in his stomach disappear.

Ryan looked up after making sure Jenny had a tight hold on Sarah Grace (Nick was in his infant carrier parked between Martha and Alexis in their chairs, a tiny Yankees cap perched on his head to shade his eyes from the sun), and when he noticed Beckett and Castle standing there he said, "All right! Beckett and Castle are here! It's volleyball time!"

Alan and Lanie came up then, wet from the ocean, where Alan had been attempting to teach Lanie to boogie board, unsuccessfully.

"What is it with you and volleyball, Ryan?" Beckett asked then. "You _**really**_ want to play."

Ryan and Jenny shared a look then, which immediately made Beckett, Castle, and Esposito suspicious. "Something's up," Esposito said.

"I just like volleyball, that's all," Ryan said innocently. _**Too**_ innocently for Beckett, Castle, and Esposito's liking. "Castle, do you have a net? If you don't, we brought one. Since it's so hot, I thought we could play in the pool. What does everybody say?"

"Yeah, we have one. It's in the garage," Castle replied.

"We'll go and get it," Beckett added.

"We'll choose up teams while you're gone," Ryan said eagerly.

In the garage, Kate said, "They're up to something. Or at least, Ryan is. I'm pretty sure Jenny's in on it, though."

"Definitely. Did you see that look they exchanged?" Rick asked.

"At least one of them must be one hell of a volleyball player," Kate said.

"Volleyball is traditionally a girls' sport," Rick said. He unearthed the volleyball net, and Kate helped him untangle it.

"That's why Ryan looked at Jenny," Kate said. "She must be some kind of volleyball shark."

"That has to be it!" Rick exclaimed.

After sunscreening up, Kate and Rick returned to the pool with the volleyball net to find that Jim and Martha had been drafted as referees/baby-sitters for Sarah Grace and Nick. That left Ryan and Jenny; Lanie and Alan; Esposito; Alexis; and Kate and Rick to play volleyball in the pool.

"So how are we doing this?" Lanie asked. "Couples, women against the men, what?"

"Couples!" Ryan exclaimed. "Definitely couples!"

Now it was Kate and Rick who exchanged a look. "Okay, Ryan. You and Jenny can be co-captains of one team, and Rick and I will be co-captains of the other team," Kate said.

"But we don't have an even number of couples," Rick said.

"Alexis and Javi will have to play on the same team to make it even, then," Kate said.

"We've got Javi and Alexis!" Ryan exclaimed.

"We wanted Alexis and Esposito!" Castle exclaimed.

"You can have them next game," Ryan retorted.

Alexis met Javier's gaze, since he was already looking at her. "Do we get a say here?" she asked him.

"Doesn't look like it," he replied.

Castle and Ryan were still bickering over which of them should get Alexis and Esposito on their team first.

"She's my daughter!" Castle exclaimed.

"He's my best friend!" Ryan retorted.

"What are we, chopped liver?" Lanie interjected then, gesturing between Alan and herself.

"Okay," Kate said in her best Detective Beckett voice, "here's what is going to happen. Rick, you and Alan are going to put up the volleyball net. Dad and Martha are going to referee and watch Sarah Grace and Nick. Ryan, since you called it first, you and Jenny get Alexis and Javi on your team for the first game. Lanie, Alan, you're with Rick and me. First team to ten points wins, then we'll play a second game, and for the second game, Alexis and Javi will play with Rick and me, and Lanie and Alan will play with Ryan and Jenny. Agreed?"

A chorus of affirmative answers followed Kate's orders.

"She's impressive, and a little bit scary," Alan said to Lanie before he went to help Rick put up the volleyball net.

"Honey, you don't know the half of it yet," Lanie told him.

Before another argument could break out over which side could go first, Jim Beckett, at just one look from his daughter, pulled a quarter out of the pocket of his khakis and said, "All right, Rick, call it in the air," and he flipped the coin.

"Heads!" Rick exclaimed.

Jim caught the quarter as it came down, slapped it on the back of his hand, then removed his other hand. "Heads it is," he said. "Team Beckett-Castle chooses whether to serve or receive."

Ryan was muttering "Receive, receive, come on, receive."

Alexis and Javier were behind Ryan and Jenny in the pool, and Alexis asked Javier, "He is **seriously** into this game, and it hasn't even started yet."

"He's not even this competitive at Halo," Javier mused.

Then he took a good look at Jenny, standing in the pool, unconsciously flexing and unflexing her fingers. "I think I know what's going on," he said to Alexis in an undertone, "and I think we're about to skunk your dad and Beckett and Lanie and Alan."

Sure enough, after Kate served the volleyball, Jenny went airborne and spiked it back across the net so hard and fast that it landed in the water before anyone could react, sending up a geyser of water that splashed the surprised Kate and Rick both in the face, and even managed to splatter Lanie's and Alan's chests. "YES!" Ryan exclaimed. "In your FACES! One-zip!"

"What was **that**?" Castle asked, wiping water from his eyes.

Ryan couldn't stop smirking. Jenny looked half triumphant and half apologetic. "Kevin never told you guys that I went to college on a volleyball scholarship?"

Everyone else in the pool exchanged looks. "No, he didn't," Javier said.

"You have a ringer! That's totally not fair!" Castle yelped.

"Oh, come on, Castle, it's a nice, friendly game of volleyball," Ryan said.

"That you're gonna win because your wife is the NCAA champion from...from..."

"SUNY New Paltz," Jenny supplied. "And the team never actually won any titles while I was there."

"What about you?" Castle asked.

"I was an All-American all four years, and All-Regional three years," Jenny admitted.

"So you'll win the next game, Castle," Ryan said.

"Oh, it is **on** ," Castle said. "We'll win this one or go down spiking!"

What followed was a no-holds-barred volleyball battle royale. Castle and Ryan went for the ball at the same time when it landed directly on top of the net, each man trying to push it onto the other's side (which Jenny would later inform them was a joust). Jenny, Alexis, and Esposito were cheering Ryan on, while Kate, Lanie, and Alan were cheering Castle on.

Finally Ryan shoved at the ball hard enough to send it spiraling over the net.

To no one's surprise, Team Ryan/Esposito/Alexis got to ten points first, winning the game.

Everyone dragged themselves out of the pool to get drinks, touch up sunscreen, and take a short break so Ryan and Jenny could tend to their kids, since Nick needed a diaper change and it was Sarah Grace's naptime, before playing the second game.

Esposito, Alexis, Lanie, and Alan fought gamely against Team Ryan/Beckett/Castle, but led by Jenny and Ryan, who was no slouch as a volleyball player himself, although the game was hotly contested, and Jim and Martha were pressed into service as referees on a couple of close calls, even though neither of them knew very much about volleyball, the final score of the second game was 10-8, with Ryan, Jenny, Beckett and Castle the winners.

After the second game, it was late afternoon, and everyone decided to call it a day in terms of the pool and the beach.

"How would you all like to go out to dinner?" Castle asked. "Seriously, there's a great restaurant here I'd like to take you all to."

"The Lobster Roll?" Alexis asked eagerly.

"Yes," Rick replied.

"That sounds great to me," Kate said. "Really, guys, the lobster rolls and the clam chowder...You won't have any better anywhere in the world."

"The kids," Jenny said uncertainly.

Alexis smiled at her. "It's a very kid-friendly place. Dad's been taking me there since I needed a booster seat," she assured Jenny.

"I could go for some good seafood," Lanie said.

"Are you sure you'll be able to get a reservation on such short notice?" Alan asked.

"Not a problem," Rick assured him.

"Can I go through you to get my Comic-Con tickets from now on?" Alan asked, and he wasn't joking.

Rick slung an arm around Alan's shoulders. "Alan, we're going to Comic-Con together," he said. Then he looked at Kate and Lanie, who were watching them with amusement. "Accompanied by my lovely wife and your lovely girlfriend, of course."

"I'm not dressing up!" Lanie said. She looked at Kate. "Back me up here, Kate."

"Hey, you started all this," Kate said.

Lanie looked at Alan then. "I mean it, Alan. I am **not** dressing up like some space cowgirl or alien or Princess Leia. You do what you want."

Alan's eyes lit up. "Really?" he said eagerly.

Kate burst out laughing. "Now you've done it, Lanie," she said through her laughter.

"I'm gonna get dragged through Comic-Con by my boyfriend the three-headed alien, aren't I?" she asked Kate.

"I don't know Alan's tastes in sci-fi, I just know Rick's," Kate said. "I don't know of any three-headed aliens, but Alan obviously has something in mind."

"Do they have wine at Comic-Con?" Lanie asked.

"You love the guy," Kate said.

Lanie looked at Alan, in an animated conversation with Castle about Comic-Con. "Yeah, I do," she said with a soft smile on her face.

Castle broke away from his conversation with Alan to talk to Ryan and Jenny. "Okay, I'm guessing we want an early reservation because of the kids, right?" he said.

"That would be best, yes," Jenny said.

"6:30 okay if they have something?" he asked.

"That'll work," Ryan said. He paused, then said, "You're not really mad about the volleyball thing, are you, Castle?"

"No," Castle assured him. "But don't expect any mercy the next time we play Halo."

"When do you and Javi ever show me mercy when we play Halo?" Ryan asked rhetorically.

"That's true," Esposito piped up.

Everyone headed inside talking and laughing among themselves to get ready for dinner then.

* * *

 _ **The Lobster Roll is a real restaurant in the Hamptons. No, I have never been there, but it's got a great menu and is very kid-friendly, according to Foursquare.**_


	26. Chapter 26

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

Alexis was up early on the 4th of July, and she decided to go for a run on the beach. She hadn't gone very far when she saw a familiar figure several yards ahead of her. Accelerating slightly, she jogged until she fell into step beside Javier Esposito, who didn't break or slow his own stride when he saw her fall in step next to him. "I didn't know you ran," he greeted her.

"I just started recently," Alexis replied. "It's a good stress reliever, and I want to stay in shape. I avoided the Freshman Fifteen when I went to college, and I don't want it catching up with me in law school."

"You'll be too busy for that to happen," Javier replied confidently.

"Hopefully at Columbia," Alexis muttered.

"You'll get there," Javier said.

"I wish I had your confidence," Alexis replied.

"Why don't you?" Javier asked curiously. "I'm not judging you, Alexis, but you've always been a go-getter. Why do you think Columbia Law School would turn you down?"

"I've just never wanted anything this much in my life," Alexis replied. "I never even wanted to go to Stanford this badly. I was so devastated when they rejected my application for early admittance. Then they accepted me later on, and I realized I didn't want to go there after all. I went to Columbia instead, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made."

Then Javier understood. "So you're afraid to set yourself up for another Stanford experience," he said.

"Exactly," Alexis replied.

They jogged along in silence until Javier suggested they start walking to cool down. They turned around to head back down the beach to the house.

"When it comes to most of life, there's no such thing as a sure thing," he said as they began their cool-down walk. "Sometimes we get so caught up in something that we believe there **is** a sure thing. Math and science have sure things. If A, then B. But as for the rest of it? There isn't. Too many variables factor in, too many unknowns, too many forces beyond our control. We can do everything right, and all of the evidence can be flashing like a fifty-foot-high neon sign that this is the definite outcome, nothing else could possibly happen...and then that something else **does** happen, and we're devastated, and we start questioning ourselves, questioning everything we thought we knew, everything we believed. We wonder how we could have been so wrong when it was so obvious, and it was so certain." He paused. "Exercising caution is always a good idea, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a cop. But you have to leave room for hopes and dreams, because sometimes, reality bites, and when it does, it's our hopes and dreams that help to get us through those times when reality **does** bite us, and it bites us hard.

"Now, personally, I don't believe for one second that you're **not** going to be at Columbia Law School come January. But if you're not there in January, you'll get there, Alexis. I know you will. You might have to start off somewhere else, but you can transfer to Columbia Law sometime in the future. Even if you don't get to go to Columbia the whole time, don't give up on getting there eventually. You'll make it."

"Did anyone ever tell you you're good for a woman's ego?" Alexis asked.

"No," Javier replied honestly. "Is the 'maybe it's a joke, maybe it's not' thing a genetic Castle trait?"

"Yes," Alexis replied honestly. "But for the record, it's not a joke."

As they neared the house, Alexis asked Javier, "How are you at breakfast?"

"Cooking it or eating it?" Javier asked.

"Cooking it," she replied.

"I'm good at pancakes," he told her.

"Then you can be on pancake duty," Alexis said. "We'll cook for everyone else...after we've cleaned ourselves up." She gestured between them, although Esposito's clothes were much sweatier than hers, because he'd been running longer than she had.

"Deal," Javier replied, smiling as he took off sprinting for the house, fifty yards from where they stood.

"Hey!" Alexis shouted indignantly as she sprinted after the laughing Javier. "No using all the hot water!"

"I can't control how much hot water comes out of the shower," Javier tossed over his shoulder. He made it to the house first.

"Maybe you can't, but I can control whether or not I flush the toilet in one bathroom while you're showering in another," Alexis said as she reached the house and stopped herself.

Javier looked at her, considering, then finally confessed, "I honestly don't know if that's more of a Beckett move or a Castle move. Probably Beckett."

Alexis beamed. "That's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me, comparing me to Kate. Thank you, Javier."

He smiled back as he held the door open for her. "Ladies first," he said.

"Really?" Alexis asked.

"My mom and abuela raised a gentleman," he said solemnly. "I'll wait to shower until you're finished. Pancakes don't take long to make anyway."

"Thank you, Javier," Alexis said before heading into the house.

"You're welcome," Javier replied as he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and returned outside, to the deck, while he waited for his turn in the shower.

* * *

The 4th of July in the Hamptons was a major celebration. Everyone went to the parade after breakfast, Sarah Grace perched on her daddy's shoulders so she could see everything and everyone.

They all put in more pool and beach time. Ryan and Jenny stole some private time while Sarah Grace and Nick were napping. Lanie and Alan also split off from the group for some private time of their own. Rick and Kate wanted to split off for some private time, but fought the temptation since they couldn't spend that private time doing what they really wanted to be doing, at least not yet.

Much macho posturing went on when it was time for dinner, as all the men, including Alan and Jim, had opinions on the proper way to grill steaks.

Kate, Alexis, Martha, Lanie, Jenny, Sarah Grace, and Nick watched as Rick, Jim, Alan, Javier, and Kevin kibitzed and kidded at the grill.

"It's nice to see Richard with so many male friends," Martha said before taking a sip of her drink. "I know he had male friends when he was growing up, but they were usually encouraging his escapades. These gentlemen don't."

"I don't know about Alan," Kate said, looking at Lanie with a teasing glint in her eye. "Rick said something last night about us double-dating to Comic-Con next year."

Lanie choked on her drink, spraying hard pink lemonade at everyone's feet. "I am not dressing up!" she insisted.

"I'm not the one you have to convince," Kate said. "Apparently Alan has a thing about Doctor Who."

"Doctor What?" Lanie asked.

"No, Doctor Who," Kate corrected.

"'What's on Second, I Don't Know is on Third,'" Jenny quoted the old Abbott and Costello routine.

"Oh, great, Kate, you'll be some sexy _Star Trek_ babe, and I'll have to wear blue body paint and put a third eye in the middle of my forehead," Lanie said.

"Hey, be grateful Alan doesn't have Rick's sci-fi cinematic knowledge," Kate said.

"Oh, my," Martha realized. "That could change very soon if they start spending time together."

"Dad does have a knack for finding really weird sci-fi movies nobody's ever heard of, like _The_ _Brain That Wouldn't Die_ ," Alexis said.

Kate and Lanie both looked at Alexis now. " _The Brain That Wouldn't Die?_ " Kate asked.

"Scientist's girlfriend is killed in a car accident," Alexis began. "He keeps her head alive in his lab...just her head...and he roams beauty pageants and street corners looking for a woman whose body he can steal to attach his girlfriend's head to."

All the women but Martha and Alexis, who had sat through the movie exactly once with Castle, looked appalled. "That's a real movie?" Lanie asked, horrified.

"That's disturbing," Jenny said, shuddering.

"Castle!" Kate called. When he turned to look at her, all the other men followed his gaze. When she was sure she had his attention, Kate continued, "I am **not** going to Comic-Con as The Brain That Wouldn't Die!"

"Of course you're not," Rick said. "I was thinking Wonder Woman."

"In your dreams, Castle!" Kate retorted.

"There too," he replied with an unrepentant grin.

Kate just smiled and shook her head before returning to her conversation with the women.

Ryan and Esposito looked slightly disturbed. "Great," Ryan said. "Now I have this image of Beckett dressed as Wonder Woman in my head. Thanks a lot, Castle."

"Yeah, bro, that's not cool," Esposito replied.

Everyone turned to look at Jim Beckett, who was coughing and red-faced.

"Jim, do you need some water?" Rick asked anxiously.

Jim's coughing gave way to uncontrollable laughter. "Katie dressed as Wonder Woman for Halloween when she was seven," he said when he had recovered himself.

"And just like that, the fantasy dies," Rick said. He looked at Jim mournfully. "I thought only my mother was capable of killing moods like that."

"It's a parental gift," Jim replied, clapping his hand on Rick's shoulder. "I'm sure you've used it a time or two on Alexis yourself."

Rick silently acknowledged that he had, recalling walking in on her and Ashley making out on the couch, carrying a dueling pistol, and sending the freaked-out high-school boy all but shrieking from the loft, which embarrassed Alexis to no end.

He let his mind drift to the distant future, and using the same kind of parental gift, as Jim called it, on his and Kate's future daughter.

But then he pulled himself up short when he realized that he and Kate would be meeting any future boyfriends their daughter had together...and that all Kate had to do was go Detective Beckett on any teenage pile of raging hormones with less-than-honorable intentions toward their little girl, and the teenage dirtbag would scurry out of the loft faster than Ashley had the night Rick barged in on him and Alexis carrying a dueling pistol.

The thought put a big smile on his face. This time, he wouldn't be parenting alone.

Although if they really did have a mini-Beckett, Rick mused, if their daughter would go out with a boy with less-than-honorable intentions, they'd probably be picking her up at the 12th before the night was over for breaking his nose.

"I thought you said Beckett's dad just killed your Wonder Woman fantasy?" Ryan's question interrupted Rick's reverie.

"He did," Rick said, none-too-regretfully this time. "I was just thinking about something else."

While Rick had been daydreaming, Alan had taken over at the grill to avoid burning any of the steaks. "Well, the medium rares are ready," he declared. "The well dones need a few more minutes."

Soon everyone was seated on the deck and eating steak, corn on the cob, and fresh watermelon.

As darkness fell and they split off into small groups once more to get ready for the fireworks, which they would have an excellent view of from the beach, Kate and Rick got one of their few moments alone all day.

"So, did my dad tell you about the year I dressed as Wonder Woman for Halloween when I was a kid?" Kate asked her husband as she pulled one of his short-sleeved button-down shirts on over her tank top to ward off the chill coming in off the ocean at night.

"He did," Rick replied. He sighed. "He completely killed the fantasy."

"You have the most incredibly vivid imagination, Castle. I'm sure you'll come up with something even better than Wonder Woman," Kate assured him.

Rick considered something then. "Have you ever wanted to see me dress up like a superhero?" he asked.

"I've never had a burning desire to see you in tights and a cape, no," Kate said, smirking. She wound her arms around his neck and quickly grew serious. "Honestly, my biggest fantasy about you right now is you in our bed, wearing nothing but your wedding ring and the look in your eyes that's only for me."

Rick wrapped his arms around Kate's waist, pulling her closer. He lowered his head as she raised up on her tiptoes until their lips met, and the fire between them flared hot and bright as they let the kiss linger and crescendo, their tongues seeking and finding each other, and Kate moving so close to Rick that no space remained between them.

Rick finally broke the kiss, panting, eyes still closed, and sighed on a whisper as he touched his forehead to Kate's, "Officially nine more days."

"Almost eight," she whispered back just as breathlessly before pecking one more quick kiss to his mouth.

"Almost eight," he parroted. He reluctantly released Kate, then said, "I can't wait until we can make our own fireworks instead of just watching them."

"You and me both, babe," she replied, reaching back for his hand before they headed out to meet the others on the beach to watch the fireworks.

The others were all gathered on the beach, sitting in stadium chairs or on beach blankets. Alexis had set up a couple of chairs for Rick and Kate next to her; Martha was seated on her other side. Lanie and Alan were sharing a beach blanket, and Ryan, Jenny, Sarah Grace, Nick in his infant carrier, and Esposito had put together three beach blankets, with one canvas chair, which Ryan and Esposito both insisted Jenny take. This being his first 4th of July, no one was sure exactly how Nick would react to the fireworks, and if he hated them as much as Sarah Grace had when she was a baby, Jenny would be taking him inside while Ryan stayed outside with Sarah Grace to watch the fireworks.

Rick and Kate had just taken their seats, Rick between Kate and Alexis, when the fireworks began. "Here we go!" Alexis exclaimed, and everyone but Nick Ryan trained their eyes on the sky as the first burst of color exploded with a resounding boom and a shower of red, white, and blue sparks.

Two things happened simultaneously as that first explosion shook everyone's eardrums: Nick Ryan began wailing shrilly...and Richard Castle grabbed Kate Beckett's hand and hit the sand stomach first, pulling her with him and scrambling to cover her body with his own as he shouted, "KATE, GET DOWN!"

Because that first explosion whirled Rick back to the loft on that horrible morning. The booming of the fireworks was, to his suddenly-PTSD-triggered mind, the sound of Kate returning fire on Caleb Brown, since her gun hadn't had a silencer.

"Rick, I'm okay," Kate said urgently. Since Castle was a dead weight frozen in panic and fear on top of her, and since she didn't want to make things worse for him than they already were, she forced herself to stay calm as she tried to wriggle out from under him.

The booming explosions of the fireworks display, one on top of another, sounded louder than the report of several cannons. Jenny had hustled Nick into the house immediately, and Kevin assured her that he and Javi had Sarah Grace.

Alexis, Martha, and Jim had surrounded Rick and Kate, and Lanie and Alan were also hovering nearby, having abandoned their beach blanket the second they saw Castle hit the sand and throw himself on top of Kate, but none of them were sure exactly what to do.

Kate became aware in the next instant that Castle was hyperventilating and that his whole body was shaking. "Babe, it's okay," she said urgently. "I'm all right. I'm not hurt. **I'm not hurt.** "

For his part, Castle was trapped back in that morning so completely and intensely that he was hurting in the same places Caleb Brown had shot him. He was back in that moment. "I'm...hit..." he gasped out. "Not...not...you too..."

Lanie finally sprang into action. "Alan, Javi, Mr. Beckett, we've gotta get Castle off of Beckett!" The men all hurried forward, each of them taking hold of Rick as carefully as they could, Alan and Javi taking his arms, while Jim wrapped his arms around Castle's torso from behind. Working together, Alan, Esposito, and Jim lifted Castle off of Beckett...at which point he burst into tears.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he shouted, trying to fight against the three of them as he stretched his arms out toward Kate as far as he could.

Alexis swallowed back her own tears and hurried to Kate, but Kate waved both Lanie and Alexis away. "I'm fine, I have to take care of Rick," she said as she sprang to her feet, stumbling after him because one of her feet was half asleep.

Rick was sobbing now, which wasn't helping his hyperventilating, and calling out brokenly for Kate. Everyone was surrounding them now except Ryan, who was trying to keep Sarah Grace back some distance and keep her interested in the fireworks, even though he was looking over his shoulder at everyone else every other second.

"Rick, Rick, look at me!" Kate shouted to be heard over the fireworks as she finally reached him and dropped to her knees at his side. "Babe, concentrate on my voice!" Inwardly, she cursed the fireworks, wishing the damned show would just end already, and then instructed her dad, Espo, and Alan to let Rick go. They all released him and stepped back, leaving Castle sitting on the sand with his legs outstretched and his fists clenched, still screaming for Kate through his sobs. Kate crawled up his body and pried his clenched fists apart, kissing each of his ten fingers as she pried his hands open.

Finally, mercifully, the last explosion came and went, and silence fell on the beach like a shroud. Kate was kneeling on Rick's outstretched legs, her bent knees resting on his knees, and she leaned in as close to him as she could. "Rick!" she shouted.

Through the ringing in his ears, and the erratic pounding of his heart, Kate shouting his name finally got through to Rick. He blinked owlishly, aware that his face was wet and his eyes were blurred with tears. He slowly came back to himself, realizing he was on the beach, surrounded by his family and friends looking at him worriedly, with Kate, looking not only worried but even a little scared, kneeling on his outstretched legs. "Kate?" he asked hoarsely.

"Yeah," she said as a tidal wave of relief rolled through her. She moved so that she was sitting on Rick's lap, winding one arm around his neck and wiping his wet cheeks with her other hand.

"You're okay?" he asked urgently.

"I'm all right," she assured him. "What about you?"

"I..." He faltered, wrapping his arms around Kate, pulling her against him until she was seated on his lap, and burying his face against her shoulder, smelling a mix of her and him, from her tank top and the short-sleeved button-down of his that she was wearing over the tank top.

Kate wrapped her arms around him, holding him as tightly as she could, and whispering directly into his ear over and over, "I've got you. I've got you. I love you."

Slowly Rick calmed down. The others relaxed gradually as they saw Rick was returning to normal.

Before Ryan could stop her, Sarah Grace walked over to Kate and Rick. "Uncle Rick?" she asked.

Rick lifted his head from Kate's shoulder, and they both turned to look at Sarah Grace. "Yes, Sarah Grace?' he asked, his voice still hoarse.

Sarah Grace came closer, and Ryan hunkered down on the sand behind her. "Did the fireworks scare you?" she asked with all the earnest seriousness that only a preschooler possesses.

After a beat, Rick answered Sarah Grace. "Yeah, they did, Sarah Grace," he replied.

"They scared Nick too," Sarah Grace said, still serious. "That's why Mommy took him in the house. It's okay if you got scared, Uncle Rick. They're really loud, but they can't hurt you."

"You're right, Sarah Grace," Kate said then. "I wouldn't let the fireworks hurt your Uncle Rick. I'd never let anything hurt your Uncle Rick."

"'Cause you love him like Mommy and Daddy love each other," Sarah Grace said, and now a bright smile lit up her little face.

"I really do," Kate said, returning Sarah Grace's smile.

Sarah Grace leaned over and gave Rick a gentle kiss on the cheek. "It'll be okay, Uncle Rick," she told him. "Aunt Kate will make sure it is."

Rick looked from Sarah Grace to Kate and back again. "Yeah, she will. She's really good at that," he said.

Ryan picked up Sarah Grace then, settling her on his hip. "Somebody's up way past her bedtime," he said. "We made an exception because of the fireworks, but now that they're over, it's time to get ready for bed, sweetie. Tell everybody good night."

"Good night!" Sarah Grace exclaimed.

Seeing Ryan's concerned look, Castle assured him, "I'm okay now."

"We got this," Kate added, "but thanks, Ryan."

"If you need anything, let us know," Ryan said. Then he nodded once and headed into the house with Sarah Grace, who waved and called "Good night" to the others repeatedly as they went.

After Kate and Rick got to their feet, Alexis and Martha both hugged first Rick, then Kate. Jim hugged Kate, and then pulled Rick in for a hug. "If you need anything overnight," he said, "come and get me. Or even just call my cell, it'll be on my bedside table."

"Yes, wake me if you need me, Dad, Kate," Alexis added.

"That goes for me too," Martha said.

"And me," Esposito piped up.

Rick scrubbed at his face with both hands before wrapping one arm around Kate's waist. He gave a rueful half-smile to Alan and Lanie then. "Some host," he said wryly.

"After what happened to you guys, I'd be more surprised if you didn't react like that," Lanie said honestly. "No one here thinks any less of you for this, Castle. We never could."

"Wasn't it Hemingway who said, 'The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places'?" Alan said. "Rick, Kate, you are the strongest people I know. I'm glad I know you, and I'm glad to be your friend. If Lanie and I can help you in any way, all you have to do is say the word, and we're there."

"You know it," Lanie said, squeezing Kate's shoulder, then Rick's hand.

"Thank you," Rick said. "Really."

"We wouldn't be where we are right now if not for all of you," Kate said, "and Ryan and his family, and Gates, even though she isn't here."

"I think we'll give you two some time alone now," Martha said as she began herding everyone toward the house.

"Thank you, Mother," Rick said.

"Thanks, Martha," Kate added.

Alexis hugged them both one more time before heading inside with the others.

When they were alone on the beach, Rick opened his mouth to say something, but Kate said fiercely, "Don't you apologize, Rick. You have nothing to be sorry for."

He closed his mouth, then opened it again and said, "Maybe I should talk to somebody. Not your therapist, but he could refer me to somebody, right?"

"If you want, I will absolutely call Dr. Burke for a referral for you," Kate promised. "First thing tomorrow morning."

"It's probably a good idea," Rick said. "Burke helped you a lot."

"He did," Kate agreed, "with a lot of things. And learning how to live with PTSD was one of them." She tucked her arm through his. "Let's go inside and sleep in each other's arms all night."

"That's the best offer I've had all day," Rick replied. Kate tilted her head so it was resting against his shoulder as they headed inside and upstairs to go to bed.

* * *

 _ **I have to thank my sci-fi fan brother, who regaled me with the plot of The Brain That Wouldn't Die, which is a real movie. (My reaction was a combination of Lanie's and Jenny's.)**_

 _ **Also, since so many have asked and commented on it, I wanted to let you all know that Operation Baby Beckett-Castle will officially be launched in the next chapter. :-)**_


	27. Chapter 27

_**Thank you all so much for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story. This chapter will not be rated M, but I think it's safe to say it'll rate a T.**_

* * *

Dr. Burke recommended one of his colleagues to counsel Rick. Geoffrey Lerner's specialization was PTSD. Kate accompanied Rick to his first appointment at Rick's insistence. ("It's _**our**_ story, Kate. I can't tell it right without you.")

Dr. Lerner was very encouraging and very understanding, and assured both Kate and Rick that PTSD was a manageable condition. At the end of the that first session, after working out a treatment plan with Rick, he and Kate left Dr. Lerner's office feeling a lot better about the manageability of PTSD.

With five days to go until they were officially cleared to launch Operation Baby Beckett-Castle, however, their relief over the initial visit with Dr. Lerner soon gave way the frustration of months of sexual tension all but begging to be relieved and released.

When they got home from Dr. Larner's office, Rick decided to have ice cream for lunch, and went straight for the Potato Chip Fudge. Kate did indulge in some coffee ice cream with caramel sauce, but only after she'd had a ham and cheese sandwich.

It had been several weeks since Rick had had Potato Chip Fudge ice cream, so he could be excused for his enthusiastic reaction to it—an ecstatic moan at his first taste of it, and continually muttering things with each mouthful like, "Oh, yeahhhhhhhhhh," "That is gooooooooooooood," and "Mmmmmmmmmmm."

He honestly wasn't doing it consciously; he was reading the latest email from his overly enthusiastic new publisher, a 25-year-old named Adam Chomsky, and was preoccupied with Adam's persistent fanboying and yet another wordy request for their first face-to-face, in-person meeting.

But finally, Kate could stand it no more and literally threw her own spoon in her still-half-full bowl of coffee ice cream with caramel sauce with a noisy, angry clink. "Do you **have** to do that?" she asked irritably.

Startled, Rick set aside his tablet, swallowed a huge mouthful of Potato Chip Fudge that gave him a brain freeze which had him grimacing and pressing one hand to the middle of his forehead, and after he had recovered from the brain freeze, he asked, "Do I have to do what?"

"Act like you're about to have an orgasm over that stupid ice cream!" Kate exclaimed.

Rick's lips twitched as he fought a grin. "Are you jealous of the Potato Chip Fudge ice cream, Kate?" he asked.

"Jealous of the most disgusting flavor combination ever inflicted on the ice-cream eating public? No!" Kate said. "That's just ridiculous, that I would be jealous of a bowl of ice cream." She rested her palms flat on the kitchen island and leaned as far across the island as she could until she was her husband's face. "I am **not** jealous! I am sexually frustrated, because we haven't made love in almost two months, and I want you so much, I can hardly **see** straight!"

The fact that her face was flushed from this outburst of frustrated temper, and her pulse and respirations were up, making her breasts move rapidly and appealingly up and down beneath the v-neck t-shirt she was wearing, sent blood rushing from Rick's head to points south of his belt buckle.

He carefully pushed his bowl of Potato Chip Fudge ice cream away from him so that Kate couldn't mistake what he was about to say and do in any possible way.

He braced his own palms on the island and leaned his head forward until the tip of his nose was almost touching the tip of Kate's nose. "I want you too," he said quietly, "so very much that if I stood up right now, you'd see just exactly how much."

Then, he did stand up and walk around the counter until he was standing next to Kate. He watched her look him up and down, her gaze lingering on the physical evidence of his desire for her straining painfully behind his zipper. "I wasn't trying to bait you, or get a rise out of you-"

"No pun intended," Kate said, looking from his pants to his face now.

"No pun intended," he repeated. "Don't think this hasn't been as hard on me as it's been on you, Kate."

Kate was trying not to laugh now, and she gestured to the fly of Rick's jeans now. "Obviously," she said.

Rick rolled his own eyes now. "I'm actually being serious here," he said.

"They do say that when two people have been together for a long time, they start acting like each other," Kate said, still fighting laughter, but not as successfully now.

"I always thought when that day came, you'd be more horrified," Rick mused.

"Rick, right now, I'm too horny to feel anything else," she replied honestly. "I've had so many sex dreams about us in the past month..."

"So have I!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Now Kate was the one pressing a hand to her head. "Don't go into detail. I might spontaneously combust right here if you do."

"I would carry you to our bed and make love to you until we both collapsed from exhaustion right now if that were an option," Rick continued fervently but seriously. "But it's not an option yet. And I don't want to do anything to risk messing things up or hurting you."

"I don't want that either," Kate said, back to her usual serious self now. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Okay, we waited four years before we made love the first time."

"And if we had had any idea what it would really be like, we wouldn't have waited that long," Rick said.

"I had to get my head on straight," Kate reminded him.

"And I had to grow up enough to be worthy of you," Rick added.

"I know that five days is nothing compared to four years, but..." Kate said.

"Yeah," Rick said.

They were both silent for a long moment.

Then Kate spoke again as she and Rick looked at each other intensely. "You'd better get a **lot** of sleep in the next five days," she said.

"You should too," Rick replied.

"Because as soon as we get the all-clear from the doctors, you're not going to be sleeping for a **long time** ," she said, giving him a meaningful look.

"I was just about to tell you the same thing," he replied.

"It's highly unlikely that I'll get pregnant right away," Kate said next, still serious.

"Well, we'll just keep doing it 'til we get it right," Rick said. Then he smirked.

Kate rolled her eyes, but affectionately. "And we're back," she said.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Rick asked.

Kate looked at Rick and smiled a genuine smile. "None at all," she said. He smiled back at her.

* * *

Alexis and Javier were sitting in their usual booth at Remy's. When they had afternoon study sessions with Kevin for his upcoming sergeant's exam, they always stopped at Remy's for at least a milkshake, if not a bite to eat, afterwards.

"I can't believe you guys ate here all these years Dad was coming to the 12th, and he never once told me about it," Alexis said. "Is it possible to get addicted to milkshakes?" She took a healthy drink of her strawberry milkshake before setting the glass back on the table.

"Remy's does have the best milkshakes in the city," Javier agreed before taking a drink of his own chocolate shake.

"You know, you don't absolutely **have** to come over to the Ryans' on Saturday night. I can handle Sarah Grace and Nick by myself," Alexis said. Kevin and Jenny had asked both of them that afternoon, at the end of the study session, if they would baby-sit Sarah Grace and Nick on Saturday night, since Jenny's parents had surprised them with a dinner reservation at The River Cafe and tickets to _Hamilton_ for Jenny's birthday. The O'Malleys had been planning to take the kids for the weekend, but Jenny's dad had fallen off the roof two days ago while cleaning out the gutters and had broken his collarbone and sprained his knee as a result, and so they were no longer able to take Sarah Grace and Nick for the whole weekend. Kevin was determined to make Jenny's birthday perfect, and so he had asked Javier and Alexis that afternoon if they would baby-sit while he and Jenny went out, and when he explained about Jenny's parents' gift, and her dad's accident, Alexis and Javier both said yes immediately.

"You don't want me there?" Javier asked.

"It's not that," Alexis hastily assured him. "It's just if there's anything else you'd rather do..."

"There's not," Javier replied with a smile. "Besides, two little kids aren't as easy to handle as you might think. You wouldn't believe how many times Ryan has called me on a weekend afternoon when we're off and Jenny's out with one of her sisters or something and he's on daddy duty, especially since Nick was born."

Alexis laughed. "Has Nick hosed you yet?"

"Hosed me?" Javier pretended not to know what Alexis was talking about, but she saw right through him.

"Detective Esposito doesn't do diapers?" she teased.

"Not as a rule, no," he replied seriously. "I have been puked on more than once, though, by both Sarah Grace and Nick. Baby puke isn't quite as bad as being puked on by belligerent drunks, though."

"I would hope not," Alexis said.

"It's nothing against you, Alexis," Javier assured her. "But this is a big deal for Ryan and Jenny. This'll be the first time they've gone out alone together without the kids since Nick was born. Besides, it's my godfatherly privilege to spend time with Sarah Grace and Nick."

"Has Sarah Grace ever made you wear a tutu or a princess crown?" Alexis wanted to know.

"I plead the Fifth," Javier said, stonefaced, which made Alexis laugh. Her laughter made him start laughing.

Just then, her phone binged. "Excuse me."

Javier became alarmed when he saw Alexis slump back against the booth and turn white as a sheet as she stared a burning hole through her phone's screen. "What is it, Alexis? What's happened?" he asked anxiously as he leaned forward, trying not to crowd her but wanting to offer whatever support she needed.

"I got an email from Columbia Law School," Alexis said faintly.

"All right!" Javier exclaimed. "It's about time!"

Alexis's eyes flicked from her phone to Javier's steady gaze on her—his brown eyes were twinkling with excitement. She swallowed hard. Javier silently prayed that the news from Columbia was good.

Alexis finally tore her gaze from Javier's encouraging eyes to open and read the email. She choked on a sob, her free hand flying to her mouth as tears filled her eyes.

Javier Esposito had the very strong urge at that instant to head straight for Columbia's campus, find the dean of the law school, and ask the man what kind of two-bit operation he was running if he didn't admit someone as brilliant and as dedicated and as focused as Alexis Castle to the law school.

But that urge disappeared completely when Alexis removed her hand from her mouth and said in a voice barely above a whisper, "I got in."

Javier wanted to make sure he had heard her correctly. "You got in?" he repeated hopefully.

"I got in!" Alexis shouted, not caring that they were in the middle of Remy's, not caring that total strangers were staring.

She stood up, so Javier did too, because he wasn't sure what she was going to do.

He was not expecting Alexis, still clutching her phone in one hand, to launch herself at him in a fierce hug, laughing in his ear and crying on his shoulder at the same time.

But what he was **really** not expecting was how right it felt to be hugging Alexis...not because she was coming apart at the seams after awakening from a screaming nightmare, as had happened a couple of months ago, but because she was happy and excited and relieved that her dream was coming true, and she would be heading off to Columbia Law School in January, just like she wanted.

Alexis felt electrified, both from the amazing news from Columbia, and from Javier's arms around her.

Yes, she had launched herself at him in her excitement and joy over being accepted at the law school of her dreams.

But they had been spending an increasing amount of time together since that horrible day they found her dad and Kate shot at the loft, and they were getting closer all the time.

Alexis considered Javier one of her best friends.

At this moment, she was absolutely sure of only two things: first, that getting into Columbia Law School made her feel happy and relieved; and second, that she was glad that Javier was the first person in her life to find out about it.

Alexis released Javier, and they just looked at each other for a long moment. "I should get going," she finally said. "I've got to tell Dad and Kate and Gram, and Jim, and Lanie, and Kevin and Jenny, and a couple of my school friends. You'll see Kevin before I do, so don't say anything about this to him, okay?"

"I won't," Javier promised. "It's your news to tell. And congratulations, Alexis. I always knew you'd make it."

"Thanks for having faith in me even when I was being crazily insecure," Alexis said.

"Anytime," Javier replied.

Alexis left the money for her milkshake and fries on the table before hurrying for the door. When she got to the door, she stopped and turned around. Javier was still standing next to their booth, watching her. She waved at him, and he waved back.

After Alexis left, Javier settled his own part of the bill before leaving Remy's himself and opting to walk home instead of catching a cab or the subway, because he had some serious thinking to do.

* * *

By Friday, the entire family knew that Alexis was bound for Columbia Law School, and everyone was happy for her, and Rick, Kate, and Martha were especially proud of her.

Friday was The Big Day for Kate and Rick: the day when they would both **finally** be cleared by their respective doctors and physical and respiratory therapists to resume **all** normal activities.

They had the first appointments at the hospital. When the alarm went off, Kate and Rick were both instantly awake.

They sat up in bed and reached for each other, sharing a lingering good morning kiss. When they broke the kiss, Kate touched her forehead to Rick's, then peppered his face with little kisses. Although he had stubble on his face when they first met, he began consistently maintaining a clean-shaven appearance shortly after he began coming to work with her, and she wouldn't want him to ever conceal his—yes, she admitted it, she agreed with him now—ruggedly handsome features with a significant growth of facial hair, but as hyperaware of everything as she was this morning, the feel of his scratchy morning whiskers under her lips was both distraction and delight.

When she drew back to look at him, her eyes narrowed. "You're up to something," she said.

To his credit, Rick didn't even try to deny it. He just beamed at Kate, pride and love radiating from his eyes, and said, "Our kids aren't gonna get away with anything!"

"They're not going to like that," Kate replied.

"I promise, I won't make you be the bad cop all the time," Rick vowed.

"Well, we have to have the kids first," Kate reminded him. "And I repeat: you're up to something." He said nothing. "That's it?"

"I'm not denying it," he pointed out. "But I'm not telling you exactly what it is, either."

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because it's a surprise," he replied. He took both of Kate's hands in his. "Do you trust me?"

"Always," Kate replied, her features softening.

"Then trust me on this. It's a surprise, but it's a good surprise. At least, I hope you'll think so," he replied. He kissed her forehead, then all but leaped out of bed. "Dibs on the shower first!"

As he hurried into the bathroom, closing the door behind him, he heard Kate call from the bedroom, "I'll get you back for that later, Castle! And we're showering together tomorrow!"

While the shower was warming up, Rick opened the bathroom door and stuck his head out. "I'm already looking forward to it. We'll definitely need a shower by tomorrow. Maybe before." He ducked back into the bathroom, closing the door just in time for the pillow Kate threw from their bed to hit the door instead of his face.

When they got to New York Presbyterian—Lower Manhattan, they saw Dr. Gallison first. He shook hands with both of them and said, "It's wonderful to see you two looking so well and so happy."

Rick waited outside while Dr. Gallison examined Kate, and when he had cleared her, she went to meet with her physical therapist while Dr. Gallison examined and cleared Rick.

Rick's physical therapist cleared him faster than Kate's physical therapist cleared her, which was understandable since Kate's physical therapy was more extensive than Rick's. Janine, the respiratory therapist from Hell, was the one that Rick was most concerned about getting past, but she was happy to give him his medical release, a process that, much to Rick's surprise, took less than five minutes.

When Rick left Janine's office, he didn't see Kate. A passing nurse, who remembered them from their stay at the hospital back in May, kindly explained to Rick when she saw him looking bemused that his wife was in with her physical therapist right now, but that the physical therapist was running behind that morning, so she didn't get Kate in exactly on time.

Taking the slight delay as a sign that Fate was absolutely cooperating with his plans to surprise Kate, he decided to change his original surprise plan to one that he hoped she would like even better. He pulled out his phone and sent his wife a quick text, leaving the hospital and heading home as soon as he had hit Send on his phone.

Kate, meanwhile, impatiently drummed her fingertips on the arm of her chair in her physical therapist's office. Of course she'd have to wait today of all days.

When her phone binged, she pulled it from her pocket and was not surprised, but was a little dismayed, to see that it was a text from Rick.

"Meet me at home. I'll definitely make it worth your while."

Kate replied to the text: "This better be a good surprise, Castle."

It was only seconds before his return text came in:

"It will be. Better than what I had originally planned, if I do say so myself. I think you'll like it. I love you."

Kate had just texted back, "I love you too," and sent it when her physical therapist arrived in a flurry of apologies and, at last, Kate heard the words she'd been waiting for: that she was cleared to resume all normal activities.

It was only her iron self-discipline that kept her from barreling out of the hospital and running all the way home. She texted Rick from the elevator, "On my way."

She paused before going outside to read his reply: "Good. I'm waiting," followed by the Devilish, Winky, and heart emojis.

When Kate exited the hospital, she was surprised to find herself walking into a pouring rain. The morning had been muggy and overcast, as July mornings in New York City sometimes are, but this

downpour was bordering on torrential. Kate was soaked to the skin by the time she hailed a cab, and she'd only been outside for three minutes.

After giving the cabbie their address, Kate leaned back against the seat and her mind instantly flashed back to a rainy night four years earlier...the night that everything changed forever between her and Rick, the night that they officially became partners in every way.

She hadn't thought at the time it was possible, but now she knew for certain that she loved him more now than she had that night. And she also knew that she would love him more with each passing day, month, and year.

When the cab stopped outside their building, Kate paid the driver and exited the cab, then stood on the sidewalk, with the rain still pouring.

She spun in a slow circle, oblivious to the people passing by on the sidewalk, the traffic on the street behind her, and everything but the rain.

It was absolutely perfect that it was raining today, and she would tell Rick how poetic she found the rain later. But right now, she wanted him even more than she had wanted him on that rainy night four years ago, and she knew he was waiting for her upstairs.

So she didn't waste another second. She dashed inside and willed the elevator to go faster, as fast as her heart was pounding.

The elevator doors slid open, and Kate strode quickly to the front door. She had her key in the lock when the door swung open, and there stood Rick, looking at her with a mix of love and concern. "I was watching for you. I saw you get out of the cab and just stand there and look up at the building for a few minutes, and then spin around in the middle of the sidewalk. Is everything o-?"

He was cut off when Kate grabbed him and kissed him deeply, framing his face in her hands. He deepened the kiss, pushing her back against the door, which slammed shut from the force of their bodies colliding with it. With one arm wrapped around Kate, and without breaking the kiss, Rick locked the door.

When the need for oxygen forced them to break the kiss, Kate pulled back just enough so she could see Rick's face. "I'm okay. Better than okay. Everything is absolutely perfect. It's raining, Rick. Pouring, just like-"

"Just like the night we became partners in every way," Rick finished, brushing Kate's wet hair behind her ears.

"It's poetic," Kate said.

"It really is," Rick agreed. "And you are soaking wet."

"Well, then, why don't you help me get out of these wet clothes and warm me up?" Kate asked, her voice soft and husky and already making Rick hard.

He kissed her again, fusing his mouth to hers, pulling her flush against him, and she moaned low in her throat. She was surprised when he abruptly broke the kiss, then threaded his fingers through hers and confused her by saying, "Look down."

Kate looked at the floor and gasped softly when she saw the trail of red rose petals leading from the living room rug into the bedroom. They walked into the bedroom together holding hands, and she saw that the trail of rose petals led right to their bed. She also noticed that Rick had filled their bedroom with tealight candles, which cast a soft glow in the storm-induced darkness of the afternoon, and had turned down the bed.

They stood next to the bed, looking at each other hungrily. "God, you're beautiful," Rick said softly. He began unbuttoning Kate's sodden blouse, and she went to work on his shirt buttons as well. When she had his shirt off, she leaned forward to rain kisses across his bare chest. He held her there for a long moment, reveling in the feel of her arms around him, her hands stroking up and down his back, her lips warm and soft as she left a trail of wet, open-mouthed kisses all across his chest.

She lifted her head to look at him, and said huskily, "We're both still **very** overdressed here."

"So we are," he murmured as he deftly unhooked her bra with one hand, slipped it off, and tossed it aside.

She backed up to the bed, pulling him with her, then pulling him down to the mattress with her. They finished undressing each other, punctuating the removal of each article of clothing with lingering kisses and tender caresses, their hands and mouths roaming each other's bodies eagerly after not being able to do so for what felt like far too long.

Raindrops bounced off the windows as Kate and Rick settled themselves in their bed. "I love you so much," Kate whispered as she pulled Rick on top of her.

"I love you too," he whispered back.

He was leaning down to kiss her when she stopped him with her hand in the middle of his chest. "I know you, Rick Castle, so I know you want to say it, so just go ahead and say it already." She beamed up at him.

He beamed back at her as he positioned himself to join their bodies. "Commencing Operation Baby Beckett-Castle," he said, unable to keep the happiness and awe out of his voice.

Kate reached down and helped Rick guide himself into her. They lay still for a moment, savoring the feel of being joined as intimately as possible. Then Kate wrapped her legs around Rick's waist and said, "Yes, we certainly are," before pulling him down to her so their chests were touching and capturing his lips in a sizzling kiss. Their tongues dueled and danced, and then they began to move together, their bodies mimicking the actions of their tongues as they found their rhythm, both as old as time and timeless, and made passionate love with each other for the first time since being shot.

And on that rainy summer afternoon, Rick and Kate's lovemaking was not only about being with each other in the most intimate and sacred of ways, or about trying to make a baby together.

Their lovemaking was also another, very powerful act of healing, and a reaffirmation of the life they had built and were continuing to build together...a life that nothing and no one would tear asunder.


	28. Chapter 28

_**Thank you, everyone, for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story. It means the world to me. And I would like to extend a special thanks to my guest reviewers, to whom I cannot reply personally. Thanks for taking the time to review my story. I hope you all continue to enjoy what I have up my sleeve. And this chapter...just to be safe, we'll say it's a mild T rating in a couple of segments.  
**_

* * *

On Saturday night, Kate and Rick were sitting on the couch, each of them reading, when Alexis came downstairs. "Okay, I'm off," she said after making sure she had her cell phone and keys in her purse. "Don't wait up. Kevin and Jenny are going to dinner and _Hamilton_ , so it'll be a pretty late night. I probably won't be in until after midnight."

Kate and Rick looked up from their respective tablets and over at Alexis. "It's really sweet of you to watch Sarah Grace and Nick so Ryan and Jenny can have their date night," Rick said.

"It's for Jenny's birthday, and they're great kids," Alexis replied. "I'm glad to do it."

"Just be careful getting home since it'll be so late," Kate said.

"I'm pretty sure Javier's going to insist on seeing me home," Alexis replied. "He's going to be there too. This is Kevin and Jenny's first night out without the kids since Nick was born, and they're pretty nervous about it, so they asked both Javier and me to baby-sit, and we both said yes."

"Well, that's even better," Rick said. "Now I can definitely relax, knowing Esposito's gonna make sure you get home safely." He glanced at Kate. She glanced back at him, both of them hoping Alexis didn't see the smoldering heat in their glances.

Luckily for them, Alexis was too preoccupied with the text she had just gotten from Jenny, reporting that Sarah Grace was excited and Nick was fussy, to notice the way her parents were looking at each other. Alexis sent Jenny a quick reply to let Jenny know she was on her way and not to worry about the kids, she and Javier would handle whatever came their way, and then she dropped her phone in her purse and said, "Okay, well, good night, you guys."

"Good night, Alexis," Kate said.

"Good night, pumpkin," Rick called.

The door had barely closed behind Alexis before Rick was on his feet, dashing to the front door, sliding across the foyer floor in his sock-clad feet, and locking it. When he turned around, Kate was on her feet now too, their tablets abandoned on the coffee table. "That respiratory therapy certainly paid off," she said admiringly.

Rick just grinned at her. She walked quickly across the room to join him, taking his hand in hers, bringing their intertwined hands to her lips, and kissing his knuckles. "You mentioned something earlier about something special in the way of lingerie?" Rick prompted as they headed to their bedroom hand in hand.

Kate laughed, her eyes dancing mischievously. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours," she said. "Don't think I didn't notice the new silk boxers you brought home last week. I want to know which ones you're wearing tonight. Of course, you won't be wearing them for long."

"You won't be wearing whatever you're about to change into for long, either," Rick pointed out.

"True," Kate agreed, "but I still want to surprise you with it."

"By all means, surprise me," Rick said eagerly.

Kate gave him a quick, hard kiss on the lips. "Wait here, and no peeking," she said, the fire in her eyes making his heart beat faster. "And lose the shirt. Too many buttons. But keep your pants on 'til I get back."

Rick kept his back turned and even closed his eyes as he heard Kate open and close the dresser drawer, and then heard the bathroom door close behind her. Then, as she had asked, he removed his shirt, tossing it aside, and also took off his shoes and socks before settling himself on top of the covers on his side of the bed to wait for her.

The bathroom door opened, and Kate entered the bedroom, wearing the black nightie she'd worn on their first trip to the Hamptons. And she mesmerized Rick even more now than she had that night as she climbed into bed beside him and moved closer. "Remember this?" she asked, gesturing to her attire.

"I could never forget," he replied hoarsely.

"And no dead bodies interrupting us," she said as she reached for the button on his jeans. "I have to say, I don't miss that at all."

"Neither do I," Rick said, lifting his hips to help Kate as she pulled his pants off.

She hummed approvingly at the navy blue silk boxers he was wearing after throwing his jeans on the floor. "Blue is my favorite color on you," she said. "I love the way it brings out your eyes."

Wrapping his arms around her, Rick pulled her down to him, his hands roaming beneath her black nightie. "No underwear," he ground out.

"I thought it was superfluous, all things considered," she said, her hands stroking his chest.

"You said 'superfluous!'" he gasped. "About your underwear. Hottest. Wife. **EVER!** "

"And don't you forget it," she said as she removed his boxers and tossed them on the floor beside the bed.

"I could never forget," he repeated as he took off the black nightie and dropped it on the floor beside his own clothes.

And then Kate and Rick made love with each other, far into the night.

* * *

After Alexis and Javier finally got Kevin and Jenny out the door, the evening went much more smoothly. Nick was still a bit fussy, but he took a shine to Alexis, not wanting to be out of her arms the whole night. He gazed up at her adoringly as she fed him his bedtime bottle. "Hey, Bright Eyes," she said. "You are a real cutie, with that blond hair and those blue eyes. Someday the girls are gonna be chasing after you. Yeah, they are."

Alexis found it amusing that not only did Sarah Grace order her beloved Uncle Javi around, but that he was perfectly happy to do her bidding...which is how Alexis came to snap a picture of Detective Javier Esposito of the NYPD wearing a princess crown on his head, a pink feather boa around his neck, and pretending to drink from a tiny purple plastic teacup with his pinkie finger extended. "Hey!" he exclaimed, surprised when the flash went off.

Alexis laughed. "I couldn't resist," she said.

"Well, if Ryan starts giving me cr—uh, a hard time about a certain picture, I'll know where he saw it," Javier replied, censoring himself just in time in front of Sarah Grace.

"Oh, I'd never show this to Kevin," Alexis assured Javier.

She assured him a little too quickly for his liking. Eyes narrowing, he said, "You are **not** showing that picture to your dad and Beckett."

"Did I say I was going to show it to them?" she asked innocently.

"You didn't have to," Javier said.

"I figured I'd just post it on Instagram," Alexis continued nonchalantly.

"WHAT?!" Javier exclaimed, his voice an octave higher.

Alexis laughed so hard this time, tears came to her eyes. "I'm kidding. Honest, I'm kidding. I'm not even on Instagram, I swear. Google me. I'm not on Instagram, I promise." She grew serious now. "I just wanted to take the picture because, well, it was cute."

"Uncle Javi, let's read a story," Sarah Grace interrupted then.

"That's a good idea, Sarah G," Javier replied. He scooped her up, then stood up. "We'll be in the nursery," he said.

"Is it all right if Nick and I come in and listen?" Alexis asked. She had managed to snap the picture of Javier one-handed, but Nick's blue eyes were very sleepy now.

Javier plucked the princess crown from his head and deposited it atop Sarah Grace's head. "What do you think, Sarah G?" he asked. "Should we let Nick and Alexis come in and hear the story?"

"Yeah!" Sarah Grace cheered.

"Well, okay, then," Javier said, "it's story time!"

"I hafta brush my teeth and wash my face first, Uncle Javi," Sarah Grace said seriously.

"Of course," Javier replied just as seriously.

He started to carry Sarah Grace to the bathroom but she said, "Uncle Javi, I can walk! I'm a big girl!"

"Yes, you are," Javier replied, setting her on her feet. She scampered into the bathroom and proudly used her stepstool and squirted toothpaste on her toothbrush and brushed her teeth all by herself. She shyly asked for help with her washcloth, though, and Alexis stood in the hallway, baby Nick asleep on her shoulder, still softly rubbing circles in the middle of his back as Javier helped Sarah Grace wash her face.

Then they headed into the nursery. Alexis carefully laid Nick in his crib, while Javier, under Sarah Grace's direction, retrieved the copy of _Goodnight Moon_ from the top shelf of the bookcase. "Mommy and Daddy will come and kiss me good night when they get home, right?" she asked.

"They sure will," Alexis assured Sarah Grace. "They promised they would before they left, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Sarah Grace remembered with a cute smile that echoed her dad's.

Javier held up the book. "Are you ready, Princess Sarah Grace?" he asked.

Sarah Grace scrambled into bed. "Yes, Uncle Javi," she said. "Alexis, you can sit here." She patted the other side of the bed. Javier pulled the covers up over Sarah Grace's legs, then settled in next to her, closest to the lamp, opened the book, and began to read, with Alexis seated on Sarah Grace's other side, both of them listening raptly to every word until Sarah Grace fell asleep three pages before the end.

* * *

Kate and Rick lay in bed in each other's arms, Rick on his back, his arms wrapped around Kate, one hand lazily trailing up and down her back. Kate's head was on Rick's chest, right over his heart, and she had her hands resting on his shoulders. Every so often, she would rain a trail of kisses across his chest, or stretch up to kiss his lips, and he would kiss the top of her head, or tilt her head up so he could cover her face with kisses.

"So what was your original surprise yesterday?" Kate asked, her head on Rick's chest.

"I was thinking we'd go to the Hamptons, but between the rain, and the fact that I **knew** we wouldn't make it to the house before jumping each other," Rick said. "I didn't want to look back and realize our first child was conceived in the backseat of the car somewhere off the Long Island Expressway."

"Not that that's a story you tell the kids," Kate said.

"Yeah, but we would know," Rick said. "And that just seems...It's just not..." He trailed off, unsure how to find the words to express what he was thinking.

Kate lifted her head to look into his eyes. "You're a romantic," she said. "And I like the idea that our child will be conceived right here in our bed."

"Or at least somewhere in the loft," Rick amended, as they both remembered their mutual shower from earlier in the day.

"Yeah," Kate agreed. She grew serious now. "I talked to Gates earlier today," she said. "I go to 1PP Monday morning, to officially turn in my resignation."

Rick looked back at her just as seriously in the dim light of the room. "No second thoughts?" he asked her.

"None," Kate replied with absolute certainty. "I accomplished so much more than I set out to do when I became a cop. It's time to move on to the next thing."

"Any idea yet what that next thing will be?" Rick asked.

"The title I want most is 'Mom,'" Kate admitted earnestly. "Getting pregnant and having a healthy baby are my top priorities right now."

"I'm right there with you," Rick replied, stealing a quick kiss from Kate's lips.

"I know you meant professionally, but honestly, I'm still kicking things around in my head. I want to serve the public somehow. I know they're still interested in me for New York State Senate, and I'm not saying no to that, but I wouldn't feel right starting at the top. That's not who I am. I believe you have to earn these things, work your way up through the ranks. If I decide I want to run for Senate, I will...when I've had some other kind of political experience."

"Are you thinking Mayor?" Rick asked. "'Cause I already know my way around Gracie Mansion."

Kate laughed. "No. No, I'm not thinking Mayor. This is our home. I only want to leave it for vacations. This is where I want our kids to grow up."

"Then this is where they'll grow up," Rick replied. "And whatever you decide to do professionally, I'll back your play...always, Kate."

"I know," she whispered. "Now, speaking of our kids..." She shifted until she was lying on top of Rick, rubbing her body against his tantalizingly. "You wanna get back to working on the first one?"

"Absolutely," Rick replied, rolling to the other side of the bed with Kate in his arms. Looking down at her, her eyes sparkling, her body flushed, her breathing rapid, he said, "Oh, how I love you, Kate Beckett."

"I love you too, Richard Castle," Kate replied. Then she pulled him down to her and they happily got back to working on making their first child.

* * *

Javier did insist on seeing Alexis home after Ryan and Jenny got home. The Ryans were very happy that the kids hadn't been too much of a handful for Javi and Alexis, and that Sarah Grace and Nick were both sound asleep. After accepting a profusion of thanks, and bidding the Ryans good night, Javier and Alexis walked outside together. "Your place is closer," Alexis pointed out as Javier hailed a cab.

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't make sure you got home safely?" Javier countered. "It's well after midnight."

"Well, I insist on paying my half," Alexis retorted.

"Has anybody ever told you you're stubborn?" Javier asked as a cab pulled up to the curb.

"That's part of my charm," Alexis said as she opened the back door before Javier could.

"Oh, is that what it is?" he asked as Alexis got into the cab and he followed her.

After the cabbie had Alexis's address, she and Javier settled back on opposite sides of the cab's back seat. "That was fun," she said.

"Yeah, they're great kids," Javier said.

"Not every man would wear a princess crown and a feather boa and play tea party, complete with drinking the pretend tea out of the tiny cups with his pinkie in the air," Alexis said.

"Whatever Sarah G wants, within reason, I'll do," Javier said. "Godfather's privilege."

"She and Nick are lucky to have you in their lives," Alexis said. "So am I."

"You were good with the kids too," Javier said. "Especially Nick. If I didn't know better, I'd think he has a crush on you."

Alexis smiled wryly. "I have a similar body type to his mommy. That was the big attraction for him, I'm sure," she said.

"Oh. Right," he said. "Well, still, he calmed right down when you picked him up. He doesn't do that for everybody. He screams his head off every time one of Ryan's sisters picks him up. Of course, I've met her, so I don't blame the kid."

Alexis laughed. "Some people just aren't kid people," she said. "You are, though."

"For Sarah Grace and Nick, absolutely," Javier said.

"They're terrific," Alexis said. "They make it look easy. I don't know how my dad did it by himself. If there's a next time, at least I know he won't have to do it alone again."

"You think your dad and Beckett might have a kid?" Javier asked.

"I don't know," Alexis said thoughtfully. "It's their decision, not mine. They haven't said anything one way or the other to me. I know my dad is an amazing dad, though, and Kate would be an amazing mom. Actually, I know firsthand she's an amazing mom. If they did have a baby, that would be one of the luckiest kids in the world."

"It really would," Javier said. At Alexis's look, he hastily amended, "He really would. Or she."

"Do you ever think about having kids yourself?" Alexis asked. _Good grief, what are you doing?_ , her mind screamed at her.

"I'm not in a position to have kids," Javier pointed out. "No girlfriend. I'm not exactly looking for a relationship right now."

"What would you do if you found one?" Alexis asked. _What?! Shut up, Alexis!_ , her brain exclaimed.

"Well, I'd have to be with the right woman," Javier replied. "And I'd have to be married. And we'd both have to want to have a kid. I wouldn't want to have a kid with a woman who didn't really want to have one. What about you? Do you ever see yourself getting married and having kids?" _What the hell? Are you trying to scare her? You don't even know what's going on with how you feel, let alone how she feels_ , his brain chided him.

"I'm not in any hurry," Alexis said, looking intently but evenly at Javier, "but someday, yeah...if I'm married to the right man and we both want at least one child, I could see it happening. But it has to be the right man and I have to be married. And I want to finish law school and get established in my career first."

"Of course," Javier replied. "That's very sensible of you, Alexis."

"Well, there has to be one sensible Castle. I'm it," Alexis said.

"Sensible is good," Javier insisted. "As long as it doesn't keep you from being afraid to take a chance now and then."

"When it really matters," Alexis said.

"When it's really important," Javier agreed. They had held each other's gaze this whole time, neither one wanting to look away.

Just as they were each about to blurt out, "Something's happening here, isn't it?", the cabbie pulled over to the curb and announced they were at Broome Street, and the moment was broken.

Alexis fumbled in her purse for her wallet and pressed some money into the cabbie's hand. Javier was seated on the sidewalk side of the cab, and he hurried to open his door and get out of the cab so that Alexis wouldn't have to get out on the street side.

Alexis got out of the cab and she and Javier stood on the sidewalk looking at each other for a long moment, neither one of them sure exactly what to say.

Finally Alexis said, "Well...good night, Javier."

"Good night, Alexis," he replied. As she started to walk into the building, Javier watched her go, and then called after her, "I'll talk to you soon."

Alexis turned back at the front doors and gave him a quick smile. "I'll talk to you soon," she replied.

And all the way upstairs, and after she had brushed her teeth and washed her face and changed into her pajamas and gotten into bed, Alexis thought about the whole evening, especially the cab ride home, and wondered what was really going on between her and Javier…

...while at the same time, Javier spent the cab ride home and his own getting-ready-for-bed routine wondering the same thing.

And neither one of them got much sleep that night, trying to figure out what was really happening between them.

* * *

"Deputy Chief Gates will see you now."

Kate pocketed her phone—she had just texted Rick to find out how his meeting with his new publisher Adam was going—and followed the woman into Gates' office.

Gates was sitting at her desk, reading a file. "Captain Beckett, sir," the woman said. Then she turned and left the office, closing the door behind her.

Gates set the file on her desktop and closed it, removed her glasses, and then stood up behind her desk. Kate remained standing in front of her desk. "I understand you're here to submit your resignation, Captain Beckett," Gates said.

"Yes, sir," Kate replied. She removed the envelope with her formally written and signed resignation from her bag, and handed it to Gates. Then, for the last time, she unclipped her badge from her waist and unholstered her gun, then laid them both on Gates' desk.

"I seem to remember you doing this once before," Gates said.

"Yes, sir," Kate replied.

"You changed your mind then," Gates continued. "There's no chance of that happening now, though." She didn't put it to Kate as a question, but as a statement.

"No, sir, none," Kate replied. "It's time for me to move on."

Gates nodded. She picked up Kate's gun, but didn't touch her shield. "Sir?" Kate asked, confused.

"One of the good things about my job, Kate, is having the ears of both the Chief of Detectives and the Commissioner," Gates said. "Although the usual procedure is 20 years before retirement, because of all that you have given to the NYPD, the Department has chosen not to treat this as a resignation, but rather an early retirement. In 15 years on the force, you moved up from Officer to Captain, with a closure rate in solving murders that was second to none...due in no small part to your team, which included Detectives Ryan and Esposito, and of course, Mr. Castle. Therefore, your resignation will be processed as your retirement. I have a packet full of pension paperwork for you to review, sign, and return, and since your gun is Department-issue, I will take that.

"But your shield...I'm not taking that, Kate. You **earned** that. You keep that, and be proud of all that you accomplished as a member of the greatest police department in the greatest city in the world while you wore it in a professional capacity. You were absolutely one of New York's Finest, Captain Beckett, and you will be missed. But everyone on the job reaches the end of their watch at some point. I'm just glad and grateful that the circumstances surrounding the end of your watch are what they are."

Kate was flabbergasted but did her best to cover. The one thing she would regret was giving up her shield, and here was Gates telling her she didn't have to. "Thank you, sir," Kate replied, retrieving her shield and clipping it to her waist once more.

"Your retirement won't officially be effective for thirty days," Gates continued, returning to business. "You are on terminal leave until then. You'll need to return this pension paperwork before the thirty days are up." She handed Kate a thick envelope.

"I understand, sir," Kate replied.

Gates extended her hand, and Kate grasped it in a firm handshake. "It was a privilege being your Captain, Kate," Gates said.

"It was a privilege serving under your command, sir," Kate replied. "Thank you. For everything."

"I wish you, and Mr. Castle, all the best in your future endeavors, both personal and professional, whatever they may be," Gates said. Her features softened now. "And I'd like to ask that you stay in touch."

"Thank you, sir," Kate said, "and I promise you, we will stay in touch."

Gates nodded once, shortly, which Kate took as her dismissal. As Kate turned to leave, Gates said, "Kate."

"Yes, sir?" Kate asked, turning back to look at Gates.

Then, Gates stood ramrod straight, and saluted Kate. She inwardly smiled at the look of shock on Kate's face, but Kate recovered quickly and returned Gates' salute. Then Kate walked out of Gates' office, and out of 1PP, ready for whatever came next.

But the last thing she expected was a voicemail from Jordan Shaw, asking to meet her for coffee the next morning.

Gates also got an unexpected surprise when a package was delivered to her office later that afternoon. When she saw the return address, she knew who sent it, but she was shocked to open the parcel and find two porcelain dolls...exact copies of the two porcelain dolls that Castle had purposely shattered during a murder investigation three years earlier.

The accompanying handwritten note stated:

 _"It took me this long to replace them, but I finally did it. (Seriously, these things are not easy to find. I'm thinking that might be part of the reason you like them...the challenge of actually finding them.)_

 _"In all seriousness, Captain/Deputy Chief Gates (I wasn't sure which one to use, because you were Captain Gates to me, but you're Deputy Chief Gates now), these dolls are not only to make up for the ones I broke. They are also for all the times you wanted to toss me out of the 12th on my ear but didn't, and finally, they are my tangible, and very belated, way of thanking you for putting up with me for as long as you did. I know I rarely made it easy, and I certainly wasn't what you'd call 'by the book,' but in the end, I just want you to know that I thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me hang around for so long, and for accepting me as the most unorthodox member of your team. It has been an honor to consult with the NYPD, and specifically the 12th Precinct._

 _"Sincerely,  
_

 _"Richard Castle"_

Gates composed and sent the following email in reply:

 _"Mr. Castle-_

 _"I thank you very much for the dolls. You're right, part of the fun of collecting these particular dolls is the challenge. But then, you know all about challenges being fun._

 _"To call you and your methods 'unorthodox' would be putting it mildly, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. And contrary to what you obviously believe, I didn't **let** you 'hang around' my precinct solely because of Beckett, even though everyone knew she **wanted** you there even before she admitted it to herself._

 _"I let you 'hang around' because you and Beckett together are an unbeatable, unstoppable team. You got the job done and gave the victims justice and their loved ones closure...both of you. You were an indispensable part of the team, Mr. Castle, and your madnesses possessed methods that contributed to justice being served.  
_

 _"I wish you and Kate all the best in the future. No one deserves it more._

 _"-Victoria Gates"_


	29. Chapter 29

_**Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm and support. I know I start every chapter saying something along these lines, but it's true. This story is my homage to Castle the series and all that it and its characters mean to me, and I wasn't sure of the reaction I'd get when I started it, since I had never written a Castle fic before, but all of you continue to encourage and inspire me with your reviews and follows and favorites. I thank you all, including the guests to whom I cannot personally reply, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story, as I have it all planned out. It's just a matter of getting it written and edited, and then posting a chapter once a week, which I will continue to do even with the upcoming holidays. Thank you again, and here is the next chapter.**_

* * *

"Jordan Shaw?" Rick repeated when Kate told him about the voicemail she had listened to after leaving Gates' office at 1PP.

"Yeah. How did she even get my cell number?" Kate wondered.

"She's in the FBI," Rick reminded her. "She could tap your phone if she wanted."

"I doubt that's why she called me," Kate said dryly. "But I don't have any idea why she **did** call me."

"So you're gonna meet her tomorrow?" Rick asked.

"Yeah," Kate said. "I have to find out what she wants."

"Maybe she wants to offer you a job," Rick suggested.

"If that's why she called, I'm turning her down," Kate replied.

"Just like that?" Rick asked.

"Are you disappointed you won't get to play with more FBI gadgets?" Kate teased.

"No," Rick said earnestly. "Wherever you want to go, Kate, whatever you want to do, I'm on board."

"I know you are, and I know that **you** know I meant it in May, Rick. No more guns, no more bodies, no more psychos, no more danger," Kate said. Then she pulled her shield from her waist and laid it on the kitchen island. They sat side by side looking down at it. "This was the only thing I was going to regret giving up," she said.

"Gates made sure you don't have to," Rick said. "No one deserves this honor more than you, Kate." He smiled proudly. "I have a lot of great memories of you with your badge...including the best one of all."

Kate had been about to make a joke about how she thought Rick's great memories would be of her handcuffs, but the palpable sincerity in his eyes stopped her. "You have a best memory of me with my badge?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said seriously. They looked at each other intently. "The first time I ever saw you, you were holding that badge. I had just made an ass of myself, not surprisingly, by asking where you wanted it, since I thought you were a fan wanting me to sign something." They each cracked a smile at the memory before Rick grew serious again, and Kate mirrored his seriousness. "But when I turned around, I was looking at you, holding up that badge, looking at me and saying, 'Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD. We need to ask you a few questions about a murder that took place earlier tonight.' I knew in that instant you weren't gonna be like any other woman I'd ever known. If I'd been smarter, I would have realized that the first time I looked at you, I was looking at my future."

"You did, in a way," Kate pointed out. "You called the Mayor and arranged to follow me around."

"I still remember the look on your face when Montgomery told you, and then when you turned around and saw me standing there in his doorway," Rick reflected. "You were not happy then."

"Well, that was me being stupid," Kate replied. At her husband's surprise, she amended, "Maybe 'stupid' is too strong a word. I was being short-sighted. If **I'd** been smarter, if I had looked at the bigger picture, I would have realized on that first case that you were the one who would re-teach me all the things I forgot after my mom died: how to have fun, how to laugh, how to dream...and you've also taught me that I am capable of loving someone more deeply and more unconditionally than I ever thought I was, because you're that someone.

"The truth is, Castle, I got used to having you around all the time pretty fast. And when you weren't around, even when we were dancing around each other, not sure of where we were going or what was going to happen with us or when, and even when things were awkward or tense because of other people or misunderstandings, I missed you. I missed you more than any words could have ever said. And now I never have to miss you again." She smiled softly at him.

Rick rested his hand on top of Kate's. "I could have written the Nikki Heat books without ever stepping foot in the 12th," he said. "I did research for the Derrick Storm novels, but I never followed anybody around the way I followed you. I could have written Nikki the same way. But I didn't want to, because I didn't know that first night that we'd end up where we are, but I knew I wanted to see you again...and again and again. Your job was the one way I could think of to do that, so I made the call to the Mayor and got myself assigned to be your shadow. The books had something to do with it at first, and I think they turned out a lot better than the Storm books, precisely **because** I had access to actual police procedures, and I watched you and Ryan and Espo and Lanie and Perlmutter and Montgomery and Gates and LT and everybody all those years.

"But it was always you, Kate. You were always the reason. I'd been waiting for you without **knowing** I was waiting for you, and when you walked into my life, I couldn't just let you walk out again after we solved the case."

"I was waiting for you too, without knowing. And then I made you wait for me. Thank God you never gave up on me," she said.

"Thank God **you** never gave up on **me** ," Rick replied.

"You cannot leave behind-" Kate began.

"-what is always at your side," Rick finished with her.

She brushed a hand through his hair and smiled at him radiantly before leaning in to kiss him. After they kissed, Rick said, "So, are we getting an oak-and-glass case for you to display this?"

"I'll have to think about that," Kate said. "For now, I'll put it in its original case."

"Seriously, Kate, if you want a display case for it, just say the word. I-"

"-know a guy," she finished. "Like I said, I'll have to think about it."

"What about dinner?" Rick asked.

"That, I don't have to think about," Kate replied as she palmed her shield from the kitchen island. She got off her stool and headed to their bedroom to put her shield away. "Spaghetti."

"And garlic bread?" Rick called.

"Of course!" Kate called back. She pulled the velvet case out of the bottom dresser drawer, opened it, looked at her shield, and then carefully placed it in its case, looking at it in the case for a long moment before closing the case, returning it to the drawer, and closing the drawer.

Then she returned to the kitchen and pulled salad fixings out of the fridge while Rick cooked the pasta and simmered the sauce.

* * *

When Kate arrived at the designated Starbucks the next morning, she spotted Jordan Shaw already seated at a table with her coffee and a muffin. Jordan raised a hand in greeting, and Kate gave a quick wave back before stepping up to order her own coffee. Then she joined Jordan at the table where she was already seated.

"It's great to see you again, Kate," Jordan said as they shook hands. "And congratulations."

"On what?" Kate asked as she took a sip of her coffee.

Jordan looked at her, amused. "On marrying Castle!" Jordan exclaimed. "I knew the first time I saw you two together that you'd end up together. And I don't think I'm remiss in saying that being married to him obviously agrees with you."

Kate ducked her head for a moment. "Am I that obvious?" she asked.

"Only to someone who knows the importance and wonder of having a husband who's there for you no matter what, and no matter how dangerous or crazy things get," Jordan replied seriously. "And then there's that." She nodded at Kate's wedding ring. "I saw your engagement announcement in the _Times,_ but I never did see a wedding announcement. When was the big day?"

"It'll be two years on November 10," Kate replied.

"Good for both of you," Jordan said. She took a sip of her own coffee before setting the cup aside. "Now, as to why I called you, I'm sure you're curious. I asked to be the one to give you the news."

"What news?" Kate asked. "And yes, I was surprised to hear from you."

"The FBI is presenting you with a commendation," Jordan replied.

Kate was gobsmacked. "A commendation?" she repeated blankly. "For what?"

Jordan looked at Kate sympathetically. "I know about everything that happened in May, Kate. I'm so sorry you and Castle had to go through that, and this in no way makes up for any of it, I know. I'm also sure you're sick of hearing about this, but I'll do my best to promise that the commendation award ceremony will be the last you have to hear that word."

And in that instant, Kate knew. "LokSat," she said grimly.

"Yes," Jordan replied. "If I thought you'd take it, I'd be offering you my job right now-"

"Your job?" Kate interrupted, surprised.

"I'm retiring," Jordan said. "My daughter's going to be a junior in high school this fall. There are a lot of important things coming up that I want to be there for these next two years, and I've got my twenty in, so I'm just counting down the days. Your commendation ceremony will be my last professional appearance."

"I'm retiring too," Kate replied. "I'm on terminal leave right now, in fact."

"So we'll have to do it within the next...how much time do we have?" Jordan asked.

"Enough," Kate said vaguely. "I still need to clean my personal stuff out of my office at the 12th Precinct, too."

"We can do it there, if you want," Jordan said. "Deputy Chief Gates was very accommodating when I spoke to her about this."

"That sounds like a plan," Kate agreed. "Why am I getting a commendation for LokSat, though?"

"They were a major international criminal organization, and you singlehandedly brought them down," Jordan said. "Like I said, if I thought you'd take it, I'd be offering you my job in a second, but I get the feeling that's not what you want."

"Not anymore," Kate agreed. "You're right." She looked down at the tabletop before looking up to meet Jordan's gaze again. "It was just too close in May, Jordan. And I didn't go after LokSat singlehandedly."

Understanding lit Jordan's face. "Of course you didn't. Castle was right there with you."

"He was," Kate said firmly, fiercely as she looked up to meet Jordan's gaze. "We have things we want to do, and we've had enough of the psychos and the guns and..."

"All of it," Jordan replied simply. "Well, I told them at the New York office _**and**_ at Quantico that I was sure you wouldn't take my job. They'll be annoyed I was right, but that's nothing new." She smiled wryly. Jordan reached for her phone and pulled up the calendar. "How does two weeks from today sound?"

"That's okay with me," Kate said. "You'll want to run it by Gates, though, I'm guessing."

"She's waiting for my call," Jordan replied. Just then, the door to Starbucks opened, and Jordan grinned when she saw who it was. She glanced at her watch as Kate heard familiar footsteps approaching their table. "Twenty minutes. That's ten more than I thought you'd last, Castle. I admire your restraint. It's nice to see you again, and congratulations on everything."

"Thank you, Jordan. It's nice to see you again too," Rick replied.

"I thought you had a meeting with Adam?" Kate asked.

"I'll just go and call Deputy Chief Gates, if you two will excuse me," Jordan said as she stood up and stepped away from the table.

"I'm on my way," Rick replied. "But I was walking by outside and I happened to see you and Jordan sitting in here, so I came in to say hello."

"And to find out what Jordan wanted," Kate said knowingly.

"What **did** she want?" Rick asked, not denying his curiosity.

"Well, she said she was going to offer me her job if she thought I'd take it, but she didn't think I would, and she's right about that," Kate replied. "Turns out she's retiring too. So the main reason she called is because I'm getting an FBI commendation for bringing down LokSat."

He hadn't been expecting that piece of news any more than Kate had, and so he was just as gobsmacked as she had been. Seeing the look on his face, Kate said, "Yeah. That's about how I feel about it."

They were both silent for a beat, then Rick said, "I'm really proud of you for getting a commendation from the FBI."

"But you're just as sick of thinking about and hearing about LokSat as I am," Kate said.

"Well...yeah," he agreed. "But you definitely earned it, Kate."

"You were right there with me. You should be getting a commendation too," Kate said.

"We both know that's not how it works," Rick said gently.

"Well, this once, I think they should make an exception," Kate said stubbornly.

Rick went for teasing to try and lighten the mood. "Miss Protocol and Procedure wants to give a civilian an FBI commendation?" he asked, splaying one hand across his chest, a smirk playing on his mouth. "Captain Beckett, I'm flattered."

"That's ' **Mrs.'** Protocol and Procedure," Kate corrected him. She flashed a quick smile at him. "And I know what you're trying to do, but I'm serious, Rick."

"So am I," he said. "Is it working at least a little bit?"

"A little bit," Kate agreed, lightly bumping her knee against his under the table. "Promise me something?"

"Anything," Rick said seriously.

"After this commendation ceremony, you and I will never utter the word 'LokSat' again for the rest of our lives," Kate said just as seriously.

"I promise," Rick replied, taking Kate's hand and quickly squeezing it to seal his promise.

Jordan returned to the table then. "It's all set," she announced. "Two weeks from today at 10 AM at the 12th Precinct. They're requiring dress uniforms for all NYPD personnel, and I get to be the one to give you the commendation."

"Thank you, Jordan," Kate said.

"Thank you," Rick echoed.

"It isn't that I don't think you deserve a commendation too, Castle," Jordan said apologetically, "but you're a civilian, so..." She trailed off.

"Kate and I were just talking about that," Rick said. "I appreciate the thought, Jordan, but the only commendation I want is Best Husband Ever, from Kate."

"You've got it," Kate said as she and Rick looked at each other.

Jordan looked at the couple with a smile, but was interrupted when her phone rang then. "I have to take this," she said after glancing at the screen. "So please excuse me, and I'll see you both in two weeks."

Rick and Kate said goodbye to Jordan, and she stepped away to take her phone call. When they were alone, Rick said, "So, I'm the Best Husband Ever?"

"For me, you are," Kate replied.

"Do I get a certificate of commendation?" he asked.

"Meet me at home later, and I'll come up with something much better than that," she told him.

"You're on," he said, leaning in for a quick kiss.

* * *

And so it was that two weeks later, Kate was standing in their bedroom in her bra and underwear, staring at her dress uniform laid out on the bed and trying not to spiral into a full-blown panic attack.

Rick emerged from the bathroom bare-chested and in his black suit pants, having just finished shaving. He saw Kate standing beside their bed, hugging herself, and staring at her dress uniform. "Kate?" he asked softly, not wanting to startle her.

"It's stupid, I'm being stupid, it's not even the same uniform," she rambled. "But it's still reminding me of Montgomery's funeral and I..." She shook her head as if to clear it. "I'm being stupid."

Rick quietly stole up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Nobody gets to call my wife 'stupid,' especially my wife," he said.

"It's a PTSD double whammy," Kate said. "I'm being reminded of Montgomery's funeral _**and**_ of LokSat and what they did to us." Her breathing was becoming erratic.

Rick gently turned her around so she was facing him. "Take a couple of slow, deep breaths," he coached. As Kate did that, he continued, "We can call and cancel this. I'm sure everyone would understand."

"Then they win!" Kate exclaimed frantically, the calm she had just started to regain evaporating into thin air. "We've fought too long and too hard for them to win, dammit!" She raked her hands through her hair, which she hadn't put up yet. She stared at Rick. "It's been two months. I should be handling this better, shouldn't I?"

"There's no timetable for this," Rick said. He hated seeing Kate like this, but he understood her feelings all too well. He'd had a couple of flashbacks to Montgomery's funeral himself when Kate had laid out her dress uniform before taking her shower. He had lingered in his own shower, working like hell to get himself under control, and he was grateful that he had succeeded, because Kate really needed him now.

"I can't do this now!" she insisted. "I can't fall apart! We have to be there in 45 minutes, Rick!"

In that moment, Rick got an idea, and he prayed his idea wouldn't make things worse. "I have an idea," he said. He released Kate and went over to her jewelry box.

"What?" Kate asked, wondering what he was up to.

Rick opened the jewelry box and carefully moved a few items around until he found the small box he was looking for. Removing it from the jewelry box, he crossed the room until he was standing in front of Kate again.

"Today is your last real day as a police officer," he said. He opened the box and held it out to Kate, and her breath caught when she realized what was inside the box.

"I know that you took this off the day you arrested Bracken and you haven't worn it since," he continued. "But you wore this every day for years, to remind yourself of why you became a police officer in the first place, and what and whom you were fighting for." Seeing the permission he sought in Kate's eyes, he carefully removed Johanna Beckett's ring on its chain from the small box and held it up. "You don't have to wear this today if you don't want to, but your mother was there with you when you began your career with the NYPD. It would be fitting if she was there for the end of that career too. When you started out, this ring symbolized the life you lost. Now it symbolizes the justice you got for your mom, and all that you accomplished on the job, Kate: all the people you helped, all the victims you got justice for, all the good that you did, all the bad guys that you made sure didn't get away with what they did."

Kate looked at her mother's ring on its chain, there in the palm of Rick's hand. "It did all start with my mom," she reflected. "It would be fitting to end my time with the NYPD with some sort of tribute to her." She took the ring from him and slipped the chain over her head.

"We can burn that uniform in the fireplace when we get home, if you want to," Rick added.

"In August?" Kate asked, giving him a raised-eyebrow look.

"We have central air," he pointed out.

"No. I don't need to burn the uniform," Kate said. "And I didn't do it by myself. I had you...and Ryan and Espo and Lanie and Montgomery and Gates...Karpowski and Velasquez and Hastings...everyone at the 12th."

"Save something for your farewell speech," he said, squeezing her shoulder.

Just then, Alexis called, "Dad, Kate, are you guys ready yet?"

"A few more minutes, pumpkin!" Rick called back. "Wait for us in the living room, please!"

"Okay. Gram's on her way, but Jim's meeting us at the 12th with everyone else," Alexis called back.

"Thank you, Alexis," Kate called.

"You're welcome," Alexis replied.

Before Rick could step away to grab a shirt, Kate stopped him with one hand on his arm. "Thanks for talking me down," she said.

"Always," he replied. They kissed quickly, then dressed even more quickly. They heard Alexis and Martha speaking in the living room. When they emerged from the bedroom, Kate was resplendent in her NYPD Captain's dress uniform, complete with white gloves, her badge and ribbons on her chest, the captain's bars on the collars of her uniform shirt gleaming. Rick was in a black suit and a cerulean blue button-down, no tie, just behind and to the right of her, his hand at the small of her back.

"You guys look great," Alexis greeted them.

Martha knew better, though. "Is everything all right?" she asked, concerned.

Kate and Rick exchanged a look. "It will be," Kate said. She reached back for Rick's hand, and he stepped forward. "Let's go," she said as she threaded her fingers through his and they left the loft.

When they arrived at the 12th, the elevator ride up was silent. When the elevator doors opened, Kate stepped off first, with Rick right behind her, and Alexis and Martha behind him.

She was greeted by a sea of dress uniforms grinning at her and applauding for her. She spotted her dad beaming proudly in a suit and tie, standing with Lanie and Alan, who had come straight from his own work to be here. Ryan and Esposito were standing by their desks, both with big grins on their faces. When they saw her, Ryan's grin grew wider, and Esposito raised his hands above his head as he continued applauding. She walked down toward her office, where Jordan Shaw and Deputy Chief Gates were standing just outside the closed door, both of them smiling and applauding as well, Gates in her own dress uniform, and Jordan in a smart skirted suit of navy blue with a white blouse.

"All right, everyone!" Gates shouted, and order was quickly restored. "Thank you. I will now turn things over to Special Agent Jordan Shaw of the FBI, who is here to present Captain Beckett with a commendation."

"Thank you, Deputy Chief Gates," Jordan replied. She stepped forward as all eyes went to her, except Rick's; he only had eyes for Kate, who was focused on Jordan. But right before Jordan began to speak, Kate looked at Rick, and he smiled at her proudly. The corners of her mouth quirked upward in a flash of a smile, and then she returned her attention to Jordan.

Jordan read the text of the formal commendation aloud. The words spoke of Kate's dedication to duty, sense of honor, and devotion to the cause of justice, and thanked her for her immeasurable contributions to ending LokSat.

"You can be proud of the role you played, Captain Beckett," Jordan concluded, looking up from the commendation letter to meet Kate's gaze. "On behalf of the FBI, I congratulate you on a job well done."

Kate shook Jordan's hand as everyone applauded again, and then she accepted the commendation letter from Jordan. "Thank you, Agent Shaw," Kate said. Then she looked out at the crowd massed around the desks. "As I'm sure you all know by now, this is my last official day as a member of the NYPD," she began. "For the past fifteen years, it has been my privilege and my honor to serve as a police officer in the greatest city in the world, and I am proud to have served with all of you here at the 12th as both your fellow detective and your captain."

She looked at Ryan and Espo now. "Detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan...you are not just my brothers in arms, you are my brothers, period. No detective ever had a better team."

Her gaze shifted to Lanie next. "Dr. Lanie Parish, you and your colleagues at the M.E.'s office are the best support system we could have. Your work makes it possible for us to do our work, and I can never thank you enough for all that you do." Lanie smiled at Kate, and Kate smiled back.

Kate looked around the room at large. "Every police officer knows that no one makes it in our profession alone. We are a brotherhood and sisterhood from the first day we go out with our training officers to the last day we serve on the force. I would not have become the police officer I did if not for my training officer, the late Mike Royce, my former Captain, the late Roy Montgomery, and my other former Captain, now Deputy Chief, Victoria Gates." Kate turned to look at Gates now. "Royce and Captain Montgomery taught me how to be a good police officer. You, sir, taught me how to be a good Captain. The detectives and officers here at the 12th can tell you if I succeeded on that score better than I could. I hope that I did. And I thank you for what you taught me through your example, as I thank Royce and Captain Montgomery for teaching me what it truly means to wear the badge and work the job."

"I would not be standing here today if not for my family," Kate continued, and her eyes sought and found Rick, Jim, Alexis, and Martha, standing together near the desk she had occupied when she was Detective Beckett. "My parents, Jim and Johanna Beckett, first sparked my interest in the law. My mother was taken from us far too soon, but I have strived to live up to the example she set for me, and to make her proud. Dad, I know these last fifteen years haven't been easy for you, but you supported me through all your fears and worries for me, and through all the close calls. Thank you for that, and just for being my dad." Jim smiled proudly at Kate.

"My stepdaughter Alexis and my mother-in-law Martha..." Kate looked at the two of them standing side by side. "My dad knew what he was getting into when I joined the force, but you didn't sign up for any of this until your father, your son, did. I made a promise to myself long ago that I would do whatever it took to keep him safe so that he could come home to the two of you in one piece every night. When I made that promise to myself, I didn't know that I would become a part of your family. I didn't know that we would come to matter to each other so much. You have supported me through these past eight years, and you trusted me with the most important person in your lives even before he became the most important person in mine. I am so glad and so proud to have you as my family, and I thank you for your support and your trust."

Now, at last, she looked at Rick. "I wouldn't be the person that I am today, or the police officer I have been, if not for everyone I've mentioned. But these past eight years, I have been blessed to have the most remarkable man I have ever known as my partner, and while our partnership started here at the 12th, it will not end here, because he is my partner not just in crime but in life...my husband, Richard Castle." She smiled, and he returned her smile. "Of everything I've learned from everyone I've mentioned, I've learned the most from you, Rick, and I look forward to all of our adventures to come, and to continuing to grow with you and learn from you for the time of our lives."

The look that passed between Kate and Rick in that moment spoke volumes more than any words could have. After a several-seconds pause, Kate looked at the room at large again as she concluded, "Today I leave the 12th Precinct, and the NYPD, but I know that all of you will continue to bring justice to those whose lives have been taken from them, and to bring closure to those they left behind. _'Fidelis ad mortem.'_ This is the motto of the NYPD, the Latin for 'Faithful Unto Death.' I know that you will all keep the faith with the city of New York, and those it is our job to serve and protect. Thank you."

Everyone applauded for Kate again, she shook hands again with Jordan Shaw, then with Gates, and she heard a piercing whistle that could only have come from Esposito. She began making her way toward Rick and their family, which included their family of friends. As she shook hands and accepted well wishes from Velasquez and then LT, she wondered why Ryan and Esposito went into the break room, especially when they returned a minute later, carrying a large object covered with a sheet as Esposito whistled again and then shouted, "Yo! May I have everyone's attention, please!"

When silence once again reigned, Esposito said, "Nothing against our new Captain, Karpowski, but we couldn't let this occasion go by without getting a farewell gift for you, Beckett."

"Actually, it's for both you and Castle," Ryan said. "Everyone chipped in on this for you."

Rick emerged through the crowd, love and pride shining in his eyes as he looked at Kate. "Everyone? Even Perlmutter?" he asked as he looked at the boys.

"Well, when he found out it was for your going-away present, he was very generous," Ryan said tactfully.

"Hmm, I'll bet," Rick muttered.

"Everyone, we're touched," Kate said.

"So are you gonna open it or what?" Lanie called impatiently.

Kate and Rick each grabbed a corner of the sheet and pulled. The sheet dropped to the floor, revealing a large glass-covered frame. Matted inside the frame were two blue bulletproof vests mounted side by side, the one on the left proclaiming POLICE, the one right next to it saying WRITER.

"Our vests!" Kate exclaimed, surprised but happy to see them again.

"I wondered what had happened to these," Rick said, a delighted grin lighting up his face. "This is great!"

"Well, we had a little help," Esposito admitted.

"Javier and Kevin told me what they were planning to do, and I gave them the name of your frame guy," Alexis admitted, cutting her gaze to her father.

"We just couldn't let you leave without them," Ryan said.

Kate looked from Ryan to Esposito to Lanie to Alexis, then to her dad and Martha. "Thank you," she said.

"I brought the camera," Martha singsonged then, holding the camera up for everyone to see. "Let's get a picture of your team, Katherine, Richard."

Kate looked at Gates. "That includes you, sir," she said. "Will you join us for the picture?"

Gates smiled. "I'd be honored," she replied.

Everyone began to maneuver for the picture, next to Kate's old desk. She wasn't standing next to Rick, but with his back turned to Kate as he talked to Ryan and Espo, Rick thought she was, so when he reached out to pull her against him without looking back, he was shocked to turn around and find himself face to face with Victoria Gates pressed up against him and demanding, "Just what do you think you're doing, Mr. Castle?"

Rick yanked his arm back and stepped away from Gates as if she were a column of fire. "I—I thought you were Beckett, sir," he stammered. "I-" The rest of what he was going to say was drowned out by the laughter: Espo and Ryan were laughing so hard, they were leaning on each other to stay upright, and Kate's eyes were wet with tears, partly from her laughter and partly from all the emotion of the day, with Rick having to talk her down before they came here and the knowledge that this was the true end of her career with the NYPD.

Rick looked helplessly at Kate, but when he saw how she was laughing, he smiled sheepishly, looking very much like a little boy, and in that moment, Kate caught a glimpse of what their future son, if they had a son someday, would look like, which made her heart constrict in her chest with an aching tenderness.

"Only you, bro," Esposito said, having recovered himself for the most part.

Kate stepped up next to Rick. "Well, that should teach you to look before you grab," she said so only he could hear her.

"I'm never gonna live this down, am I?" he asked her.

"Definitely not!" Lanie exclaimed as she left Alan's side to join the picture.

Gates moved to stand next to Lanie, who was standing next to Kate. "You're not going to fight me for him, are you, Kate?" she asked, looking around Lanie to meet Kate's gaze.

"I would if I had to, sir," Kate said seriously as she looked back at Gates.

"Oh no," Gates said, with a firm shake of her head. "He's all yours, Beckett."

Ryan stood next to Castle, still chuckling under his breath, and Esposito was consciously working to turn his smirk into a smile. Lanie had managed to get herself under control, but she was watching Kate and Rick with amusement. "Yes, he is," Kate said looking at Rick with a radiant smile.

"All right, everyone, big smiles now!" Martha exclaimed, lifting the camera to her eye.

Right before Martha snapped the picture, Kate, unnoticed by anyone else, slipped her hand into one of Rick's back pockets and squeezed his butt. Martha was looking at the picture on the camera's screen and she said, "Richard, everyone else is smiling, and you look like you just got pinched! Let's take one more."

Rick looked at Kate, who had the most innocent look on her face. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I'll get you for that later, Beckett."

"You'd better, Castle," she whispered back. They shared a glance, and then turned to face the camera, flanked by Esposito, Ryan, Lanie, and Gates, as Martha snapped the picture that they would all have framed in their respective homes in a matter of days.

"I have to get going," Jordan said then, after the pictures had been taken. "Congratulations again, Kate...and you too, Castle."

"Thank you, Jordan," Kate said, shaking hands with Jordan again. "Congratulations to you too."

"Thank you," Jordan replied. "And if you should ever decide to return to the field, I know people who would hire you in a second. You have my number."

"I do," Kate said. "But I think any calls I make to you will be purely social, Jordan."

"I'll look forward to them," Jordan said. "I'll be keeping an eye out for future announcements about you and Castle." She extended her hand to Rick then, and they shook hands. "It was nice seeing you again. It's also nice to know I was right about you two ending up together. I'm glad about that."

"So are we," Rick said, making it a point to look at Kate before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and drawing her against his side.

Jordan said her goodbyes to Esposito, Ryan, and Lanie, who all remembered her from the case years ago, shook hands with Gates once more, and then took her leave.

"Well," Kate said as the rest of the precinct drifted back to work, most of them heading to the locker room to change into their regular uniforms first, "I don't have much to clean out of my office. We'd better get to it, huh?"

Karpowski approached them then. "I left everything where you had it, Beckett," she said.

"I appreciate that, Karpowski," Kate replied.

Alexis went down to the car to get the empty cardboard box they had brought along. When she returned with it, Alan was saying goodbye to everyone, since he had to get back to work. Lanie walked him to the elevator before returning to stand with the others while Kate and Rick went into the captain's office.

Kate opened the drawer and took out the little man she and her father had made of twigs and stones that had washed up on the Coney Island beach when they escaped there the day of her mother's funeral. She looked at the little man before placing him carefully in the box. "Even on the worst days, there's the possibility for joy," Rick said softly.

"This isn't a worst day," Kate said. "It's..." She paused, considering the right word to use, finally settling on, "...bittersweet, but I'm doing the right thing. I'm doing what I want to do."

Rick picked up Kate's nameplate. At her nod, he placed it carefully in the box. "Maybe we should have brought some newspaper or something for these," she said, gesturing to the framed pictures, one of her and Rick at their wedding, the other of the two of them with Martha and Alexis which had been taken on their first Christmas Eve as a couple, with the giant Christmas tree serving as the backdrop for the photograph.

"I can probably find some around here somewhere," Rick said as he hurried out to ask if there was an old newspaper lying around they could wrap Kate's photographs in.

Kate looked around at the office, reflecting on when it had belonged to Montgomery. After his death, it had become Gates' office. When Gates moved up, it had become Kate's office. And now it would officially be Karpowski's office.

For so long...for **too** long, really...Kate had lived her whole life inside these walls. Not this office alone, but the 12th Precinct.

And then one day, Rick was there, and he kept coming back, bringing her coffee, pulling her pigtails, and making her fall irretrievably in love with him.

They had saved each other's lives so many times and in so many ways, they had fought and beaten incredible odds together, and they had a bond, a connection, that nothing and no one would ever sever.

As she had said in her speech, their partnership had started here, but it wouldn't end here. It would never end.

Rick returned then, triumphantly holding two handfuls of newspaper. "Got it!" he crowed. Seeing that he had startled Kate out of her thoughts, he said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "I really am. Better than okay."

He walked over to the desk and handed her some of the newspaper. She carefully wrapped the copy of their wedding picture while he wrapped the family photo. "I have to stop by the locker room on our way out. I left some workout clothes in my locker."

Kate packed up the last few things, wrapping her NYPD coffee mug in the last of the newspaper. She laid it in the box, then picked up the box. Rick picked up her uniform cap from the corner of the desk and put it on her head. He ushered Kate out ahead of him. She paused in the doorway and looked back over her shoulder at the office. Rick saw the myriad of emotions play out on her face in rapid-fire succession: sadness, pride, relief, pride, and finally, joy. He was so focused on watching her that he stood frozen in place until he heard her ask, "You comin', Castle?"

He grinned at her and followed her out of the office. The first person they encountered was Karpowski. "It's all yours, Karpowski," Kate said.

Karpowski nodded. "I'll do my best," she vowed.

"I know you will," Kate replied. "Good luck, Captain Karpowski."

"Thank you, Captain Beckett," Karpowski replied.

Alan was the only one of their family and friends who had left, although Ryan and Esposito had changed out of their dress uniforms, and they were all standing around talking by Ryan and Espo's desks. When Rick and Kate approached the group, Alexis said, "Dad, can I have the Old Haunt for a party?"

"Throwing a rager before the final semester of senior year?" Rick asked.

"Actually, no," Alexis replied. "This party is for you and Kate. We, um, actually started planning it when you were in the hospital."

"The day that you were...shot," Martha said, faltering slightly on the word.

"It's kind of a belated wedding reception," Lanie said, "since we didn't get to be at the first one."

"We didn't really have a wedding reception," Kate mused.

"Which is why we want to give you one now, darlings," Martha said.

Rick looked at Alexis. "Your grandmother has had a hand in the planning?" he asked.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Alexis said. "You know Gram is in her element throwing parties, Dad. Where do you think you got it from?"

"It's going to be closest friends and immediate family only," Martha said. "That includes you, Victoria," she added, addressing Gates.

"Thank you, Martha. May I bring my husband?" Gates asked.

"Of course!" Martha exclaimed.

"When did Mother and Captain...I mean, Deputy Chief Gates get on a first-name basis with each other?" Rick asked Kate.

"I have no idea," Kate replied, just as surprised as he was.

"We finally have a date when everyone can be there," Alexis said, drawing their attention back to the moment. "All you and Kate have to do is show up. We'll take care of the rest."

"We **should** celebrate," Kate said. "When do you want us there?"

"A week from Saturday at 8:00?" Alexis asked.

"I'll call Brian this afternoon and let him know that you are to have _carte blanche_ next Saturday night, and to post signs that The Old Haunt will be closed for a private party that night," Rick said, referring to the bartender who also managed the place for him.

"Thank you!" Alexis exclaimed, hugging her father, and then Kate. "And wait until you see what we have planned."

"Do we get any hints?" Rick asked eagerly.

"Not a one," Martha said.

Rick pulled a disappointed face that made everyone laugh. "Come on, Dad, you trust us, right?" Alexis said, gesturing to everyone.

"That depends on how many embarrassing stories are told next Saturday night," Rick replied.

"Come on, Castle, would we embarrass you and Beckett?" Esposito asked.

"Me? Yes. Beckett? Nah, you're all smarter than that," Rick replied.

"We trust you," Kate said. "And we're looking forward to the party."

The phone on Ryan's desk rang then. He answered it. "Detective Ryan." He caught Esposito's eye and motioned to Lanie with one hand while wedging the phone between his shoulder and ear and grabbing a pad and pen from his desk to scribble down some information. "Got it. We're on our way," he said.

"Body drop," Lanie said. It was a statement, not a question.

"Yeah," Ryan said, tearing off the sheet of paper he had just written on.

"I'll meet you guys outside," Lanie said. "I'll call you later, Kate. Bye, Castle, Alexis, Martha, Mr. Beckett." Then she headed for the elevator to grab her bag and gloves and wait for Ryan and Esposito outside.

"Hold the elevator!" Ryan called. He pocketed his pen, then said to Beckett and Castle and the others. "Duty calls. We'll talk later."

"Go," Beckett said with a nod.

Esposito buttoned his cuffs and nodded at everyone. "Later," he said. Then he hurried to catch up with Ryan at the elevator.

After Lanie, Ryan, and Esposito had departed, Kate looked at Rick. "You ready to go?" he asked.

"Ready when you are," he replied. He picked up the frame containing their bulletproof vests, which had been leaning against Ryan's desk.

Kate took a long look around the precinct. Her whole life had once been contained within these walls.

Then she looked at Rick, watching her, waiting patiently for her to be ready to go home...and beyond him, her dad, Alexis and Martha were gathered, also waiting.

Her life had once revolved around this building, but that was no longer the case. It hadn't been for years now. Her life now was a vista of endless opportunities. Her life without the NYPD would be whatever she chose to make of it, and the best part was that she had a family to make that life with...a family to add to and grow with. She had gained so much more than she had ever believed she would, and all of it was hers to keep. She was leaving the 12th Precinct, and the NYPD, with no regrets.

"Let's go home," Kate said, carefully shifting the box in her arms.

She and Rick walked side by side to the elevator, their parents and Alexis trailing after them. "We'll take the next elevator," Alexis said, "give you two a minute alone."

Before the doors opened, Kate and Rick looked at each other. Then it was Rick who looked around the room once more. When they got on the elevator and the doors closed, they turned to look at each other, and Rick said with a smile, "So, on to our next adventure."

Kate beamed at him. "I can't wait," she replied.


	30. Chapter 30

_**Thank you for your continued support. We're setting up for two important continuing story points in this chapter. I promise that Operation Baby Beckett-Castle will be successful very soon, though...probably in the chapter after next.**_

* * *

A few days after the commendation ceremony, and the ceremonial hanging of their framed bulletproof vests on a wall in Rick's office, Kate and Rick were having breakfast at the island in their kitchen. Kate was reading _The New York Times_ and she inwardly pulled up short when she saw a certain article. She read it and reread it, then reread it again, and her heart started pounding as the kernel of an idea took root in her brain.

"I've got some writing to do," Rick said. Kate was still staring at the newspaper with laser focus. "Kate?" he said. Still no response. "Oh, Beckett," he singsonged.

"Hmm?" she said distractedly. Finally she snapped back to attention and looked at him, blinking. "Oh. I'm sorry, babe. What did you say?"

"I said I have some writing to do," he replied. "You looked pretty intense there. What's so interesting in the _Times_ today?"

"I'll show you later," Kate promised. "I have some work to do myself. Research, maybe a couple of calls to make."

Rick brightened with curiosity. "Our next adventure?" he asked.

"Maybe one of them," Kate replied. She leaned across the island and kissed him. "Go. Write. I promise, I'll show you later. I need some more information, and then I need to think a little, and then we'll talk."

"Okay," he said. He picked up his coffee and headed into his office to write.

Kate picked up her own coffee and headed in the opposite direction, grabbing her phone and her tablet from the bedroom and settling herself on the couch in the living room to begin her research.

* * *

"You're going to ace this exam, Kevin," Alexis said as she, Kevin and Javier concluded yet another study session.

"I'll be happy if I get a high enough passing score to get promoted," Kevin replied as he closed his textbook and notebook and wrapped a rubber band around the latest batch of flash cards Alexis had made.

"Bro, Alexis is right. You got this," Javier said seriously.

"You should listen to him," Alexis said just as seriously. "He was right about me getting into law school at Columbia."

"I just don't want to jinx anything," Kevin said. "How are the party plans coming?"

Alexis's phone rang then and she said, "Speaking of the party, I have to take this. Excuse me, guys." She answered the phone. "Hey, Brian, what's up?" She paused and then burst out laughing. "Okay, other than that, what's up?" Javier watched Alexis laughing at whatever this Brian guy was saying and felt a sharp pang in his chest that he would only later admit was jealousy. "That's terrific! I can't thank you enough for everything you're doing to help us pull this party off for my dad and Kate...Well, that's kind of you, but **you're** the best, really...All right. Thanks again. I'll see you Saturday night. 'Bye, Brian." Alexis ended the call and said, "The party plans are coming along great!" _  
_

"What's this Brian guy's deal?" Javier asked, trying to sound casual.

Alexis looked at Javier, puzzled. "He's the head bartender and he runs The Old Haunt for my dad," Alexis replied. "What do you mean, 'what's his deal'?"

"Seemed like more than that, the way you were just talking and laughing with him. Is he a friend of yours? How well do you know him? Are you dating him?" Javier asked before he could stop himself.

Kevin looked from Javier to Alexis and tried to school his features not to show his complete shock at Javi's line of questioning and whole attitude.

"I just met him, like, a week ago, and all we've talked about is party plans," Alexis said, wondering what was bringing this on and thinking Javier was being a jerk right now. "What about you, Javier? Are you bringing a plus one to the party? If you are, now would be a good time to tell me."

"No, it'll just be me," Javier replied.

"And it'll just be me," Alexis said. Her phone binged then and she consulted the screen, seeing a text from Lanie asking Alexis to call her. "Oh, that's Lanie. Alan has a karaoke machine and he's bringing it to the party."

"That's good," Kevin interjected before Javi could say anything else. "We'll need some way to play the backing track for our song for Castle and Beckett. And we need to rehearse that, Javi. Your place okay?" They both had the day off.

"Yeah," Javier said.

"Okay, well, I'm going to go and call Lanie. I'll see you guys Saturday night," Alexis said.

"'Bye, Alexis," Kevin said as she gathered her things and left.

"Javier," Alexis said.

"Alexis," Javier replied.

After Alexis had left, Kevin said, "Okay, Javi, what the hell was that?"

"What the hell was what?" Javi asked.

Kevin just stared at him. "You're kidding me, right? That little scene with Alexis there," he said.

Javier glowered at him. "Does the phrase 'Mind your own business' mean anything to you?"

"Javi, come on," Kevin said quietly, gently. "What's going on here?"

Javier rubbed at the back of his neck and looked at Kevin. "I don't know," he admitted quietly.

"How can you not know?" Kevin countered.

"It's complicated," Javier said.

"Because she's Castle and Beckett's daughter?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah. No. I don't know," Javier said.

Kevin shook his head, looking at Javi in wonder. "Unbelievable," he said.

"What?" Javi asked.

"I've never seen you like this over any woman, not even Lanie, and you were on and off with her for years," Kevin said. "And it's Alexis."

"It's-" Javi began.

"Don't sit there and tell me it's nothing," Kevin interrupted. "I'm not buying that. It's something, even if you don't know what it is, or even if you guys are Beckett and Castle Junior and you're too afraid to admit what it really is, for whatever reasons."

"I don't know how she feels," Javi admitted, finally meeting Kevin's gaze squarely. "Not entirely. We're really good friends."

"That's important," Kevin replied. "But at least where you're concerned, that's obviously not all it is, Javi."

Javi ran a hand over his head. "It's a friendship. It's a very good, very close friendship," he said after a long moment's pause. "But I'm wondering if it could be more."

Kevin wisely refrained from pointing out that just based on Javi's knee-jerk reaction to the mention of Brian the bartender/Old Haunt manager, Javi clearly **wanted** it to be more.

"There's only one person who can tell you for sure if it can be more," Kevin said, "and that person isn't me." He gathered up his study materials.

"Let's go rehearse," Javi said. "We're gonna totally blow Beckett and Castle's minds Saturday night."

Kevin let the subject drop for the time being as they headed to Javi's apartment to rehearse their song for the party. He knew that if Javi wanted to talk about it more, he would, but that he needed to figure some things out before he talked about it again...and that would mean Javi would have to talk to Alexis first.

All Kevin could do was be there for his best friend, which he would be, no matter what did or didn't happen between Javi and Alexis.

* * *

Lanie was surprised when Alexis showed up at the morgue after their phone conversation. "Alexis," she said.

"Hi," Alexis said. "Do you have a few minutes?"

"For you, anytime," Lanie replied. "I'm waiting on a tox screen to come back from the lab, anyway. Is this about the party? Because Alan is excited about bringing his karaoke machine. I don't think we'll get Kate to sing, but we might be able to get Castle up there." Noting the look on Alexis's face, Lanie said, "Uh oh. I know that look. Man trouble."

"I guess so," Alexis said, sitting down. "It's complicated."

Lanie sat down next to Alexis. "So let's simplify it."

"I'm not sure if that's possible," Alexis said, biting her lower lip.

"Hey, I went through years of Kate's denial about her true feelings for Castle, and occasionally called her out on it," Lanie replied confidently. "If you can't simplify it, I can. What's going on?"

Alexis looked down for a moment before looking up to meet Lanie's gaze. "I have feelings for Javier," she said matter-of-factly.

"You have feelings for Javier," Lanie repeated. She was about to ask who Javier was when it dawned on her, and her face went slack with shock. "Javier Esposito?" she exclaimed.

"Yes," Alexis said. When Lanie said nothing, Alexis went on, "He and I have spent a lot of time together these past few months, helping Kevin study for his sergeant's exam, and baby-sitting Sarah Grace and Nick, and just talking. He's a really good man."

"Talking," Lanie repeated as she worked to wrap her brain around the concept of Alexis having feelings for Javi. "Then it's not...I mean, nothing...well..."

"Nothing physical has happened, no," Alexis said.

"But you want it to," Lanie continued.

"Well, not right this second," Alexis replied. "But eventually...if he even feels the same way. I don't know if he does. He was such a jealous jerk about Brian a little while ago."

"Brian? Bartender Brian at The Old Haunt who's helping us organize everything for the party?" Lanie asked.

"Yeah. He called about the wedding cake, which was a great idea you and Jenny, and he said I was the best for doing this for Dad and Kate, and I was thanking him and I laughed a little on the phone with Brian, and the next thing I know, Javier's asking me what Brian's deal is, and if I'm dating him," Alexis said.

 _Jealousy,_ Lanie thought. _Oh, Javi. You_ _ **do**_ _have feelings for Alexis._

But Lanie knew it wasn't her place to tell Alexis that Javi had feelings for Alexis. That was Javi's place, and Javi's place only.

"It's different with Javier," Alexis continued as she looked at Lanie. "I've never been friends with a guy and it turned into something more, but with Javier..." She paused and looked at Lanie earnestly. "Lanie, I really want it to turn into something more. I at least want to see where it might go. But he was such a jerk about Brian, and I barely even know Brian!"

"Did you tell Javi that?" Lanie asked.

"Yes," Alexis replied, "and then I asked him if he was bringing a plus one to the party."

Lanie smiled approvingly. "Well played, Alexis," she said.

"I don't want to play any games. I've never been the game-playing type," Alexis said firmly.

"Then you're going to have to talk to Javi, because he's the only one who can give you the answers you're looking for," Lanie said.

"Well, not all of the answers I'm looking for," Alexis said. She knotted her fingers together nervously. "Um, you and Javi used to date," she began. "And I know that you're Kate's best friend, but you and I are friends too, at least I think we are-"

"We are," Lanie interjected.

"-and there are rules about dating your friend's ex-boyfriend," Alexis concluded.

"I have no objections to you and Javi dating," Lanie said. "Javi and I are friends, and that's all we're going to be. I've moved on."

Alexis looked relieved. "Okay, well, that's good. That's very good to know," she said. Then she looked anxious. "There's just one other thing."

"I know better than to say anything to Kate and Castle," Lanie said. "There isn't anything to tell yet, for one thing. For another, it's not my place. So your secret is safe with me, no matter what happens."

Alexis hugged Lanie. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you so much, for everything, Lanie."

"You're welcome," Lanie replied, hugging Alexis back.

Alexis released Lanie. "Well, I have a few things to think about, so I'll let you get back to work. I'll see you at the party on Saturday."

"Alan and I will be there with his karaoke machine," Lanie promised.

Alexis left then, and before Lanie had time to really ponder what might happen with Javi and Alexis, the tox screen results she was waiting on came back, and she had to get back to work. But when she returned to thoughts of Alexis and Javi later, she had to admit, it made a certain kind of sense, although if Javi did anything to hurt Alexis, Lanie herself would finish off whatever was left of him after Kate and Castle got through with him.

* * *

Kate's rumbling stomach put an end to her work. Well, actually she had finished her work a while ago; the project she had been working on since putting an end to her preliminary research on her possible next professional move was definitely personal, and just between her and Rick. That, she would save until later.

She hooked the pen inside the notebook and closed the notebook, made sure she had shut off her tablet and set it aside, then got up from the couch and stretched, grabbing the section of the _Times_ she wanted to show Rick, snagging her empty coffee mug from the coffee table, and passing through the kitchen to rinse it out and put it in the dishwasher before going to Rick's office.

She stood in the doorway to the office and watched Rick for a moment. He was reclining in his desk chair, laptop balanced on his thighs, typing furiously. He stopped typing, scrolled up a page, read through what he had written, and, nodding in satisfaction, saved his work.

"You get to a stopping place?" she asked him.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Rick replied, looking up at her. "How 'bout you?"

"Me too," she said. Rick double-checked to make sure he had saved his work, then closed the program and powered down his laptop, connecting it to the charger. Kate entered the office and sat down on Rick's lap. "I'd really like to get some lunch, but first, I wanted to show you this. This is what had me so interested in the _Times_ this morning." She handed him the newspaper, having circled the article that had caught her attention earlier.

Rick quickly read the article, then looked up at Kate and said, "The City Council of New York City is accepting nominations for next year's election."

"We live in District 1," Kate said. He looked up from the article to meet her gaze. "There's a primary in April of next year, and the election will be in November. I meet the basic requirements: I'm over 18 years old, I live in the district I'd be representing, I'm a resident of the state of New York, and I didn't violate the federal draft laws that were in place for World War I or II. This would be a way to get my foot in the door, but on my terms. I know the party wants me for State Senate, but I'm not ready for that yet, Rick. They may not want to admit it, but I will. Everything I know is about being a cop, which will be helpful, but I need practical experience in government. And I have to earn this, just like I earned my badge. At least, that's how I feel about it. How do you feel about it?"

"I think it's a great idea," Rick said honestly. "If this is what you want to do, Kate, I'm behind you all the way."

"I don't know if I have any kind of a realistic chance," Kate said, "and having a family with you is more important to me than this or any other job could be. But this is something I want to try for. I'm not saying it won't be grueling in its way, but it would be a lot less grueling than a State Senate campaign, since I hope to be pregnant by then." She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting one hand play with the hair at the nape of his neck. "I know I could do a lot of good for the city."

"Of course you would," Rick replied, his arms wrapping around Kate's waist. "You really care about people, Kate, and you care about the city of New York."

"So you're on board?" Kate asked.

"I am absolutely on board," Rick replied. "What's the next step?"

"I have a few calls in, but I don't think they'll get back to me much before tomorrow. I have to have signatures to get my name on the ballot, and the more the better. 450 is the minimum, but in the event any of the signatures are challenged, most prospective candidates have two or three times that many."

"You can get that easily," he said.

"I don't know about easily," she said, "but I can get it. It'll take time, though."

"That, we've got," Rick said.

"I was also working on something else, something unrelated to the City Council, but that's for later," Kate said. "For you. Well, us."

"Ooh, that has possibilities," he said.

Kate knew Rick was thinking it was lingerie of some kind. It wasn't, but she didn't want to tip her hand just yet as to what it really was, so she just gave him a coy smile. "You'll find out tonight," she promised. "How'd the writing go?"

"It went well," Rick replied. "Looking up from my laptop screen to see you engrossed in your own tablet, or writing in a notebook, helped me every time I got stuck. I got two chapters done and a third outlined." Now Rick's stomach rumbled. "And I could really use some lunch too, as you can hear."

"You wanna go out, get out of the loft for a while?" Kate suggested.

"Sure! Chinese?" Rick offered.

"Pizza," Kate countered.

"Deal," Rick replied. Kate stood up, and then they freshened up a bit before heading to their favorite neighborhood pizza place.

* * *

Her dad and Kate were out when Alexis returned home to the loft. She was doing some reading for a class when the doorbell rang. She answered it to find Javier Esposito standing on the other side, holding a large strawberry milkshake from Remy's in a Styrofoam to-go cup. "Peace offering?" he said, holding it out to her.

Alexis took the milkshake from Javier, then opened the door all the way and swept her arm, inviting him into the apartment. "Dad and Kate aren't here," she said in response to the unspoken question.

Alexis closed the door and turned to face Javier. He shoved his hands in his pockets and said self-consciously, "I was kind of a jerk earlier."

"'Kind of'?" Alexis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Okay, I was a **complete** jerk earlier," he amended.

"Yes, you were," Alexis agreed mildly. "Why?"

Javier took a deep breath and then laid all his cards on the table. "Because I'm having feelings for you that are more than friendship, and the mere mention of some other guy's name in the same sentence as yours turns me into an immature jealous jerk, apparently."

Alexis's pulse and heartbeat went haywire but she tried to play it cool. "You apparently turn into an immature jealous jerk when you hear my name and another guy's name in the same sentence, or you apparently have feelings for me that are more than friendship?" she asked.

"The feelings are definite. All the evidence from this afternoon proves the other thing," Javier replied.

Now it was Alexis's turn to take a deep breath. "Well," she said, "that works out very well, because I'm having feelings for you that are more than friendship too."

Javier's pulse and heartbeat went haywire now. "You are?" he asked hopefully.

"I definitely am," Alexis replied. She looked at Javier intently now. "And I don't play games, Javier. I would never use any other guy to make you jealous. I barely know Brian. He's the head bartender at The Old Haunt and manages the place for my dad. Until last week, I didn't even know who he was. He's been a big help pulling the party together, and he was calling about the wedding cake I'm surprising Dad and Kate with at the party."

"I don't play games either," Javier said. He shifted his weight. "Having feelings for you was the last thing I was expecting, Alexis, but I'm glad it's happening, and I'm sorry I was such a jerk earlier."

"Apology accepted," Alexis replied. "And I wasn't expecting to have feelings for you either, but I'm glad it's happening."

"Me too," Javier said. "I mean, I'm glad you're glad." He paused. "So, what now?"

"You could ask me out on a date," Alexis suggested.

"A date," Javier repeated thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Alexis said. "Just, um...I don't want to say anything to Dad and Kate yet. Not until we know for sure exactly what this is and where it's going. I hope it'll go somewhere, but we need a better idea of where that 'somewhere' is before we bring them into it."

"Agreed," Javier said, with no small amount of relief. He wasn't sure how Beckett and Castle would feel about him dating Alexis, and Alexis's suggestion only made sense.

"There's just one thing," Alexis went on, looking a bit nervous now. "I, um, went and talked to Lanie after the study session."

"Lanie knows?" Javier asked, surprised. He would have expected Alexis to seek out Martha.

"I told her I have feelings for you," Alexis replied defensively. "You used to go out with her. It isn't just guys who have that 'you don't date your friend's ex' rule. I needed to know she was okay with this." Alexis gestured between herself and Javier. "She is. And she's promised not to say anything to Kate or Dad."

Javier nodded. "Well, Ryan called me out on the way I acted after you left, and he figured it out about my feelings for you. But he won't say anything either. At least not to Beckett and Castle. He might say something to Jenny, but they'll keep their mouths shut."

"We have to be the ones to tell Dad and Kate," Alexis said decisively, "but not until there's something to tell." She paused. "Do you think there will eventually be something to tell them, Javier?"

"I sure hope so," Javier replied looking at her intently.

"I do too," Alexis said, looking back at him just as intently. She paused. "So, um, about that date..."

"Give me some time to plan something," Javier said. "I will definitely ask you out after the party on Saturday."

She smiled at him, and his heart skipped a beat. "Now I have another reason to look forward to Saturday."

He smiled back. "I should get out of here before Beckett and Castle get back. Don't want to tip them off yet."

"Right," Alexis said. "Thanks for the milkshake."

"You're welcome," Javier replied. "I'll see you Saturday."

"I'll see you Saturday," Alexis repeated as she walked him to the door.

All the way down on the elevator, Javier had a big smile on his face.

And as Alexis sat down with her milkshake, her studying temporarily forgotten, she had the exact same smile on her own face.

* * *

Kate was sitting up in bed waiting when Rick emerged from the bathroom in his t-shirt and boxers. "So, is it time for my surprise?" he asked eagerly as he all but bounded around the bed and practically dove in beside her.

"Yes," she said, "but I hope you're not going to be disappointed, because it's not sexy lingerie."

Rick tilted his head, bemused. "Well, you wouldn't have been wearing it long anyway," he said. Then he noticed the notebook in Kate's hand and straightened his head. "Is this the surprise?" he asked.

Kate bit her lip, betraying her nervousness. "Yeah," she said.

Rick reached for the notebook. "May I?" he asked.

Kate handed Rick the notebook and watched him anxiously.

Kate's notebook in his hands, Rick looked down at the page, covered in her handwriting, and read it silently to himself.

 _1) Have and raise kids with Rick. (2-3; number not definite yet)_

 _2) Grow old with Rick._

 _3) Push our kids on our swings with Rick._

 _4) Go to Paris with Rick. (Maybe take the kids there when they're old enough to appreciate it? Definitely go just the two of us someday.)_

 _5) Take Rick to my dad's cabin._

 _6)_ _Take that cross-country motorcycle ride with Rick._

 _7) Continue serving the people of New York City (and possibly New York State)_ _in the best way I know how._

 _8) Get a dog._ _(Not sure on the timetable for this one, but a dog and a newborn at the same time, probably not a good idea.)_

Rick looked up from the list to find Kate staring at him. "I can't bring myself to call it a bucket list," she said. "I'm calling it my 'Things to Do With the Next Fifty Years' list. You probably noticed you figure into most of them."

"I did," Rick replied, his voice awed.

"I only put the most important things on there," she continued as she gazed into his eyes. "The stuff that I **really** want to do...most of which, as you can see, requires you." A beat of silence passed, and she continued, "I never thought I'd be making a list like that. And if I ever **did** make a list, I **sure** never thought those would be the things on it. But they are." She tapped the notebook in Rick's hands with her index finger. "This is my general road map-slash-wish list for the rest of my life, but for any of any of it to really work, for any of it to have meaning, for any of it to be any good, it has to have you, Rick. I-"

Every thought left Kate's head when Rick suddenly dropped the notebook onto his lap, leaned in, framed her face in his hands, and kissed her breathless. She responded eagerly to his kiss, running her fingers through his hair.

When the need for oxygen forced them to break the kiss, Rick rested his forehead against hers. "Yes," he said softly, simply.

"Yes?" Kate asked just as softly, drawing back just enough to look at him.

"Yes, to all of it," he replied, looking deeply into her eyes. "I want to have and raise kids with you and grow old with you and push our kids on our swings with you, and go to Paris and your dad's cabin and on that cross-country motorcycle ride with you, Kate Beckett, and whether you're a Congresswoman or a State Senator or the President of the United States, I'm in. I'm in for all of it."

"For the time of our lives," Kate said, smiling as she traced a fingertip down Rick's jawline.

"For the time of our lives," he vowed.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too," he replied, picking up her notebook and carefully setting it on his nightstand before turning back to her. Too impatient to wait for him, Kate stripped off her own sleep shirt, thrilling at the look in his eyes when he saw her topless. Then she tugged his shirt up and off, tossed it on the floor beside hers, and pulled him down to her, kissing him as breathless as he had kissed her just moments earlier.


	31. Chapter 31

_**Thank you for your support and enthusiasm. It continues to inspire me. I hope you continue to enjoy the story. And a moment we've all been waiting for-probably me most of all, since I've had this scene in my head and my heart for five months-will be happening in the next chapter, and yes, it involves Kate and Rick. :-)  
**_

* * *

Alexis, Martha, Lanie, Alan, Jim, and Esposito were at The Old Haunt. Brian was already in place behind the bar. Esposito observed him from the front doorway, but didn't completely relax until he noticed a wedding ring on Brian's left hand. After greeting the others, he said to Alexis so only she could hear, "You might have mentioned Brian was married before I made a jackass of myself the other day."

"I didn't know myself until I got here today," Alexis replied.

Lanie breezed by them then. "Get everything worked out?" she asked.

Alexis and Javier exchanged a look. "I think so?" Esposito said, phrasing it as a question.

"This is gonna be interesting," Lanie said. "And because I care about both of you, and this is Kate and Castle's night, I'm going to state the obvious and say you don't want to look too couple-y or awkward because they will figure it out immediately, especially Kate."

"She has a point," Esposito told Alexis.

"Yeah," Alexis said, taking an involuntary step back from him. "We don't want to tip our hand too soon. We still have to figure some things out before we tell Dad and Kate about any of this."

Kevin and Jenny arrived then. "Hey," Kevin greeted everybody. He looked from Javi to Alexis. "Um, you guys?" he asked.

"Wait, are you going public tonight?" Jenny asked them, surprised. "Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"No, we're not going public tonight," Alexis said, "and could you please keep your voices down? Gram is right over there, and she wouldn't tell Dad and Kate, but she'd give me her own version of the Spanish Inquisition," Alexis said.

"Hey, Martha likes me," Esposito said defensively.

"We all like you, Javi," Jenny said.

"Which is why we don't want to see Beckett hand you your butt at this party," Kevin concluded. "And then there'll be Castle's reaction."

Martha clapped her hands then to get everyone's attention. "All right, everyone, Richard and Katherine will be arriving in the next twenty minutes, so we need to finish getting ready. Alan, is the karaoke machine ready?"

"All set!" Alan called from where he had just finished hooking it up.

Kevin reached into his inside jacket pocket. "I have our CD right here."

"Is the banner straight, Martha?" Jim asked from his place on a stepladder behind the bar.

Martha looked at the banner appraisingly. "Not quite," she said.

"I'll help you straighten it," Alexis said, hurrying behind the bar to help Jim, under Martha's direction, straighten the giant banner that read "BECKETT AND CASTLE ALWAYS" in blue and silver letters.

Alan joined Lanie, Jenny, Ryan, and Esposito. "You put their last names on the banner instead of 'Kate' and 'Rick'?" he asked.

Jenny groaned. "Alan," she said, shaking her head. "You just reignited a debate that's been going on all summer."

"Don't tell me: whether to put 'Beckett and Castle' or 'Kate and Rick' on the banner. I see you went with the obvious choice." Victoria Gates' voice rang out clearly as she entered the bar on the arm of her husband Gerald.

Martha hugged Victoria in greeting, and Gates introduced her husband to everyone. "So you're the group Victoria called her favorite team," he said with a smile. "Well, except for Beckett and Castle, since they're not here yet."

Gates lightly tapped her husband's bicep. "You weren't supposed to tell them that, Gerald!" she exclaimed, nonplussed.

"Oops, I forgot. Sorry, honey," Gerald replied with an unrepentant smile.

"So, as Gerald pointed out, we're still waiting on the guests of honor?" Gates asked.

"Yes, Sir," Ryan replied.

Gates sighed and shook her head. "I suppose there's no way I could get you people to call me 'Victoria,' or even 'Gates,' just for tonight," she said, looking from Ryan to Esposito to Lanie. The trio exchanged looks all around, not sure how to respond to that.

Alexis helped Jim get the banner straightened and then came over to greet the Gateses. "Deputy Chief Gates, thank you for coming," Alexis said, extending her hand to shake hands with Victoria.

Now Gates rolled her eyes. "Okay, it's bad enough from these three," she said gesturing to Ryan, Espo and Lanie with her free hand, "but if you can't follow your grandmother's lead and just call me 'Victoria,' can you at least do like your dad and Kate and these three and call me 'Sir'?"

"All right," Alexis agreed, "Sir."

"That's better," Victoria said with a smile.

Jim joined the others then, and they all surveyed The Old Haunt. The blue and silver streamers crisscrossing the ceiling were already in place, the bar was open, the food was ready to be cooked, and the wedding cake was waiting in the kitchen for the right time to be unveiled.

The karaoke machine was hooked up, and Martha had a couple of pieces of sheet music waiting at the piano.

"Okay, so all we need now are Dad and Kate," Alexis said. She glanced at her watch.

* * *

Kate had insisted that Rick get ready first, claiming it wouldn't take him as long as it would take her. He was sitting in their bedroom, listening to Kate singing Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me" in the shower. She continued singing after shutting off the water.

" _I want to wake up with the rain_

 _Falling on a tin roof_

 _While I'm safe there in your arms_

 _So all I ask is for you_

 _To come away with me in the night_

 _Come away with me"_

She emerged from the bathroom with her hair fixed, and removed her bathrobe to reveal a lacy black bra and underwear set. Rick swallowed hard as he stood up, watching her walk to the closet to get her dress. "If that was an invitation, I accept," he said softly.

She beamed at him over her shoulder. "Open-ended invitation," she replied as she pulled a navy blue dress from the closet.

"Name the time and place, I'm there," he replied as he crossed the bedroom to stand near her. Once Kate had the dress on, Rick drew the zipper up its short track. The satin dress stopped just below Kate's knees and was a deep shade of navy blue, which perfectly complimented Rick's navy blue jacket and slacks, which he had paired with a sky blue button-down shirt. Kate sat down at her vanity to put on some light makeup. Rick just stood quietly, watching her, and marveling all over again that she was his wife.

Kate smiled at Rick in the mirror as she capped her mascara and put it away. "My dad's cabin has a tin roof," she mused as she turned on the bench to face him. "I've never taken you there. I haven't even been up there myself since the summer after I got shot the first time." Her lips twisted in a rueful smile. She rose from the vanity bench and walked the few steps until she was standing in front of him. "Maybe we could go up there some weekend this fall. It's really beautiful up there in the fall, with the leaves changing colors. I could face down the demons associated with that time, and the best part would be that I'd be there with you. Taking you to the cabin ** _is_** on my Things to Do With the Next Fifty Years list."

Rick wrapped his arms around Kate's waist as she rested her hands on his shoulders."I'd love to see your dad's cabin in the fall. Or anytime."

"I'd definitely make some better memories this time around," Kate said. "I don't have to slay the dragons alone anymore. Well, I haven't had to slay the dragons alone for the last eight years. It just took me a while to catch on to that fact, but I did."

"You're the only woman I've ever wanted to slay dragons for," Rick replied earnestly.

Kate could only respond to that in one way: she molded her body to Rick's and kissed him deeply. He responded in kind, and things escalated quickly, only stopping when Rick registered his back hitting the nearest bedroom wall, and Kate pressed up against him in a way that his body couldn't ignore. He pulled back just enough to murmur, "The Old Haunt. Everyone's waiting."

Kate gave a breathless sigh. "When we get home tonight..." she began.

"Absolutely," Rick whispered. "Do you think it'll be a short party?"

Kate wiped her lipstick from Rick's lips with her thumb, mentally noting she'd have to touch up her lipstick in the car. "Not as short as we'd like it to be, I'm sure, but just keep thinking about tonight...when we're back here...alone together."

The noise Rick emitted was between a groan and a growl. "This evening better go really fast," he said as they headed out.

"The evening can go fast," Kate agreed. "But the night...I'm hoping the night goes very, **very** slow."

When she got on the elevator, she put a little extra sway in her hips. It was all Rick could do not bite his fist, and now he had to will himself to be present in the moment at this party that his daughter was giving in honor of him and Kate, where all their family and friends would be, while fighting to keep thoughts of what would happen between him and Kate after the party at bay.

* * *

They were five minutes away from The Old Haunt when Rick got a text. "Kate, could you-?" he asked as he maneuvered through the Saturday night traffic.

"Yeah," Kate replied, picking up his phone from where he had it resting on the dashboard. After checking it, she announced, "It's Alexis. She wants to know when we're going to be there. We're apparently making an entrance."

"Are you sure it's not Mother? That sounds more like her," Rick replied as Kate texted Alexis back that they were almost there.

"No, it's Alexis," Kate replied. When they were stopped at a light, she handed Rick the phone, and sure enough, the text was from Alexis.

"Well, this is the wedding reception they didn't get," Rick mused as he got the car moving again when the light turned green.

"I liked the reception we had," Kate said, her hand slowly moving up Rick's thigh.

"You mean sending Mother, Alexis and your dad to the nearest inn thirty minutes after the wedding ceremony?" he asked.

"We got married, we danced to our song, we got some incredible pictures, Martha gave a wonderful toast. And then after our parents and Alexis left, you and I got right to the wedding night without having to endure an hours-long party and playing host and hostess to a bunch of people first," Kate pointed out. "Our wedding was perfect."

"It really was," Rick agreed. "And if your hand moves even an inch higher, I'll either crash the car, or we'll be late to this reception."

"Just keeping you focused for later," Kate said with a naughty grin as she removed her hand.

Rick caught her hand and kissed it before she could put her hand in her own lap.

When they arrived at The Old Haunt and walked through the front doors, Kate and Rick took in the decorations, the BECKETT AND CASTLE ALWAYS banner, and all of their family and friends standing there beaming at them. Then they heard Alexis announce, "Ladies and gentlemen, presenting, Katherine Beckett and Richard Castle!"

Then, as Kate and Rick entered The Old Haunt arm in arm, Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" echoed from Alexis's iPod as everyone applauded.

" _We've come a long, long way together_

 _Through the hard times and the good_

 _I have to celebrate you, baby_

 _I have to praise you like I should"_

A makeshift aisle had been created down the center of the room, and Kate and Rick stopped to accept hugs and back slaps and handshakes from everyone.

When everyone had glasses of wine in their hands, courtesy of Brian, Alexis cut the music. "Dad, Kate, we're all gathered here tonight to celebrate you. Yours is the kind of partnership that is rare in life, and that everyone aspires to. I think it's safe to say I speak for everyone here when I say that we love you, we're proud of you, and we're so happy to be here with you tonight, celebrating your life together and your marriage."

"To Katie and Rick," Jim Beckett said, raising his glass of club soda.

"To Beckett and Castle." "To Katherine and Richard." "To Kate and Castle." "To Kate and Rick." Everyone else chorused as they raised their own glasses. Kate and Rick clinked their wineglasses together before they each took a sip.

After that opening toast, Martha herded her son and daughter-in-law to a table in front. Ryan and Esposito then took to the little stage area that had been set up, and each man had a microphone in his hand.

"When you guys told us you got married, we told you that we had written a song for you, but that we weren't going to perform it," Esposito began.

"But we changed our minds," Ryan continued. "Tonight, you're finally going to hear the song we wrote for you. It's not entirely current anymore, since you're not a cop any longer, Beckett, but we hope you enjoy it anyway."

"Beckett, Castle, this one's for you," Esposito said. "It's called 'Definition of Love.'"

Ryan turned the music on, and he and Espo launched into the song, a _tour de force_ blend of rock and hip hop, complete with the kind of moves that won them three NYPD trophies in a row for outstanding performance in the annual dance competition.

" _Love_

 _How to say_

 _Its definition defies me_

 _But we know how the game is played_

 _Girl_

 _All I do_

 _Is think about a future_

 _A future with me and you_

 _I can't see why_

 _Some other guy_

 _Deserves the right to elucidate_

 _Trust me, girl_

 _Imma demonstrate_

 _I need some help_

 _My feelings on a shelf_

 _Restore my little piece of mind_

 _The definition of love is hard to find_

 _Speak_

 _Speak your heart_

 _Fall over my tongue to find it_

 _And my lips don't know where to start_

 _Now, every day_

 _Been searching for the meaning_

 _Searching for right words to say (hey)"_

Everyone was on their feet dancing or clapping or both as Ryan and Esposito sang and danced their hearts out, even Gates and her husband.

" _Gonna call the police_

 _Drop a nickel and dime_

 _'Cause the way you stole my heart_

 _Is a major crime_

 _Still it defies me_

 _I can't find the words_

 _Gonna roll up my sleeves_

 _Gonna work overtime_

 _And I'll search for a clue_

 _How to rhyme and define_

 _My definition_

 _Definition of love"_

The boys tossed their mics back and forth to each other as they sang. Beckett and Castle were amazed at their friends' talent, and more than a little humbled to have inspired them to write a song.

Ryan then broke into a rap about Beckett and Castle's relationship and how it evolved that everyone later agreed was not only accurate but inspired.

" _She was a cop—yeah_

 _He was a writer_

 _He a playboy_

 _Homegirl is a fighter_

 _She badged him_

 _He knew immediately_

 _That she was the one_

 _It was meant to be_

 _But he followed her around_

 _She thought he a pest_

 _Had her shields up_

 _He tried to rock that vest_

 _From ringside_

 _Me and Espo watched_

 _When the hearts get broken_

 _And the stars get crossed_

 _They saved each other_

 _So many mutha-freakin' times_

 _Unfamiliar partners_

 _Breaking mysteries, solving crimes_

 _She followed her clues_

 _He'd find that story_

 _Freaky-ass murders_

 _Some weird, some gory_

 _Now they ended up in love_

 _'Cause they both born fighters_

 _Beckett's a cop, Castle's a writer_

 _They promised to love, promised to obey_

 _Now forever and ever they fightin' crime every day"_

Jenny let out a loud whistle when Ryan finished the rap. Kevin grinned at his wife before he and Espo launched into the conclusion of the song.

" _So I sat right down_

 _With my paper and pen_

 _Let my mind drift back_

 _To way back when_

 _Ooh, I can't stand it_

 _It just rocks my world_

 _Darling, sit right down_

 _And a tale I will tell_

 _How this pretty senorita's_

 _Got me under her spell_

 _She's my definition_

 _Definition of love"_

They ended with a repeat of the chorus, dropping a nickel and dime to call the police, rolling up their sleeves and working overtime to find the definition of love one more time.

When Ryan and Espo had finished the song, Beckett and Castle were the first ones to go to them, applauding wildly, and in less than a second, they were joined by everyone else.

"You guys," Kate said as she walked toward the makeshift stage, with Rick trailing after her. "That was amazing." She hugged first Ryan, then Esposito. "Thank you so much."

Rick clapped first Espo, then Ryan, on the shoulder, then hugged each man. "Proper grammar and epic lyrics, guys. That was an incredible song. Thank you."

Ryan and Espo fist bumped then. "Glad you liked it," Espo said to Kate and Rick.

" **Really** glad you liked it," Ryan added.

The party continued on then. Alan was ready with a variety of karaoke discs. Jenny did a rousing rendition of Madonna's "Cherish," ending by plopping herself down on Kevin's lap and giving him a big kiss in front of everyone.

Lanie and Alan duetted on "I Finally Found Someone," and Kate reached for Rick's hand and threaded her fingers through his while Lanie and Alan were singing about not being able to wait for the rest of their lives because they had finally found someone (namely, each other). Rick leaned in and kissed Kate's temple, and Kate returned her attention to Lanie and Alan, holding hands and looking at each other as they sang, and Kate knew that even if they never ended up getting married, Lanie and Alan would be together for the rest of their lives, just like they were singing about now.

Victoria surprised everyone with her outstanding version of Shirley Bassey's "Sometimes," leaving no doubt how she really felt about her team from the 12th.

 _"Sometimes, not often enough_  
 _We reflect upon the good things_  
 _And those thoughts always_  
 _center around those we love_  
 _And I think about those people_  
 _Who mean so much to me_  
 _And for so many years have made me_  
 _So very happy_

 _"And I count the times I have forgotten to say_  
 _Thank you_  
 _And just how much I love them"_

Gerald didn't sing, because, as he cheerfully explained, "I couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle on it."

Jim and Martha also both opted not to sing, but Martha accompanied Alexis on piano when she sang the old standard "Always," which she dedicated to Rick and Kate.

" _I'll be loving you always_

 _With a love that's true, always_

 _When the things you've planned_

 _Need a helping hand_

 _I will understand, always_

 _Always_

 _Days may not be fair always_

 _That's when I'll be there, always_

 _Not for just an hour_

 _Not for just a day_

 _Not for just a year_

 _But always"_

Everyone was misty-eyed, but no one more than Kate and Rick, when Alexis finished her song.

"That was beautiful," Rick said simply.

"Well, I know how much you like the standards, Kate, and I also know that 'Always' is the promise you two fulfill for each other every day, so it just seemed like the ideal song, especially when Gram got a hold of the sheet music," Alexis replied.

"It's been a long time since I heard that song," Kate said, "and from now on, whenever I hear it, I'm going to think of you singing it for your dad and me. It's the best gift you could have given us, Alexis." Rick looked on with a smile and a few more tears in his eyes as he watched Kate and Alexis embrace.

While Kate and Alexis were hugging, Lanie and Jenny went into the kitchen and wheeled out the wedding cake, a two-tiered chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. When Kate looked more closely at the little bride and groom on top of the cake, she burst out laughing. Rick, wanting to know what the joke was, followed her gaze to the top of the cake, and then laughed himself.

The bride was wearing an NYPD dress uniform, and the groom had a tiny laptop tucked under his arm.

"Whose idea was this?" Rick asked.

"It was sort of an idea by committee," Lanie admitted. "None of the brides and grooms really looked like you two, and we were trying to figure out how to change that, But the initial suggestion came from your dad."

When Kate and Rick looked to Jim, he said, "When Johanna and I got married, our friends put a tiny statue of Lady Justice holding the scales on the top of our wedding cake behind the bride and groom. I thought of that, and when Alexis and Martha asked if I had anything to contribute to this party in terms of ideas, and then Alexis mentioned what a hard time they were having finding a bride and groom that even remotely resembled you and Rick, I did a little research, and these were the result." He gestured to the bride and groom on top of the cake.

Kate hugged her father. "Thanks, Dad," she said. "They're perfect."

Jim hugged Kate back. "It's so good to see you so happy, Katie," he replied. "You're lighter than you've been in decades."

"Takes some getting used to, I know," she said.

"It looks good on you," Jim replied.

"I think so too," Kate said. She looked over her shoulder, where Rick was standing with his wineglass in his hand, just watching her and her dad. He raised his glass to her in salute, and she smiled back at him. Jim, following his daughter's gaze, smiled too, knowing that Rick and his love were a big part of the reason why Katie was so much lighter now than she'd been since Johanna had been taken from them.

Just then, Ryan and Alan got everyone's attention when they both complained loudly when Jenny smacked Ryan's hand as he went to sneak a taste of frosting from the bottom edge of the cake, and Lanie smacked Alan's arm when he tried to sneak a fingerful of frosting himself from the opposite side of the cake.

"Kate, Castle, you better get over here and cut this cake before these guys demolish it," Lanie said, giving Alan some serious side-eye.

"It's buttercream frosting!" Alan exclaimed in his defense. "I just wanted a taste."

Martha presented Rick and Kate with a silver cake cutter with a flourish. "You'd better cut the cake before those poor boys wind up taking it on the chin," she said.

Kate and Rick cut the cake, and fed each other the first bite. "That's it?" Esposito asked. "No shoving the cake in each other's faces?"

"Please," Kate scoffed.

"Yeah, I'm not that stupid," Rick agreed.

After everyone had had cake, Victoria Gates stood up, since they had pushed enough tables together to seat everyone. "Before the party breaks up, I'd like to say a little something, if that's all right."

"Of course," Kate said.

Victoria picked up her wineglass. "I didn't always agree with your methods when I was your Captain, Kate," she began, "but it was hard to argue with the results...most of the time. And Mr. Castle, you brought a unique perspective to the table and helped Kate, and Detectives Ryan and Esposito, attain their high closure rate.

"When I took over at the 12th, I actually thought the two of you were a couple already. I was surprised to find out you weren't, until I really watched you together for about a week. That was all it took for me to see that you loved each other and you wanted to be together. Thank God you finally figured that out for yourselves."

"Are you saying you were always rooting for us, Sir?" Rick asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Mr. Castle," Gates replied. She looked to her left and smiled at her husband. "I know firsthand the benefits of a true partnership, because I have been blessed enough to be one-half of a true partnership myself for the past 35 years." Gerald Gates smiled back at his wife, took her free hand in his, and kissed the back of her hand.

Victoria turned her attention to Rick and Kate once more. "Through the various perils and predicaments over the years, I always knew that wherever one of you was, the other would be there too, or if not there, then fighting like hell to get there. If ever two people were two halves of the same whole, it's you two." She raised her glass. "To the best and truest partners I have ever had the privilege of observing and befriending: Katherine Beckett and Richard Castle. I wish you a long, happy, fruitful partnership, filled with love, friendship, and joy."

"Hear, hear!" Esposito echoed.

Everyone else chimed in with similar sentiments, and glasses were clinked all around the table.

After Victoria's toast, Alexis said, "And on that note, I think it's time to send The Couple of the Hour on their way."

"Thank God you said something," Lanie piped up. She was the tipsiest party attendee by far. "The way they've been looking at each for the past hour, I've been afraid they'd spontaneously combust at any moment." She made a shooing motion with one hand. "Go on, Kate. Take Writer Boy home already."

"Writer Man," Kate corrected Lanie.

"Just go, before you wind up mauling him in the storeroom," Lanie continued.

"Thanks for that image, Lanie. That's just what I wanted to picture," Ryan said, pulling a face.

"Yeah, really," Esposito grumbled.

Jim and Martha were both chuckling. "It **is** traditional for the bride and groom to leave first," Martha pointed out.

Victoria Gates was outright laughing. "Sir?" Kate asked.

"Go while the going is good, Kate, Castle," Victoria said after she recovered herself. "I get the feeling Dr. Parish won't remember this conversation in the morning."

"We'll be sure to remind her," Ryan said.

"Guys, come on," Alan said, attempting to defend his girlfriend's honor. "Lanie's filter disappears when she's had a few drinks. It's a statistical fact that alcohol lowers inhibitions."

"You know what you talking nerdy to me does, Alan," Lanie piped up then. "Where is the storeroom, anyway?" She started looking around. Kate discreetly reached across the table, grabbed Lanie's nearly-full wineglass, and handed it off to Martha.

"You're okay to get her home?" Kate asked Alan.

"Yeah," he assured Kate. "But I don't think we can leave until you do. Not that I'm trying to kick you and Rick out of your party! God, I would never do that."

"We were just on our way out," Rick replied.

Kate looked to Ryan and Espo. "When you get on Lanie's case about this, first of all, go easy on her, and secondly, **don't** do it in the morgue. You know what she does with scalpels on a daily basis...but unlike the bodies, you'd actually feel it."

"Maybe we don't have to say anything," Ryan mused, looking at Esposito.

Victoria sighed as she rolled her eyes heavenward. "God help Captain Karpowski with you three. I think she's going to need it," she said.

Kate and Rick made their way around the table, saying good night to everyone. Alexis assured them she'd be home after she had helped Brian with the clean-up.

After Kate and Rick left, everyone else followed suit in fairly short order, except for Javier Esposito.

When they were alone and collecting empty glasses and cake plates to take to the kitchen, Alexis said, "You and Kevin are really talented. I had no idea you guys could sing and dance like that, let alone write music and lyrics like that."

"Beckett and Castle were very inspiring," Javier replied. He shifted his weight. "You still up for that date?"

"Yes," Alexis replied, hoping she didn't sound overly eager.

"How 'bout Friday?" he suggested.

"Friday would be good," Alexis replied. Then she thought of something. "It's just that, um, you can't pick me up. Dad and Kate."

"Right," Javier replied. He thought for a moment. "It's wrong for a gentleman not to pick the lady up for their first date, though. What if I picked you up from somewhere other than your place?"

"Like where?" Alexis asked.

They were both lost in thought for a moment now. "Ryan and Jenny's?" Javier suggested.

"Maybe," Alexis said doubtfully, not wanting to impose on the Ryans. Then she thought of something else. "They and Lanie, and I'm assuming Alan, already know. But my gram has always been really great about me dating. She's always been a big help to me with Dad in that department. If I fill her in, you could pick me up from her place."

"Okay," Javier agreed. "You can tell Martha. If anyone in your family is going to be on our side, it would be her. So 7:30 Friday night at your grandmother's?"

"It's a date," Alexis said happily. She smiled at him.

"It's a date," Javier echoed with a big smile of his own.

* * *

It was after midnight by the time Kate and Rick got home. Kate was humming something in the elevator on the way up to the loft, but Rick couldn't quite place the song.

Once they were inside, Kate said, "It was a great belated wedding reception. There was only one thing we didn't do." She ditched her heels, then put on some music, and a few seconds later, Ed Sheeran's "Kiss Me" was playing. Rick kicked off his own shoes as Kate slowly danced her way across the room to him. "Dance with me," she whispered as she twined her arms around his neck.

Rick wrapped his arms around her and pulled her so close to him, there was no light between them, and they stood in place, slowly swaying as they gazed into each other's eyes while Ed Sheeran sang about kissing like you want to be loved.

Kate and Rick looked at each other intensely. Remembering Kate singing in the shower earlier, Rick rested his cheek against hers and sang softly into her ear along with the song as they danced.

" _Settle down with me_

 _And I'll be your safety_

 _You'll be my lady_

 _I was made to keep your body warm_

 _But I'm cold as the wind blows_

 _So hold me in your arms"_

He stopped singing when he felt Kate turn her head and nuzzle his jaw before she fused her mouth to his. They continued their slow, seductive dance, moving in the direction of their bedroom together as the song played on and their hands began to roam each other's bodies as their lips landed on every inch of skin they could.

Once they were in the bedroom, they began to undress each other until, at last, completely bared to each other, they fell onto their bed and made love far into the night, until they fell asleep wrapped up in each other, only to awaken again in the middle of the night to make love twice more.


	32. Chapter 32

_**Thank you to all of you who are reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing. This chapter is a significant and wonderful one for Kate and Rick, especially, and one I've been waiting to write, since one scene in particular is a scene I've carried in my head and heart for months, waiting for this chapter. I hope you enjoy especially the Kate and Rick scenes as much as I enjoyed writing them.**_

* * *

Martha Rodgers had always been her granddaughter's initial go-to about boys and dating, partly because she too was a woman, and partly because Martha's reactions were, despite her theatrical flair in the rest of her life, far more tempered than her son's when it came to his only little girl and boys.

It had been a long time since since Alexis had approached Martha to talk about boys and dating.

And Alexis had never been quite this nervous before.

But once the dam burst, and the words came tumbling out of Alexis almost faster than she could keep up with them, Martha realized that Alexis, and she herself, Martha, had graduated from boys to men, from the first mention of Javier Esposito.

Martha listened silently, patiently, as she had in the past about Ashley, about Max, about Pi (repressing a shudder at the memory of the latter), as Alexis wound down.

"No one is more surprised by all of this than I am, Gram," Alexis concluded. "But I know I have feelings for Javier that I've never had for any other man...or boy...before."

Having seen them together at various points over the summer, Martha wasn't as surprised by this admission as others would be. Martha Rodgers was a keen student of human nature, and she had witnessed several interactions between Alexis and Javier in the past three months. She had seen the nascent closeness starting to build between the two, unconsciously on both their parts, she was certain. Alexis had mentioned Javier in casual conversation often...more often than she realized. And whenever Martha had occasion to speak to Javier, if Alexis was in the vicinity, his eyes sought and found her without fail, and the look in his eyes every time was a look that said "Good, Alexis is here, everything's okay."

But despite her lack of surprise at Alexis admitting to having feelings for Javier, Martha still had a few questions and concerns.

"Does Javier know you have feelings for him?" Martha asked.

"Yes, I told him," Alexis replied.

"And where does he stand?" Martha inquired.

The look on Alexis's face then reminded Martha so much of the look on Richard's face when Martha had finally gotten him alone nearly a year after he and Katherine had become a couple and all he could say, wonder sparkling on his face and in his voice, "Kate loves me, Mother. She said 'I love you' to me for the first time!"

"Well, of course she loves you. She's loved you for years, just as you've loved her for years," Martha had replied.

"But this is the first time she **said the words** ," Richard said, awed.

"Javier has feelings for me too," Alexis said, the same wonder on her face and in her voice that had once been in her father's face and voice about one Katherine Beckett's first declaration of love.

But then her expression changed, to one of uncertainty. "We're not entirely sure where this is going, Gram. That's why we don't want to say anything to Dad and Kate yet."

"No need to get them upset unless there's really something to get upset about," Martha replied evenly.

"Well...yeah," Alexis said, a faint blush rising in her cheeks. "So you won't say anything to them, will you?"

"I am the soul of discretion when it comes to you and your love life, kiddo, you know that," Martha said. "So no, I won't say a word to your father or Katherine. It's not my place. I do have a couple of questions for you, though." She looked Alexis squarely in the eyes. "You're sure these feelings you have aren't...well, aren't some misguided way of thanking Javier for being there for you after what happened last spring? All the ways he was so helpful and so thoughtful of you, of me, of your father and Katherine?"

"I'm sure," Alexis said fiercely. "My feelings for Javier are about Javier, who he is as a person, and how I feel when I'm with him. It's not because of what he did to help all of us after Dad and Kate were...shot." She stumbled over the word, but then recovered herself. "I've gotten to know him as a person since then, between helping Kevin study for his sergeant's exam, and baby-sitting Sarah Grace and Nick together, and just hanging out together whenever the circumstances presented themselves, like over the Fourth of July. He's a good man, Gram. He's the best man I know, after Dad. I like being with him. He's become my best friend. And I think it could be something more...and he does too."

Martha nodded. "As long as you're sure about it. I trust your judgment," she said. "Now, as to the...let's say physical aspects of dating..."

"Gram!" Alexis exclaimed in horror, the blush returning more fiercely than before. "We haven't even kissed yet! We're light years away from...from anything else!" Then she realized something. "I'm gonna have to talk to him about this. Maybe he's expecting...and I'm just not ready for that. And I don't think **we** are ready for that, but if he thinks we are, then...oh boy." Now Alexis looked doubtful.

"If he truly has feelings for you, and if he respects your feelings, then he won't put any pressure on you," Martha said firmly.

Alexis nodded at that. "We're going out on Friday night. Our first official date," she said. "But he can't pick me up at home because of Dad and Kate, so is it all right with you if he picks me up here?"

"Of course," Martha said, silently glad that she would have the chance to talk to Javier herself while Alexis was getting ready for the date.

Sure enough, when Friday night arrived and Martha's doorbell rang, Alexis was still in Martha's bedroom, getting ready. "I'll get it, Alexis!" Martha called. She opened the door to reveal Javier Esposito, in black Dockers, a red button-down shirt, and a gray sport jacket, trying, and failing, to surreptitiously wipe his sweaty palms on the thighs of his pants before seeing Alexis. "Good evening, Martha," he greeted her.

"Good evening, Javier," Martha said, standing aside. "Please, come in. Alexis will be ready shortly. Have a seat. I'd like to talk to you for a moment before you go out, if I could."

"Of course," Javier replied. He took a seat in the armchair, and Martha settled herself on the edge of the couch, on the end closest to Javier.

"What are your intentions towards Alexis?" Martha asked. She looked piercingly at Javier, and he almost felt like flinching. "She has feelings for you, Javier."

"I know," Javier replied. "I have feelings for her too."

"There's a rather significant difference in your ages," Martha pointed out.

"There is," Javier agreed. "But age is just a number."

"So it is," Martha said, surprising Javier by agreeing with him on that before continuing, "But these feelings you have for my granddaughter. A man of your...experience...might have certain expectations about how an evening out ends, and as much as I like you, Detective Esposito, if you do or say anything to make Alexis uncomfortable, if you put any kind of pressure on her to take things to a level that she is not ready for-"

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" Javier interrupted, not having missed the fact that Martha called him 'Detective Esposito' instead of 'Javier. "My interest in Alexis is **not** about getting into her pants!"

"It's not?" Martha asked, her gaze and her voice both flinty.

"No, it is not," Javier said firmly. "Okay, yeah, I've been around. I have a bit of a reputation. I know that. And if Alexis doesn't know it already, I'll make that clear to her tonight. But I will also make it clear that I do not, under any circumstances, expect this date, or any future dates, to end in bed. We haven't even kissed yet."

"But you've thought about it," Martha countered.

"Yeah, I've thought about kissing her," Javier said. "I'm just a flesh-and-blood man. But I'm not some creepy cradle robber, Ms. Rodgers. I have feelings for your granddaughter. I have feelings for your granddaughter that are unlike the feelings I have ever had for any woman before. I have the kind of feelings that scare a man as he adjusts to them, because I've never been this serious about wanting to get a relationship right, and we're just starting out here. We're still figuring out what this is, and where it's going, which is why we don't want Castle and Beckett to know yet. I know what Castle is capable of. I've seen what he's done in the past to criminals that threatened Beckett. And Beckett...She **is** Alexis's mother. I worked with the woman for years. Don't think I don't know that Castle would beat the living crap out of me if I step out of line in any way, and that Beckett would finish the job, and in the most painful manner possible." He looked at Martha, praying he didn't look or sound as helpless as he felt. "Beckett and Castle...and you, Martha...you're my family, just as much Ryan and Jenny and the kids are. I know what's on the line here. I'm not gonna screw this up.

"Alexis has become my best friend. I didn't plan for this to happen, but somehow it did. She's the last person I think about before I fall asleep at night, and the first person I think about when I wake up in the morning. I know she has goals and plans and dreams, and I'm not gonna get in the way of any of that. I want to help her with it, any way I can, any way she'll let me. I've been walking around for the past several weeks wondering what she sees in me, and thankful that whatever it is, she wants to see where this goes. I have no idea where it's going, but I will personally guarantee you that it is **not** going to bed, not anytime soon, anyway."

Martha gave Javier a hard, appraising look from head to toe, then nodded, seemingly satisfied. "I've watched the two of you around each other these past few months," she continued. "I saw this coming, even before Alexis took me into her confidence. And believe me, I understand you not telling Richard and Katherine until you're sure of what, exactly, you'll be telling them. I won't be saying anything to them, because it's not my place.

"But if you **do** step out of line, as you put it, Detective, Richard and Katherine are not the only ones you'll be answering to, if you get my drift."

"I understand," Javier said.

"I don't disapprove," Martha continued, "but..."

"I get it, completely," Javier replied.

Alexis emerged then, wearing skinny black jeans, black ballet flats, and a sky blue short-sleeved tee shirt with a scoop neck and a lightweight white cardigan over that. "Hello, Javier."

Javier shot to his feet. "Hi, Alexis. You look great," he said.

"Thank you. So do you," Alexis replied as she walked over to join him and Martha, who was also now standing.

"Have a good time, you two," Martha said. "Will you be coming back here after your date, kiddo?"

Alexis looked at Javier. "I think Dad and Kate are staying in tonight," Alexis said, "so probably not, but I do have a key." She opened her clutch bag and pulled out her key ring, holding up the key to Martha's apartment.

"Oh, I'll wait up, regardless. You know what a night owl I am," Martha said. "And I'll expect a full report, if not tonight, then in the morning."

"You'll get it," Alexis replied. She hugged Martha then, and as Martha was hugging her back, Alexis said, "Thank you, Gram, for everything."

"Be careful," Martha said. It was the one thing she could think to say that encompassed everything she wanted to say.

When they were in the hall, Alexis said, "Before we go, do we have time to talk?"

"Sure," Javier said.

"I just think I need to clarify a few things," Alexis said. Looking Javier squarely in the eye, she said, "This is not some schoolgirl crush. And it's not because you were nice to me and helped me and my family after my dad and Kate were shot last spring. I have feelings for you because of who you are, Javier. You're kind and caring and brave and loyal, and you believe in justice and your friends, and, okay, being shallow, you're really good-looking." She smiled, and Javier smiled back, but then Alexis grew serious again.

"I've had boyfriends before, and relationships," she said. "I wouldn't say I've been around the block, exactly, but I've been down the street. You're my best friend, Javier, and I want to get to know you better than I already do, and I want you to get to know me better than you already do, but I'm not ready for sex. And I'm not sure when I will be. This, us...It's too important to me to go jumping into bed with you immediately. We haven't even kissed yet. So if that's a deal-breaker for you, you have to let me know now, before I get in any deeper than I already am with my feelings for you."

"I have been around the block, that's true," Javier admitted. "I know what my reputation is. It could be better, but it could be worse. And having been around the block, a few times, I can tell you that it's not all it's cracked up to be. This isn't a sex thing for me, Alexis. I don't want to date you just so I can get you into bed."

He looked deeply into her eyes as he continued speaking. "I've never had feelings for any other woman like the feelings I have for you. I'm still sorting these feelings out, figuring out what they are, figuring out what your feelings for me are. We have a lot to learn about each other, and I want to do that. I want to know everything there is to know about you, Alexis, and I want you to know everything there is to know about me. But not sexually. We're a long way away from being ready for that, and I would never try to push or pressure you into **anything** you're not ready for."

He reached out and took her hand, threading his fingers through hers. "You surprise me, all the time. And when I tell you that I've never felt like this about any other woman before, that's not a line. It's the truth. I've never started out as friends with a woman and then had those feelings get deeper. I didn't become friends with Lanie until **after** we broke up. You're smart and you don't take any crap and you have a great sense of humor, you're beautiful-"

"You think I'm beautiful?" Alexis interrupted, awed.

"Have you looked in a mirror?" Javier replied seriously. "Yes, I think you're beautiful. And it's not just outer beauty. You have an inner beauty that makes you shine, Alexis, in everything you do. And I've never seen that inner beauty in any other woman.

"You're so serious and earnest, but you know how to have fun too. You have the best laugh I've ever heard. You work hard, you love your family and friends, you know where you're going and how you want to get there, you're not one of those women that defines herself by a man. But I would like to see if what we have, what we can build on from here, will let me be the man that stands beside you, that's there to catch you when you fall, and to cheer you on, when you need it."

"You're good at that. You cheered me on when I was waiting to hear from Columbia about law school," Alexis remembered. "I've never been able to talk to any guy I've dated the way I can talk to you. And I think about you all the time."

"I can talk to you like I've never been able to talk to a woman before. I think about you all the time too. I feel like we're going somewhere, and I want to find out where that somewhere is. But I want to be perfectly clear that I'm not just trying to get you into bed. It's so much more than that. It's..." He suddenly looked very young, but very sure at the same time. "It could be everything."

"It could be everything for me too," Alexis said. "I really want to find out."

"So let's find out," he said. "Starting with this date."

"Okay," Alexis agreed.

They walked out of Martha's building holding hands. Javier opened Alexis's car door for her before hurrying around to the other side. "So, where are we going?" Alexis asked once they were on the road.

"Brooklyn," Javier replied. "I don't think your dad and Beckett spend a lot of time in Brooklyn."

"Not to my knowledge, no," Alexis replied. "I don't either, really."

"It's called The Brooklyn Bazaar," Javier said. "It closed a while back while it switched locations, then it reopened. I've never taken a date there, but I think you might like it."

"I'll be there with you. That's one reason to like it already," Alexis replied.

When they walked into The Brooklyn Bazaar, Alexis's jaw literally dropped. "What is this place?" she asked.

"A little bit of everything," Javier said loudly over the noise. "There's an arcade, ping-pong, pool, mini golf, shopping, a food court. There's also karaoke, but you have to reserve rooms for that, and I didn't."

"This place is amazing!" Alexis exclaimed, spinning around in a slow circle.

Javier smiled, glad that Alexis liked The Brooklyn Bazaar so much. "What do you want to do first?" he asked.

"Mini golf?" Alexis asked.

"You got it," Javier replied.

The mini golf course was nine holes, and Alexis got a hole-in-one on the third hole. She won, shooting a 27 to his 39.

They played a few games of ping-pong next, and split their wins there, two games each.

At the food court, they got a little bit of everything: soft hot pretzels with mustard, tacos, and Javier had this monster-sized cheeseburger with fries on the side. Alexis had a Coke with her tacos and pretzel, and Javier had a beer to wash down his cheeseburger and fries and pretzel. They chatted easily as they ate, about nothing in particular and everything in between, from Kevin's upcoming sergeant's exam to the classes Alexis was taking for the fall semester to a case Javier and Kevin had closed, with help from the most recently promoted homicide detective at the 12th, Ann Hastings, who was engaged to marry her longtime boyfriend Paul Whittaker. They were planning a Valentine's Day wedding for next year.

Then Alexis went and got a brownie a la mode, drenched in hot fudge sauce, with two forks. She wordlessly pushed one of the forks across the table to Javier. Grinning, he cut a bite of brownie and ate it. Three bites in, Alexis chuckled. Javier swallowed and said, "What?"

"You have a glob of hot fudge sauce right here," she said, pointing to the right corner of her own mouth. Javier grabbed a napkin from the table and swiped at it, getting most of it, but missing the smallest bit. "You missed a spot," Alexis said, grabbing a napkin herself and wiping the small remaining bit of hot fudge from the corner of his mouth.

After they finished eating, they wandered through the marketplace, from vendor stall to vendor stall. "See anything you like?" Javier asked when they stopped at a jewelry stall.

"Not enough to buy," Alexis said so only he could hear her, not wanting to insult the vendor. "You want to go to the arcade now?"

"Sure," Javier agreed.

When they entered the arcade, Javier took in the roomful of video games and pinball machines and said, "Wow. I feel like I just stepped back to my junior high years." Looking around at the various video games he said, "Oh, man, After Burner! They've got Sega After Burner! I haven't seen this since I was in the eighth grade!" He hurried over to the machine. Alexis, well accustomed to enthusiasm over video games thanks to her dad, hurried after Javier.

"Were you any good?" she asked.

Javier rested one hand on the top of the machine; it was the kind where you climbed inside to sit and play the game. "I played every day for a year. I blew off an algebra midterm because I was cutting class because I was on a high-scoring run."

"Did you get the high score?" she asked.

Javier turned to look at Alexis with a grin. "Got to put my initials in the machine and everything," he said.

"So show me your After Burner moves already," Alexis said.

Javier played two games, losing the first one, but it all came back to him quickly, and he made a respectable score for not having played in such a long time.

Alexis then proceeded to shock Javier by getting such a high score on the Terminator game, which involved shooting a gun at the screen to vanquish the invaders, that she got to put her initials in the machine.

"Where'd you learn to shoot like that?" he asked when he recovered.

"I've been playing Laser Tag with my dad for twenty years," Alexis replied. "The same principle applies."

They went head-to-head at Pac-Man, with Alexis handily defeating Javier, and then Pole Position, where Javier beat Alexis by several laps.

Then they both spotted it: the machine filled with stuffed animals, requiring the player to maneuver the mechanical claw to grab one of the stuffed animals. Javier reached for Alexis's hand, and she slipped her hand in his as they headed over to the machine together.

Several minutes (and quarters) later, Javier had pulled a stuffed turtle from the machine, which he presented to Alexis with a flourish. The way she smiled at him made his heart stutter in his chest. "Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," he replied.

The place was starting to clear out, and it was shortly after midnight. "I guess we'd probably better call it a night," Alexis said reluctantly.

"Yeah, we probably should," Javier agreed just as reluctantly.

As they walked out to the car, Javier said, "Is it too soon to ask you for a second date?"

"I don't think so," Alexis replied.

"I'm off again next Friday," he said.

"What time?" she asked.

"7:30?" he suggested. "Your pick where we go and what we do."

"All right," Alexis agreed.

They chatted easily on the way to Manhattan. When Javier pulled up in front of the loft, he parked the car and turned off the ignition. "I had a really great time tonight, Alexis," he said.

"I did too," she said. She smiled as she held up her turtle. "Thank you for Brooklyn."

"Brooklyn?" he asked.

"That's what I'm naming the turtle," Alexis replied. "To remind me of where we went for our first real date, where you won him for me. Not that I could ever forget tonight."

Javier smiled at her before getting out of the car and walking around to open the car door for Alexis. "Text me when you get home so I know you got there safely," she said. He opened his mouth to say something and she said, "Yes, I know, you're a cop, but I was born and raised in New York City. It's habit for me, so will you just text me, please?"

"Okay," Javier said.

They stood by his car for a long moment, just looking at each other, neither of them speaking.

"Thanks again for a wonderful first date," Alexis said.

"You're welcome, and thank you," Javier replied, "for a wonderful first date."

They would never be able to say who leaned in first...maybe because in actuality, they both leaned in at the same time...but there, on the sidewalk next to his car at the end of their first official date, Alexis and Javier kissed for the first time.

Alexis's lips were soft, her kiss was sweet, and she still tasted of the brownie they'd shared for dessert.

Javier's lips were firm but his kiss was tender, and she didn't even care that she could taste the onion from his cheeseburger just a little bit.

And they both felt great promise in that first kiss, there in the early morning hours of a late August Saturday.

Alexis pulled back and touched his face gently. It was only then that she noticed his fingers were tangled in her hair. "I'll text you as soon as I'm in the front door," he promised. "Good night, Alexis." He smoothed her hair before letting his hands fall to his sides.

"Good night, Javier," she replied, reaching out to straighten one side of his shirt collar, which was sticking straight up, before watching him turn and walk back to his car. When he got in the driver's side, he sat there, watching her. She realized he was waiting for her to get inside and upstairs safely. She gave him a little wave before she went inside and upstairs.

The loft was quiet. Her dad and Kate, thankfully, were asleep, or otherwise quietly occupied. Alexis made her way upstairs to her bedroom after locking up and setting the alarm.

When she was in her room, she kicked off her shoes and quickly texted Martha: "Best first date of my life. Javier was a complete gentleman, but I expected nothing less. Thanks again for everything. Love you, Gram."

A couple of minutes later, Martha texted Alexis back, "Good to know. Talk more later today. Love you too, kiddo. XO"

Alexis had just changed into one of her favorite tank tops and pairs of sleep shorts when her phone binged again, signaling an incoming text. It was Javier. "Home safe and sound. Sweet dreams, Lex."

"Sweet dreams, Javier," she texted back.

And at home, in his own bedroom, Javier Esposito grinned for the next few hours before he finally settled down enough to fall asleep, while in her own bedroom, Alexis Castle grinned herself to sleep in a matter of hours as well.

* * *

August gave way to September. The sergeant's exam loomed closer, and Kevin, Javier and Alexis went into overdrive helping Kevin prepare for it.

Javier and Alexis continued seeing each other whenever they could, and texting and talking on the phone when they couldn't, because his work or her classes kept them too busy.

Martha stayed in Pennsylvania as rehearsals for _Steel Magnolias_ kicked into high gear, since Opening Night was at the end of September.

And then came what turned out to be a very fateful morning for Kate and Rick.

Kate winced as she got out of bed. Sore, tender breasts had never in her life been a symptom of her periods, but she'd been experiencing them for the past four days, and she was not liking it at all.

Rick was still asleep, since it was still before sunrise. After using the facilities, Kate frowned when she realized her period hadn't started after all.

But that frown quickly reversed itself when she realized for the first time that she was late.

Grabbing her phone from the nightstand, she pulled up the calendar app and went back to the previous month. There it was: right on time, as always. Kate Beckett's cycle was as regular as the GMT World Clock in London. It was one of the most consistent measures of time in her life.

Forwarding to the current month, she counted the days, and then sank down on the side of the bed in a state of hopeful shock, because she had just discovered her period was eight days late.

Her period was **never** eight days late. **Ever.** Not once.

Her free hand flew to her heart, and she winced again when her hand made contact with her sore breasts. She let her hand drift down to her abdomen, resting her palm over the flat surface where, she was thunderstruck to think, her and Rick's child might be growing right this very minute.

And a feeling that was becoming more and more familiar to Kate suffused her entire being in that instant.

Hope.

Returning her phone to the bedside table, she got back into bed and cradled her sleeping husband's cheek in her palm. "Rick," she said softly. "Wake up."

Fighting his way up through the layers of sleep, his eyes still closed, he murmured, "Hmm?"

"Babe, I'm late," Kate continued.

"Late for what?" he asked, confused. His still-sleep-fogged brain didn't know what Kate was talking about.

"Rick, **I'm late** ," she emphasized.

And in that instant, Richard Castle put it all together, exactly what Kate was saying, exactly what she meant. His eyes popped open, and he jackknifed into a sitting position. He looked at her with mingled shock, awe, and hope, and saw those same emotions reflected in her eyes, and on her face.

"You're never late," he replied.

"Well, I am now. Eight days, as of this morning," she said.

"Do you think you're-" he started to say.

"Well, being eight days late, yeah, I'm thinking in that direction. That, and my breasts have been really sore and tender for the past four days," she said.

Then Rick was up and out of bed, charging around the room, haphazardly pulling clothes from drawers, both his and hers, and tossing them in the middle of their unmade bed. Then he suddenly stopped. "Wait, you don't have any pregnancy tests, do you?"

"No." Kate shook her head. "I was waiting until I thought we had a reason to use them to buy any."

He stood rooted to the spot. "This qualifies as a reason, right?"

"I'd say so," she said. She grabbed the clothes he had tossed on the bed, noting he had grabbed two of his t-shirts instead of one of hers, but he had managed to grab a pair of her yoga pants. He rushed into the bathroom to brush his teeth while Kate grabbed clean underwear for both of them, and hastily dressed, wincing again at the restrictiveness of her bra, but in the next instant, deciding that she honestly didn't care if her breasts hurt every day for the rest of her life if she was pregnant right now.

Rick emerged from the bathroom unshaven, his hair only partially tamed, still in his pajamas. "Clothes," he said.

"On the bed," Kate replied as she dashed into the bathroom herself. A quick tooth-brushing, face-washing, and application of antiperspirant later, she was pulling her hair into a quick ponytail when she stopped and stared at herself, really stared at herself, in the mirror, her eyes unable to look anywhere but her stomach. _I hope you're in there,_ she thought. _I really,_ _ **really**_ _hope you're in there._

When she emerged from the bathroom, Rick was pacing the bedroom, in jeans and an unbuttoned maroon button-down shirt thrown over an oatmeal-colored t-shirt, holding Kate's Nikes. She took her shoes from him and sat down to put them on and lace them up.

They held hands all the way down in the elevator, and on the walk to the store, both of their brains and their hearts going a million miles a minute, all wrapped up in hopes and dreams and the tiniest frisson of fear that it wasn't what all the signs were pointing to it actually being.

At the store, they bought two pregnancy tests, and Kate grabbed a bottle of water and a bottle of orange juice from the cooler at the checkout counter. On the way back to the loft, Rick carried the shopping bag with the pregnancy tests in it, and a separate bag with Kate's water bottle in it. Kate drank the orange juice on the walk back, her fingers threaded through his. They still didn't speak, because this possibility was so enormous and so amazing, no words in any language of the world could possibly have done it justice.

When they got home, the ride up in the elevator seemed to take forever. When they entered the loft, they headed straight for the bedroom. Kate had finished the orange juice and started on the water now. Rick took the pregnancy tests into the bathroom, then returned to the bedroom as Kate set the half-empty water bottle on her bedside table.

She took his hands in hers and squeezed them. He squeezed her hands back, then stood there while she went into the bathroom and closed the door. After a few minutes, he heard her washing her hands, and then she opened the door. "Three minutes," she said. Rick fumbled his phone from his pocket and set the timer.

Kate sat down on the edge of the bed and Rick sat down next to her. He slid his arm around her waist, and she laid her head on his shoulder. "What are you thinking?" she asked him after several seconds, raising her head to look at him.

He turned his head to face her. "Everything," he replied honestly.

"Yeah, me too," she said.

He checked his phone. "Two minutes," he said.

"I want this so much," Kate said softly.

"She's in there," Rick said confidently. "Or he is. And I say that not just because of the evidence. I say that because she or he is half-Beckett, so this baby is too stubborn **not** to be in there, Kate. And no baby-to-be could possibly be as loved or wanted as ours."

She brushed her knuckles down his still-bristly cheek. "I haven't wanted anything this much since...well, since you," Kate said.

"Neither have I," Rick replied. "And look how that's turning out."

"Yeah," Kate agreed.

The timer went off then. Kate gripped Rick's hand and stood up, pulling him to his feet.

They walked into the bathroom hand in hand and up to the bathroom counter, where Kate had laid the pregnancy tests side by side.

They looked at each other. "On three?" Rick asked.

Kate nodded once. "One..." she said.

"Two..." Rick said.

Instead of saying "three," they dropped each other's hands and each of them picked up one of the pregnancy tests.

Rick looked at the pregnancy test in his hand.

Kate looked at the pregnancy test in her hand.

They looked up from the tests and looked into each other's eyes, exclaiming in unison, "It's positive!"

Kate then looked at the pregnancy test in Rick's hand, as Rick looked at the pregnancy test in Kate's hand.

Sure enough, each test had a very clear plus sign.

A sound, half-laugh and half-sob, burbled up from the depths of Kate's soul as her eyes filled with tears.

She looked at Rick. He was looking back at her with pure joy and wonder etched into his face, a look she would remember for the rest of their lives, and she saw tears welling up in his eyes too. He would later swear his heart did a somersault in his chest in that moment.

Without breaking each other's gaze, they simultaneously put the pregnancy tests back on the counter. They reached for each other at the same time, gently, Kate framing Rick's face in her hands and resting her forehead against his as his hands skimmed down her sides to her hips and pulled her gently against him. His kiss was achingly tender and filled with love and awe and elation, and she kissed him back with all of the love and joy and wonder she was feeling. She could taste his tears, and he could taste hers.

Rick broke the kiss to look into Kate's eyes. She wiped at his wet cheeks with the pads of her thumbs, and he cradled her face in his hands, wiping away some of the moisture from her cheeks ever so gently. "I love you so much, Kate," he rasped hoarsely.

Before she could tell him she loved him too, Rick dropped to his knees at her feet. He lifted up the t-shirt of his that she was wearing, and pressed a soft, sweet kiss below her belly button, where their baby was now growing. "I love you too, Sweetpea," he said after the kiss.

Kate looked down at Rick, who was looking up at her so earnestly and so excitedly and so lovingly. She dropped to her knees and rested one of her hands on his chest right over his heart, feeling how fast his heart was beating beneath her fingertips. "I love you too, Rick, so very much," she said, "and I love this baby already." She kissed him again, hard and fast, then mused aloud, "I wonder if I can get an appointment with Dr. Elliott today?"

"Dr. Elliott? Your OB/GYN?" Rick asked.

"Yeah," Kate said as she got to her feet. "It's not that I don't trust the tests, Rick, but I want it confirmed, and she'll be able to tell us when the baby's due."

"Say that again," Rick said as he got to his feet and followed Kate back into the bedroom.

Kate, knowing what Rick was referring to, repeated, "She'll be able to tell us when the baby's due."

"Not just any baby," Rick said, gathering Kate in his arms once more. " **Our** baby. Baby Beckett-Castle."

Kate beamed at Rick radiantly. " **Our** baby," she repeated. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "This is really happening, isn't it?"

Rick released Kate to pluck her phone from her bedside table, and handed it to her. "Let's get it confirmed, today if we can," he said.

Kate scrolled through her contacts until she found Dr. Eliott's number and then made the call. "She can see us at 11," Kate said.

"Great!" Rick exclaimed.

Kate moved closer to Rick. "That means we have about two-and-a-half hours before we have to start getting ready to go to Dr. Elliott's office," she said.

"Mmm," Rick said as he pulled her into his arms again. "Whatever will we do with all that time?"

"I can think of a few things," she murmured before they started kissing again.

They were at Dr. Elliott's at 10:45, and while they were waiting to be called back to an exam room, Rick asked, "I can come to all your appointments, right?"

"Of course you can," Kate said, surprised. "Why would you think you couldn't?" When she saw the shift in his expression, she had her answer. "Meredith," she said, unable to keep the disgust out of her voice.

"Half the time, she claimed she just forgot to tell me. I'm still not sure how many of her appointments she actually kept," he admitted. "I only went to two appointments with Meredith: the first one, where the pregnancy was confirmed, and then she let me come along when she was having the ultrasound that revealed Alexis was a girl."

Kate fought down the wave of anger that welled in her at Meredith for excluding Rick during her pregnancy with Alexis, although knowing the woman as she did, she wasn't the least bit surprised to learn this had been the case. Kate rested her hand on Rick's knee. "I'm not doing any of this without you, Rick," she said firmly. "You're going to be at every appointment, and you're going to know everything the second I know it."

The nurse came into the waiting room and called Kate's name then. Rick beamed as he followed Kate back to the exam room. The nurse weighed Kate and took her blood pressure, then drew some blood. After Kate gave a urine sample, she changed into the paper gown.

Rick's smile grew wider when he saw Kate in the paper gown. "You're beautiful," he said.

"In this?" Kate asked, looking down at the gown. "Rick, these are maybe one step up from hospital gowns."

"You're beautiful," he repeated matter-of-factly.

"Spoken like a besotted husband and father-to-be." Kate and Rick both looked up to find Dr. Elliott standing in the exam room doorway, smiling at them. "Hello, Kate. It's good to see you. And you must be Rick."

"Yes," Rick said, shaking Dr. Elliott's hand after she entered the room. "Rick Castle, Kate's husband. It's nice to meet you, Dr. Elliott."

"I understand you're here to confirm a pregnancy," Dr. Elliott said, her smile growing wider.

"Yes," Kate said. "I took two pregnancy tests this morning that both came up positive, my period is eight days late and I'm **never** late, and I've had tender breasts for the past four days."

"Sounds like everything is pointing in that direction," Dr. Elliott agreed. She listened to Kate's heart and lungs. "When was your last period?" she asked. After Kate told her, she nodded and said, "You'd be about six weeks along, then. That would put the due date around mid-May."

"Mid-May?" Rick and Kate asked in unison. Rick covered his mouth, fighting tears, and looked at Kate, whose eyes were sparkling with pure happiness.

"I'll be able to narrow it down a bit more after we've confirmed the pregnancy, but yes, you're looking at a May baby, unless he or she decides to come early," Dr. Elliott replied.

"No," Kate said, smiling brighter than the sun. "No, this baby will definitely be born in May. I know it." She looked at Rick and reached for his hand. "A May birthday," she said softly.

"Yeah," Rick said thickly, swallowing hard past the lump of emotion in his throat.

They, of course, were both thinking the same thing: that when Kate was shot at Montgomery's funeral, that had happened in May. When Caleb Brown shot both of them in their own home, that happened in May.

But their first child was going to be born in May, and the joy of that event would far surpass the previous traumas that had occurred for them in May.

They looked at each other in amazement. "May," Kate whispered.

"May," Rick whispered back. Kate held out her hand, and Rick caught hold of it. He kissed her hand, then leaned in and kissed her lips softly.

Dr. Elliott looked at Kate's chart while she and Rick were kissing, then, when the kiss lingered, she cleared her throat as inconspicuously as she could.

"Oh," Rick said. "I'm sorry, Dr. Elliott."

But she waved him off. "Don't be," she said. "I much prefer the dads-to-be kissing the moms-to-be than fainting." She rolled a large machine up by the bottom of the exam table, by Kate's legs. "We can do a sonogram right now, and we'll be able to see the baby. That way we won't have to wait for what I'm 99% certain the blood and urine tests will reveal."

"Yes, Dr. Elliott, please, do the sonogram," Kate said.

"I had a feeling that's what you'd say," Dr. Elliott replied with a smile. She stepped away from Kate and Rick, then returned with a medium-sized tube. "This gel will be cold, Kate," Dr. Elliott warned.

Kate lay back on the exam table and pulled up her gown. She flinched when Dr. Elliott squirted the gel on her abdomen, sucking in a breath. "You weren't kidding," she said.

Dr. Elliott turned the machine on, then picked up the transducer and began running it over Kate's abdomen. Kate and Rick both focused on the screen in front of them, Rick having migrated up by Kate's head and found her hand again, which he was now holding in both of his own.

Dr. Elliott punched a few keys on the machine. "Uh huh," she announced after a long moment. Kate and Rick both had their gazes glued to the screen. "There's your uterus," she said, gesturing to the screen. Then she pointed to a tiny blob on the screen and announced, "And there's your baby."

Kate gasped. Rick exhaled a half-gasp, half-sob. "Oh my god," he said, his voice thick with emotion. Kate, too overcome to speak, squeezed his hand as hard as she could.

"It might be too early for this, but we'll give it a try anyway," Dr. Elliott said. She moved the transducer around on Kate's abdomen, then held it in place and punched another few keys on the machine. Then a rapid _thump-thump-thump_ sound filled the room.

Kate fought to hold back a sob. "Is that-?" she asked.

Dr. Elliott smiled. "Yes, that's your baby's heartbeat," she said.

"Is it supposed to be that fast?" Kate asked anxiously.

"Yes," Dr. Elliott assured her. "Everything looks great. You have a very healthy fetus here who will be making his or her debut in mid-May of next year, from what I'm seeing here. Of course, the due date is just an estimate, but I'll say May 15 to put it squarely in the middle of the month, and tell you that you could go into labor two weeks in either direction from that date. But if you're still pregnant on Memorial Day, we'll induce you."

"The baby really **is** the size of a sweet pea," Rick murmured.

"At six weeks, yes," Dr. Elliott replied. She removed the transducer from Kate's abdomen, so they could no longer hear the baby's heartbeat, but it was still echoing in both of their heads.

Kate blinked rapidly. "Can we get some pictures?" she asked Dr. Elliott.

"Definitely," Dr. Elliott replied. "You can even get a DVD, with the sound of the heartbeat, if you'd like."

"We'd like," Rick said eagerly. "Please."

"Yes," Kate added.

"I'll go and get those for you, give you a few minutes," Dr. Elliott said. "Congratulations."

"Thank you, Dr. Elliott," Kate replied.

"Thanks," Rick added.

"My job's the easy part," Dr. Elliott said. "And you're welcome." Then she left.

When they were alone, Kate couldn't hold the tears back any longer. "We're having a baby," she said emotionally.

"Baby Beckett-Castle," Rick replied just as emotionally, tucking an errant strand of Kate's hair behind her ear. "I hope she looks like you."

"She?" Kate asked.

"Or he," Rick amended. "As long as the two of you are healthy and happy, that's all that matters."

Kate began to cry in earnest then. "I'm so happy," she said through her tears. "I didn't know I could be this happy. I love you. And I love our baby."

That was the moment it really hit Rick. Kate saw the look on his face and asked, "What? What is it?"

He started to laugh and cry at the same time. "Kate Beckett is having my baby," he said.

"If you start singing that horrible song, I will twist your ear," Kate warned him, but she couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

"No song," he promised. "At least, not that one. It's just..." He took a couple of breaths to try and keep the tears from overtaking him, and still his voice shook with emotion when he looked deeply into Kate's eyes and said, "I've dreamed about this so many times. I honestly have. Even before we were together, even before I was sure that you wanted kids with me, I wanted to be here, in this moment, with you, Kate, finding out that we made a baby, finding out that I was gonna be a dad again, but only with you as the mom. And it's happening. It's really happening."

Tears shone in his eyes and his voice cracked as he continued earnestly, "I'm gonna drive you crazy from now until May. I'm sorry in advance. I won't **mean** to do it, at least not every time. But you're having our baby, Kate, so whatever I can do to make things easier and better for you, I'll do it, even if you don't actually say anything first, hence the driving you crazy, but I'll only be doing it because I love you both and I want to take care of you both, but twist my ear enough times, and I'll get the hint eventually, I promise."

She leaned forward and kissed him quickly, this sweet, wonderful man who would, without a doubt, drive her crazy right on through giving birth, which made her love him even more than she already did. When she pulled back, she said, "I've dreamed about this too. Not for as long as you have, but I only ever wanted kids with you, Rick." She stroked his cheek. "Our child is so lucky to have you for a father."

"Our child has the best mother in the world," Rick replied, cupping the back of Kate's head in his palm. "No mother could love or protect their child more fiercely and more completely than you will love and protect our child, Kate." He rested his forehead against hers, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him.

Dr. Elliott returned then, carrying a stack of pictures, a DVD in an envelope, and a sheet of paper. "Here you are," she said. "Kate, I want you to start on prenatal vitamins immediately. I usually don't write prescriptions for them anymore except in special cases. This sheet lists the amount of each component the vitamin should include. If you can't keep them down, take a Flintstones chewable if you have to. And I want you to schedule your next appointment before you leave today." She handed the pictures and the DVD to Rick. "You can carry these, Rick. I take it I'll be seeing you at the next appointment as well?"

"You'll be seeing me at all the appointments, Dr. Elliott," Rick said with a grin.

They stopped at the receptionist's desk on the way out for Kate to make her next appointment, and then went to get the prenatal vitamins that Kate would need.

After getting the vitamins, Kate said, "Could we make one more stop before we go home?"

"The cemetery?" Rick asked softly.

"Yeah," Kate said. "We really aren't supposed to tell anybody until the end of the first trimester, but..."

Rick laid his hand on Kate's shoulder. "She should be the first to know."

Kate laid her hand on top of Rick's hand on her shoulder. "I hate that she's gonna miss this," she said emotionally.

"I know," Rick replied softly.

"When I was a teenager and she'd get really frustrated with me, she'd always say, 'Someday I hope you have a daughter who's just like you!'" Kate reminisced as her tears started again.

"That sounds great to me," Rick said honestly.

"You need to have a long talk with my dad, then," Kate replied. "You didn't know the teenage me. I had my moments."

"Hey, you're talking to the guy who got arrested for being naked when he 'borrowed' a police horse," Rick reminded her. "And I didn't even have adolescence as an excuse for that one."

Kate laughed, remembering their first case. "God help the women of New York City in another few decades if this kid is a boy and he's anything like you were that first night we met," she said.

"If that's the case, he'll find his own Beckett eventually and she'll straighten him out," Rick said confidently. "Speaking of, are we finding out if we're having a boy or a girl?"

"You'd obviously like to," Kate said, amused.

"From a practical standpoint, it's easier to buy stuff if we know whether we need to buy for a boy or a girl," Rick pointed out.

"That's true," Kate mused. She was silent for a few seconds and said, "Okay, let's find out."

"Really?" Rick asked eagerly, glancing over at her before returning his eyes to the road.

"Yes," Kate replied. "Like you said, it's easier to prepare if we know what we're having, and honestly, I can't wait to see the look on your face when Dr. Elliott tells us whether Baby Beckett-Castle is a boy or a girl." She gave him a dazzling smile that he turned to see before once again returning his attention to the road.

They arrived at the cemetery, and Rick drove down the lane nearest Johanna Beckett's grave and then stopped the car. But Kate made no move to get out. "You're coming with me," she said matter-of-factly.

"Are you sure?" Rick asked.

She reached across the console for his hand. "I'm not alone anymore, in anything. This is **our** news, so we're gonna tell my mom together, just like we'll tell everybody else together in a few months."

Kate was struck by the look in Rick's eyes—a look that mixed surprise and humble gratitude.

They walked side by side to Johanna Beckett's grave, Rick's hand at the small of Kate's back. When they were standing before the headstone, Kate knelt down and ran her fingertips over her mother's name. She bowed her head and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to fight the tears that were building, but when control wouldn't come, she lifted her head and focused, through her tears, on her mother's name.

"Mom, I'm pregnant. Rick and I are having a baby," she said without preamble. "I wish so much that you were here for this, but I promise you, your grandchild is going to know all about you. So will any others we have after this one." She wiped at her eyes with her free hand, her other hand still resting on Johanna's name. "I'm happy, Mom. Rick and I are both so happy...about the baby, about everything. Your wish for me...it's coming true, because I've never been happier."

Kate fell silent then, letting the tears in her eyes course down her cheeks. She felt Rick's hand on her shoulder a moment later, and let her free hand drift up to rest on top of his hand on her shoulder. Neither of them said anything as Kate knelt, with Rick standing behind her, his hand on her shoulder, her hand on top of his, for several minutes.

When Kate was all cried out, she looked over her shoulder at Rick, her eyes red-rimmed. He pulled her to her feet and into his arms. "She knew about me, about us," he said softly into her ear as they stood before Johanna's grave, holding each other. "She knows about the baby, I'm sure of it."

Kate sniffled, then drew back to look at Rick. "She would have loved being a grandma," she said wistfully. "And she would have been great."

"She'll still be great," Rick replied. "This child is going to know everything about Grandma Johanna that there is to know. It's not the same as her being here, I know, but your mom will still be a part of our baby's life. You and your dad will make sure of that."

Kate gave Rick a watery smile. "You're right, we will," she said, hoping that her dad would be able to talk to his grandchild about the grandmother he or she would never know. "So, where to now?"

"Well, since announcing our baby news on the Jumbotron in Times Square, or taking out a full-page announcement on the front page of the _Times,_ or hiring a skywriter to tell all of Manhattan that we're expecting are all out, how about we go home and watch the sonogram DVD so we can hear the heartbeat and see the sweetpea again?" Rick asked.

Kate laughed, because all of Rick's ideas for announcements were just so _**him**_...but he was also smart enough to know that, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't do any of those things. "Sounds great to me," she said. She kissed her fingertips and touched them to her mother's name on the headstone.

She started to walk back to the car, but stopped when she realized Rick was standing before her mom's grave, looking at the headstone. He was speaking softly, but Kate heard every word he said, and it made her heart swell with so much love, she thought it might burst.

"I will love your daughter and grandchild with every fiber of my being and do everything in my power to make them both as happy as they make me for the rest of our lives, I swear it. And that applies to the kid or kids that come after this one, too."

Then he too kissed his fingertips and touched them to Johanna's name before turning to Kate. "Without her, I wouldn't have you or the sweetpea," he said.

"You're gonna call the baby 'Sweetpea,' aren't you?" Kate asked. "Like you call Alexis 'Pumpkin.'"

"I'll have to rethink it if we have a boy, but if she's a girl, then yes," Rick replied.

"I like it," Kate replied, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it. "I like it a lot. Now, take us home."

Rick beamed at her. "And we'll watch the DVD?" he asked as they walked back to the car hand in hand.

"We'll have to make sure we're alone," Kate said. "I'd like to tell everybody all at the same time...if they don't figure it out first."

"We have a few months," Rick said. "We'll come up with an excellent announcement plan-"

"Which does not involve skywriters, the Jumbotron in Times Square, or _The New York Times_ ," Kate interjected.

"-which does not involve any of those incredibly awesome things," Rick agreed, "and we'll tell them all together. That way, no one will feel slighted that they knew before someone else."

They got in the car, and Kate leaned across the console to give Rick a sizzling kiss. He responded in kind, and when he was all but panting, he broke the kiss and asked, "Can we do some more of that at home?"

"Oh yeah," Kate agreed as she buckled her seat belt. "We have a lot to celebrate."

"We sure do," Rick said as he started the car and drove them home, where, after making sure they were alone, they watched the sonogram DVD several times, marveling all over again at their little sweetpea and his or her heartbeat, and then spent a leisurely, languorous afternoon making love.

* * *

 _ **It is possible to hear the baby's heartbeat at six weeks, and any Beckett-Castle baby is going to be extraordinary, I think we can all agree. :-)**_

 _ **The Brooklyn Bazaar is a real place, but the arcade isn't as elaborate as I described here, from what I was able to read and see pictures of online.**_

 _ **Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or just Happy Saturday, to all of you, depending on what you celebrate.**_


	33. Chapter 33

_**Thank you to everyone who is reading, reviewing, and following. I hope you continue to enjoy the story. This chapter isn't as exciting as the last chapter, I'm afraid, but I promise, there's lots more good stuff ahead for everyone, especially Kate and Rick.  
**_

* * *

Just a few days after Dr. Elliott confirmed Kate's pregnancy, she woke up out of a sound sleep at 5 AM, feeling horribly nauseous. She tried taking deep breaths, but less than a moment later, she was vaulting out of bed and making a beeline for the bathroom.

Rick was awakened by the sounds of his wife retching, and that sent him vaulting out of bed and into the bathroom too. Kate was in the middle of throwing up when he skidded into the room, but he didn't miss a beat, hurrying to her side, dropping to his knees behind her, and holding her hair back with one hand while rubbing what he hoped were soothing circles in the middle of her back with his other hand.

When she was done, she flushed the toilet, put down the lid, and looked at Rick over her shoulder. "Thank you," she said softly.

"I'm sorry," he said, feeling responsible for her morning sickness.

"Totally worth it," she replied with a wan smile.

Rick helped Kate to her feet, then bent his head to talk to her belly. "Hey, Sweetpea, take it a little easier on your mom, will you, please?"

Rick already talked to the baby at every opportunity, and although she had looked it up and knew their child didn't have ears yet, Kate didn't have the heart or the desire to tell him to stop. It was just too sweet, too endearing, too **him.**

Kate brushed her teeth and then she and Rick shuffled back to bed, but when they were back in bed and Kate went to snuggle up to Rick, she couldn't because he was on his phone. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Looking up morning sickness remedies," he replied. "Hmm...ginger...peppermint...saltines..."

She reached over, took his phone out of his hand, and set it on his nightstand. "There's only one remedy that I really want right now," she said.

"What?" Rick asked eagerly. "Whatever it is, you've got it, Kate."

She laid her head on his chest and snuggled close to him. "Just hold me," she said. "If I need anything else, I promise, you'll be the first to know, but I feel better now that I threw up, so just hold me, Rick."

His arms wrapped around her, and he felt her smile against his chest. Within minutes, Kate was sound asleep again, and before Rick drifted off, he made a mental note to check and see how long morning sickness was supposed to last.

* * *

Alexis and Javier were both pacing like expectant fathers out of a 1950s sitcom or movie. Alexis checked her watch. "It should be almost over, shouldn't it?" she asked.

"Should be," he said.

Just then, the doors opened, and people came streaming out of the exam room. In the middle of the pack was a very disheveled-looking Kevin Ryan. His vest was rumpled, his tie was loosened, his collar open, one of his shirt collars was sticking up, and his hair was a mess from him having raked his fingers through it multiple times. "Kevin!" Alexis called.

He looked up when he heard Alexis call his name, and he made his way through the crowd, over to her and Javi. "So how was it?" Alexis asked.

"Brutal," Kevin replied honestly. "But I think I did okay. I won't know for a couple months."

"I remember," Javi said. "I'm sure you did great, bro."

"I did my best," Kevin replied, looking from Javi to Alexis and back again. "And I feel like I knew more of the answers than I did last time. If I pass, it's gonna be because of you guys."

"You did the hard part," Javi said.

"Yeah," Alexis added. "You worked really hard and studied night and day for the past few months, and you went in there as prepared as you could be."

"But you guys were there with me, helping me study, and making sure I learned what I needed to learn," Kevin replied. "Credit where credit is due, you know?"

"Yeah, bro, we know," Javi replied.

"Now comes the hardest part," Kevin said ruefully, running his hand through his mussed hair once more. "Waiting for the results."

"That **is** the hardest part," Alexis agreed, remembering her own wait to hear from Columbia Law School, "but we're rooting for you, and I'll be surprised if you don't pass."

"I hope I passed," Kevin said. "I already promised Jenny a car if I did. Well, a minivan."

"Not an SUV?" Javi teased.

"Jenny has her heart set on an Odyssey," Kevin said. "And if it makes her happy, that's good enough for me. And it's not like I'll mind driving it." Now he looked worried again for a moment. "But we can't afford it if I don't pass this test and get promoted to Sergeant."

"You'll make it," Alexis said confidently. "And whenever you think you won't, Javier and I will be here to encourage you."

"You know it," Javi said.

Kevin smiled at them. "I pretty much sweated through my shirt here," he said, "so I'd better get home and shower and change. You guys want to drop by and say hi?"

"I wish I could, but I have to get to class," Alexis said. "Tell Jenny and the kids 'hi' for me, though." Then she turned her attention to Javier. "And I'll call you later."

"Okay," Javier agreed. Alexis stretched up on tiptoe to kiss him, but at the last second, she remembered Kevin was watching, and, feeling awkward about that, she kissed Javier's cheek. "Bye," she told him.

"Bye," he said.

Kevin watched Javier watching Alexis leave, then said, "So, everything's going okay with you two?"

"Yeah," Javier said, and Kevin was struck by the wonder in Javi's tone. Kevin had never heard Javi talk about any woman the way he talked about Alexis...when he talked about her at all. Kevin knew that his partner played things close to the vest, that he kept a lot of his emotions locked up inside, and from where he stood, it looked like Alexis might be the one to open those floodgates, in much the same manner her father had done for Beckett.

"If you ever want to talk, or you want advice, I'm here," Kevin said.

Javi nodded. "I know," he said. "It's just all so new still, but at the same time, it feels...ah..." He trailed off and looked at the floor, scuffing one shoe.

"It feels like what?" Kevin asked gently.

"It feels like I've been putting together a jigsaw puzzle for a long time, and there were so many pieces I couldn't find, let alone get to fit," Javi replied. Here he looked up at Kevin. "And now, those pieces are starting to fall into place. Stuff that I wasn't even aware was missing from my life is in my life now because of Alexis. It was the last thing I expected, and something I never thought would happen, but it **is** happening. I just don't want to screw it up."

"You won't," Kevin assured him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"I could," Javi said. "You know my track record, Kev."

"Yes, but none of those women were Alexis, were they?" Kevin retorted.

"No. No, they sure weren't," Javi agreed.

"I'm glad things are going well. I'm happy for you, for both of you," Kevin said. "And I meant it before, Javi: if you ever do want to talk about it, or you want advice, I'm here."

"Thanks," Javi said. "I might take you up on that at some point."

Kevin grinned, his first real smile of the day. "I'll be standing by," he promised.

* * *

"And you're sure it's okay that Rick and I go up to the cabin this weekend?" Kate asked her father for the dozenth time.

"Katie, it's fine," Jim assured her for the dozenth time. "I wasn't planning to go up to the cabin this weekend anyway. If you and Rick want to go, by all means, go, and have a good time." He handed the keys to the cabin to his daughter. "You're sure you want to go to the cabin, though? You haven't been up there since..." Jim trailed off.

"Since I was shot the first time," Kate said wryly, "and I spent almost two months hiding out up there, mostly by myself, two breaths away from a panic attack at all times, until I gave up and came back to the city. Yes, Dad, I'm sure. I have a few old demons to face, and this is the time to face them, with Rick by my side. Plus I've never taken him up there, and I want to."

"I was up there about a month ago," Jim replied. "You'll need to take groceries, but otherwise everything's in shape. Extra blankets, all that kind of thing."

"Great," Kate said. She hugged her father, and he hugged her back. "Thanks, Dad." She released Jim and pocketed the keys.

Jim looked at his daughter. "Something's different about you," he said. Kate's heart started to pound then. _He couldn't know...could he?_ , she wondered. If her dad figured it out, that would ruin the way she wanted to surprise him with the news, and, she fretted, if he figured it out, she couldn't very well lie to him, but she and Rick wanted to tell everyone all together at the same time, so no one would have hurt feelings over when they were told.

While these thoughts were racing through Kate's mind, her dad tilted his head quizzically, then finally straightened his head, and exclaimed, "I know! New haircut, right? Just a couple of inches, but your hair is definitely a little bit shorter than it was."

It was all Kate could do not to breathe a sigh of relief. "That's it exactly, Dad," she said, and she was telling the truth, because she had gotten a trim just the day before. "Just a little trim. Split ends."

Jim gave Kate a bittersweet smile. "That was always your mom's department," he said. Kate pocketed the keys to the cabin. "Have a good time," he said.

"We will," Kate replied. "I'll call you when we get back. We'll have a Sunday dinner to make up."

"Name the time and place, and I'll be there, even if it isn't Sunday," Jim said with a smile.

Kate left her dad's feeling very relieved that Sweetpea was still only known to her and Rick. Maybe one of the things they could discuss at the cabin was how and when to tell everybody all at the same time, she mused as she headed home.

* * *

When Kate got home, Rick wasn't there, since he had a meeting at Black Pawn, but Alexis was there, and on the phone. She was laughing at whatever the person she was speaking to was saying.

Rick arrived home just moments after Kate, and after kissing her hello, and exaggeratedly waving to Alexis, Alexis wrapped up her call by saying, "I should get going...my folks are here. Yeah, I'll talk to you later. 'Bye."

"You didn't have to cut your phone conversation short on our account," Rick said.

"So, who is he?" Kate asked nonchalantly.

The deer-in-the-headlights look on Alexis's face was so stark, it made Rick's jaw literally drop. Kate hid her smile at both of their expressions behind a bottle of water she had grabbed from the fridge.

"He who?" Rick asked, looking from Kate to Alexis. "Are you dating someone, Alexis?"

"Yes," Alexis said after several seconds' pause.

"And you didn't say anything?" Rick asked, somewhat hurt.

"I'm saying something now," Alexis replied. "It's still very new."

"When do we get to meet him?" Rick wanted to know. Then he looked horrified. "Wait...you're not back with Pi, are you?"

"No!" Alexis exclaimed. "No, Dad, I am **not** back with Pi. Or Max, or Ashley, or anyone else I've previously dated."

"So, a new guy," Rick said.

Alexis looked to Kate for help. "Did he ever tell you about the first time he met Ashley?" she asked Kate. "He walked in the front door when Ashley and I were kissing on the couch, carrying a dueling pistol. He freaked Ashley out so much, Ashley all but ran out of here."

"I remember that case," Kate said. Then she looked at her husband. "Rick, you didn't!"

"He did," Alexis said. "So please, Kate, tell me that you, at least, understand why I'm not in a big hurry to introduce this new guy to Dad."

Kate looked at Rick. "Oh, I get it, believe me," she said, addressing Alexis. "You overreact to all her boyfriends, don't you?"

"Hey, you didn't think Pi was that great either," Rick reminded her.

"No argument there," Kate said. She looked at Alexis. "He's older, isn't he?"

Alexis couldn't bring herself to feel anything but admiration for Kate. "How did you know?" she asked.

"Just a hunch," Kate replied.

"Wait a minute, you're dating an older guy?" Rick asked, his voice going up an octave.

"Not a professor, I hope," Kate said, and Alexis was touched by the concern in Kate's eyes.

"No, he's not a professor," Alexis assured.

"But he's older than you," Rick reiterated.

"You're older than me, Castle. By a decade," Kate said before taking another sip of water.

Rick just looked at Kate. "That's different," he said.

"How?" Kate and Alexis asked in unison.

"It just is!" Rick exclaimed. He gestured between Kate and himself. "You and I are married. And we were meant to be from the moment we met." He looked at Alexis now. "What is this guy's deal?"

Before Alexis could say anything, remembering the way both of her parents interrogated her boyfriends (though she had been younger than Alexis when they did that), Kate said, "What field is he in—law, medicine, research? Is he getting his doctorate so he can be a professor? Is he a hot TA in one of your classes?"

Rick's head dropped into his hands. "Do not use the phrase 'hot TA' in association with Alexis, please, Kate," he groaned.

"Law," Alexis replied, reminding herself that this was technically true.

"And he treats you right?" Kate asked.

Alexis smiled. "He's a true gentleman," she said, which was also true.

"And it's still new," Kate said.

"Very," Alexis said. She looked at Kate and Rick earnestly. "I'm not trying to keep anything from you guys. I want us all to sit down together and have dinner and talk. Just...not yet, okay? We're still figuring out where this is going."

"But we **will** get to meet him?" Rick pressed.

"When we're ready for that, Dad, yes, I'll bring him to dinner with you and Kate," Alexis replied.

"Soon?" Rick asked.

"When we're ready," Alexis repeated.

"We're going up to my dad's cabin this weekend," Kate said. "You're welcome to come along if you'd like."

"Thanks, Kate, but I have plans this weekend," Alexis said.

"With Mr. Mystery Date," Rick grumped.

Alexis crossed the room to give her father a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I'll always be your little girl, Dad," she said seriously.

Rick pulled Alexis into another hug. "Yes, you will," he said firmly. When he released her, he said, "Just promise you won't have Mr. Mystery Date over while Kate and I are at her dad's cabin. Not because I don't trust you," he hurried on when Alexis opened her mouth to speak. "Because I don't trust him."

"Okay, I won't have him over while you and Kate are gone," Alexis promised.

Alexis then hugged Kate. "Thanks for having my back," she said so only Kate could hear her.

"Part of being a mom, isn't it?" Kate asked. "I heard you tell your boyfriend that your folks were home."

"You're the only real mom I have," Alexis said. After releasing Kate, she pecked a kiss to her cheek. "And I'm glad it's you. You were worth the wait."

"She certainly was," Rick chimed in.

After Alexis had retreated to her room, Rick smiled at Kate. "What?" Kate asked.

"I was just thinking about how lucky Alexis is to have you," he said. Then he moved closer to her and whispered in her ear, "And how lucky Sweetpea's gonna be to have you for a mom."

"We have to come up with a plan to tell everybody at the same time," Kate whispered back. "When I went to get the keys to the cabin from my dad, he said there was something different about me, and I was afraid he was going to figure it out. But he just noticed I had my hair trimmed yesterday."

Rick glanced towards the stairs, making sure Alexis wasn't about to come bounding back to the main floor, then splayed his palm on Kate's belly. "We'll figure that out this weekend," he said.

"Among other things," Kate agreed with a smile.


	34. Chapter 34

_**Thank you for reading, following, and reviewing. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**_

* * *

Alexis and Javier were having dinner at Alexis's favorite pizza restaurant, a little hole-in-the-wall place near the Columbia campus. Alexis had just finished filling Javier in on her conversation of the day before with her dad and Kate. "Everything I said was true," she concluded. "I just didn't tell them your name."

"Did you want to?" Javier asked.

"I'm not ashamed of you, or of us," Alexis said firmly, lifting her chin. "We're not doing anything wrong. I just...It's all still so new. And I know that your dad's not supposed to like your boyfriend, at least at first. He hasn't liked anyone I've dated so far. But he already likes you. You're friends. You've been friends for a long time. I don't want to wreck your friendship with my dad, or your friendship with Kate, either."

"I don't want that, either," Javier said, "because the truth is, Alexis, Castle and Beckett...they're not just my friends. They're my family. Castle and Beckett...Ryan and Jenny and Sarah G and Nick.. **.that's** my family. I haven't seen my old man since I was five. My mom and my _abuela_ are both dead. My entire personal life is at stake here." He reached across the table for her hand now. "And I **want** it to be at stake. I know that Beckett is capable of handing me my ass. And I've seen Castle go after perps that are threatening Beckett, so I'm not crazy enough to think that he wouldn't come after me too if I did anything to hurt you, or if he and Beckett thought I was stepping out of line with you in any way."

"I don't want to rush anything," Alexis said, "but I don't want to cost you anything either, Javier. I don't want to cost you your family."

"Let's get one thing straight right here and now: you could never cost me anything, Lex. You have made my life so much fuller and so much better. And Kevin and Jenny are on our side."

"That's another thing: I don't want people picking sides here," Alexis said worriedly.

"Your dad's never gonna think any man is good enough for you," Javier pointed out.

"That's true," Alexis agreed.

He looked her right in the eyes now. "But I'm going to do everything I can to prove to him, and Beckett, and Martha, that even if I'm never good enough for you as far as they're concerned, I will never stop trying to **be** good enough for you."

Alexis's expression softened. She leaned across the table to kiss him quickly, chastely, since they were in public.

"Gram's opening in _Steel Magnolias_ next weekend in Pennsylvania," she said. "Opening Night is sold out, though." She looked apologetic now. "We're going up for Opening Night and we're staying the night at this place called Lambertville House because Dad and Kate both said they don't want to try and make the drive back to New York City that late at night. They're a lot more cautious now...understandably so."

Javier nodded. "Actually, I already knew Opening Night was sold out, and that's okay. I have to work that night and Saturday anyway." The news that he had to work, and the fact that they were still keeping the true nature of their relationship a secret from Castle and Beckett, didn't stop Alexis's face from falling in disappointment.

Javier reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out two small pieces of paper. He laid them on the table and said, "It's a good thing I called and got these tickets for the first Sunday matinee the day after Martha announced she'd gotten the part, then."

Alexis fumbled for the tickets on the table and looked from them to Javier in surprise. "Eighth row center?" she exclaimed.

"Best seats in the house," Javier replied. "Well, best seats in the house they had left for that matinee. I did try for front row center, but-"

He was cut off when Alexis got up from her chair, because she couldn't reach across the table to hug him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her chin on his shoulder. "Thank you," she said. "I would love to see my grandmother in _Steel Magnolias_ with you."

Javier hugged Alexis back, his nose level with her shoulder, breathing deeply of her scent—lavender soap, apple shampoo, and just a hint of fabric softener, along with the late-summer sunshine.

The hug lingered for a long moment, then Javier and Alexis released each other.

When Alexis had resumed her seat, Javier shoved their plates and the pizza pan aside and reached both of his hands across the table. Alexis placed her hands in his, and as they looked into each other's eyes, Javier gently squeezed Alexis's hands and said, "I'm not going to do anything to ruin any of this. Us, keeping Beckett and your dad as part of my family, not having people taking sides...I got this, Alexis."

"No," she said, making his heart skip a beat in fear. " **We've** got this, Javier. You and me, together. I know how well together can work. I've seen it with my dad and Kate."

Javier was floored and hopeful all at the same time. "Are you..." He stopped, cleared his throat, and then started again. "Are you saying you want us to be like your dad and Beckett?"

"Well, I don't think it'll take us four years to decide what, exactly, the nature of our relationship will be," Alexis said. "But their relationship **is** the standard by which I measure all others."

"They're one of my standards too, for relationships," Javier said. "Kevin and Jenny are the other one."

"Kevin and Jenny have a solid relationship," Alexis agreed. "So we know we have excellent role models. Well, minus the four years of denial and dating other people Dad and Kate went through."

"I don't want to date anybody else but you," Javier said earnestly.

"And I don't want to date anybody else but you," Alexis replied just as earnestly. They fell silent, just looking at each other in wonder. "I think we'll know when it's time to tell Dad and Kate about us."

"Now we just have to avoid somebody else spilling the beans to them first," Javier remarked.

"Gram won't say anything, and neither will Lanie," Alexis said.

"Kevin and Jenny won't say anything either," Javier replied.

"So when we're ready, we'll be the ones to tell Dad and Kate about us," Alexis said.

"You've got a deal," Javier agreed before letting go of one of Alexis's hands to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

* * *

Peppermint turned out to be the morning sickness remedy that worked best for Kate. Peppermint tea, and the little hard peppermint candies, became staples for her. She started keeping handfuls of the peppermints in her pockets so they were at hand during the day, and she had a main stash in her bedside table. The worst of the morning sickness actually did come in the morning, but certain smells would trigger nausea and the occasional vomiting in her in the afternoon or evening, leading to a ban on bacon in the loft for the duration when the mere scent of the bacon Rick was frying for BLTs one night for dinner sent Kate rushing to the bathroom to throw up. But Kate maintained that the throwing up, and the sometimes-crippling nausea, were totally worth it, and finally snapped at Rick to stop looking guilty every time she paled or rushed for the bathroom. The next instant, she apologized for snapping at him but pointed out, "We both want this. And pregnant women are nauseous and throw up. I'm glad I'm not around dead bodies anymore, because the first time a dead body made me puke, Lanie would **know** I'm pregnant, and the jig would be up!"

"We need to announce the baby to everyone at the same time, and in a special way," Rick agreed.

"No billboards, skywriters, or full-page announcements in the _Times_ ," Kate reminded him, pointing a warning finger at him.

He didn't even look disappointed at the reminder, Kate reflected. "We'll come up with something better, and more intimate," Rick promised.

The morning they headed up to the cabin, they made a stop for coffee, and Rick insisted on ordering for both of them. "You didn't throw up today, and the nausea wasn't even too bad," he pointed out. "Moving around too much might bring it back."

Kate grimaced. "Perish the thought," she said.

Rick had another motive for ordering their coffees, however. When he and Kate were back in the car, Kate driving at her own insistence since she was feeling good and she knew where the cabin was, Rick handed Kate her coffee, and one sip made the surprise register starkly on her face.

"This is my usual coffee!" she exclaimed.

"It turns out that it's perfectly safe for you and the Sweetpea for you to have one ten-ounce cup of coffee, or the equivalent of two hundred milligrams of caffeine, a day, without any adverse effects," he replied.

"And you know this how?" Kate asked.

"Search engines, and verifying it with Dr. Elliott," Rick replied.

Kate set her to-go cup in the cupholder, leaned across the console, and kissed Rick hard and fast. "You are getting **so** lucky later," she said as she drew back, beaming. "Real coffee!"

"Only the best for you, Kate," Rick replied earnestly.

They got on the road again. "There's no Wi-Fi at the cabin," Kate said out of the blue.

"You mentioned that," Rick replied. "I didn't bring my laptop."

"There's a TV, but we don't even have cable up there," Kate continued.

"I wasn't planning on watching much TV, but okay," Rick said. "Seriously, Kate—a cabin, a fireplace, you and the Sweetpea...that's all I want and all I need."

"Good," Kate said. "Good. That's—that's good."

It was a rare thing to see Kate nervous, let alone as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. But Rick Castle knew Kate Beckett better than anyone else on the planet. "Kate," he said gently. She subtly loosened her grip on the steering wheel, and Rick saw the color return to her white knuckles, the set of her jaw still grimly determined. "This is the first time you've been to your dad's cabin since the summer after you were shot at Montgomery's funeral, isn't it?"

Kate took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Yes," she said after a long moment of silence passed. They were on one of the back roads, not more than ten minutes from the cabin, and Kate pulled the car over to the side of the road, parked, and turned off the ignition. She took another deep breath and turned to look at Rick there beside her. "I really do want to take you to the cabin. I wouldn't have put it on my list if I didn't," she said. "But no, I haven't set foot up there since that summer. I wasn't ready to face it again. I'm still not sure I'm ready to face it now, but I have to face it, Rick—for myself, for us, for the Sweetpea." Her palm rested on her abdomen. "I know all too well how the past can cast a shadow over you for years if you let it. I defined myself by my mother's murder until you came into my life and made me want to get beyond it as much as I could."

Rick reached over and took the hand Kate didn't have resting over their growing child in his, brushing a kiss across her knuckles. "When my mom died," she continued, "I put all the great memories of her in this mental box and locked it up tight and shoved it down inside me underneath all the grief and the anger and the relentless drive to find out who took her away from me and my dad and why. It's only been in the past few years that I've started sifting through that mental box, and ever since we found out about the baby, she's been in the back of my mind almost constantly."

"In the place I used to occupy before you admitted you were crazy about me?" Rick asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"You still have the same place in my mind you always did, Rick. It's just gotten bigger since we officially became us," Kate replied. "I want the Sweetpea to know about my mom. I want us to be able to take him or her to the cabin, and go apple picking, like I used to do with my mom, and I want to bake apple pie with the apples we picked with him or her, like my mom and I used to do. I want us to go ice skating, like my mom and I did. I want..." She swallowed hard. "If we have a girl, I want to brush her hair the way my mom brushed mine, and I want her to watch me doing my hair and makeup when you and I are getting ready to go out for a date night, and paint her fingernails and put just the faintest dusting of makeup on her so you can tell her how beautiful she is, the way my dad used to do before he and my mom went out for the evening. I want her to know that there is nothing she can't do or be, and I want to be there for her until she's older than I am now. Of course, the same applies if he's a boy, except for the hair and makeup."

"In that case, we'd better keep him away from Mother when she has one of her parties for her theater friends," Rick joked. Kate gave a watery chuckle. He turned serious again immediately, though. "You know, if you really don't feel ready for this, Kate, we can turn around and go home. We don't have to do this today."

"We're almost there," Kate said. "And I want to do this today. This particular shadow has been hanging over me long enough, Rick. I won't lie; I'm scared I'll have a panic attack. I'm scared I'll have screaming nightmares, or flashbacks to sitting in the dark night after night that summer, holding my gun, wound so tightly that the touch of a feather would make me shatter into a million pieces, forcing myself not to shoot at the sound of a hooting owl or a raccoon foraging in the garbage or a tree branch scratching against a window in the middle of the night.

"I can face this now, even being as scared as I am, because I'll be facing it with you. I can face anything as long as I face it with you."

Rick squeezed Kate's hand. "Then we'll face it together. And whatever happens, Kate, whether it's panic attacks or screaming nightmares or flashbacks or whatever, just let it happen. I promise, I will be there to hold you, and to get you through it, to catch you if you fall."

Kate nodded. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too," Rick replied.

Kate started the car again, put it in gear, and they drove the rest of the way to the cabin in silence. Rick hadn't been entirely certain what to expect, but when the cabin came into view, his jaw dropped.

He was getting to know Jim Beckett a lot better now than he had known him before, but whenever Kate alluded to her father's cabin, Rick pictured a rudimentary bachelor type of place, a small roughing it hangout where Jim went to escape the city, do some fishing, maybe get in touch with his inner Thoreau, if he had one.

The cabin was made of logs, but that was the only rustic thing about it on first sight.

Jim Beckett's cabin was two stories, with a wraparound porch, and a concrete foundation with two small windows visible, revealing what was probably an unfinished basement. The roof extended into an overhang that covered the three steps up to the porch and the front door.

The upper level had four dormer windows, two pairs of two, which Rick surmised were the bedrooms. One pair faced the front yard, the other pair was on the far right side of the cabin.

Kate gently braked, put the car in 'Park,' and shut off the ignition, looking over at Rick, who was looking up at the cabin. "Not what you were expecting?" she asked.

"No," he admitted, awed.

"It's a getaway place. No cable TV was the rule, but we weren't big into nature. I'd go fishing with my dad sometimes. Mostly he'd fish, and Mom and I would bring books to read. The lake and the dock are 100 yards out the back door," Kate said. "There's a fireplace"-Rick noticed the chimney at those words—"two bedrooms, one bathroom, unfinished basement, living room and kitchen. Pretty basic."

Kate got out of the car, and Rick followed after her, snagging their two suitcases from the trunk.

The interior was homey and inviting, Johanna Beckett's doing, no doubt. Two armchairs in dark brown, with a matching couch in front of a coffee table, sat on a woven rug in alternating shades of brown, tan, white, and ivory. Overstuffed brown-and-white striped throw pillows sat on either end of the couch. A 19-inch television set, circa 1998, sat on top of a black lacquered television stand opposite the couch and coffee table. One whole wall was comprised of a stone fireplace with a wooden mantel, and the iron-and-brass floor lamps beside the armchairs match the smaller lamps on the end tables flanking the couch.

The kitchen held a small table with four chairs, stove, refrigerator, microwave, toaster, and of course a coffeepot. The kitchen was done in yellow-curtains, paint on the walls, even the Formica countertops were yellow. Actual yellow, that is, not yellow with age.

The stairs leading to the second level were carpeted in tan right up the middle, the wooden planks of the steps peering out on either end where the carpet ended. Kate led the way upstairs, Rick following her with their bags. At the top of the stairs, she turned left. "This is my...our room," she corrected herself as she entered the bedroom. "Bathroom's across the hall. My parents' room is down the hall. Their room overlooks the front of the cabin; ours overlooks the side yard, with the big pine tree. And speaking of the bathroom, I'll be back in a couple of minutes. And no, I don't have to be sick," she added at his concerned look.

The room held a double bed with a nondescript floral print comforter and plain white pillowcases on the pillows-"I upgraded from the old twin bed the summer I spent out here," Kate explained—with nightstands holding small lamps flanking the table. A wooden chest sat at the foot of the bed, and a wooden five-drawer bureau with an oval mirror hanging on the wall above it were across from the bed. The windows overlooking the side yard were on the right side of the room; the closet was behind the bedroom door.

Rick set the bags on top of the wooden chest at the foot of the bed, figuring he and Kate could unpack later.

He figured they'd take the same sides of the bed they slept in at home, Kate on the left, himself on the right.

It was when he was giving the room a closer inspection that he noticed the object resting next to the lamp on the nightstand on the left side—Kate's side—of the bed: a dog-eared, well-worn paperback copy of _Flowers for Your Grave._

Kate returned from the bathroom to find Rick standing next to her side of the bed, holding the mass market paperback copy of _Flowers for Your Grave_ that she had left on the nightstand when she had made the spur-of-the-moment decision in the middle of yet another harried night to leave the cabin and return to her apartment in the city.

"When my dad brought me up here to recover that summer after I was shot the first time, I insisted we had to stop at Barnes & Noble on the way out of the city," she said. Rick looked up from the book in his hands in time to catch her nod at the book. "That was the reason. They had most of your books, but that was the only one I bought that day. I read it all the way through five times while I was up here. So even though **you** weren't with me that summer, Rick, you _**were**_ with me. That was not a random purchase. I picked that book because that was the book that brought us into each other's lives...the Tisdale case."

Every time Rick thought Kate couldn't possibly surprise him more, couldn't possibly make him fall more in love with her, she went and proved him wrong. She did it again now.

She crossed the room to stand beside him and looked at the copy of _Flowers for Your Grave_ in his hand. "I was such a mess that summer. I was so broken, I didn't know if I'd ever be able to gather up all the pieces of myself and put myself back together, and I was scared that if I let you do it, because I knew even then that you **could** do it, that I'd ruin us, because I was so not ready for all of this back then. But I needed to have some part of you with me while I was recovering from that first shooting and all the baggage it left me with, and this was it." She reached for the book, not taking it from him, but taking hold of it herself, so they were both holding it now.

"You've been a part of me since the moment we met, Castle," she continued. "Me being me at the time, I was afraid of it, and I fought it. I didn't know if I could do this, us, be in a real relationship with you. But you waited. Sometimes not so patiently, but I thank God every day that you never gave up on me."

"I will never give up on you, Kate," he replied. "I understand why I couldn't be here in person for you then, but if my words helped you at all, I'm glad you at least had them. Glad, and humbled."

"Richard Castle, humbled?" Kate asked. "Where's a pen and paper? I need to write down the date." Then she gave him one of her breath-stealing, dazzling smiles.

He smiled back at her. She let go of the book to hug him then, and with the book still in one hand, he hugged her back.

After lunch, Kate and Rick went for a walk in the area surrounding the cabin. The trees were wearing their autumn finery, the leaves brilliant, vibrant shades of red, orange, and gold, unspoiled by the kind of pollution from traffic and factories that made most leaves on the trees in the city turn a brittle shade of brown that matched their crumbling texture.

"It's really beautiful up here," Rick said as he and Kate strolled hand in hand towards the lake. "Thanks for bringing me here. We'll have to bring the Sweetpea up here."

"Will you be disappointed if we're having a boy?" Kate asked.

Rick stopped short, causing Kate to stop short too. "Whoa, where did that come from?" Rick asked. "Of course I won't be disappointed if Sweetpea's a boy. I'll just have to come up with another nickname for him, because I just can't call our son' Sweetpea.' Not without picturing Popeye and Olive Oyl with their Sweetpea. Whose kid **was** he, anyway? He wasn't Popeye and Olive Oyl's. He wasn't Bluto's. Wimpy would have only had a kid if the mother was a hamburger. I guess I didn't watch enough Popeye cartoons growing up to get an answer."

"I'm serious, Rick," Kate said.

"So am I," he said. "I'll have to Google that when we get home, find out exactly what the story was. But I'm also serious about being thrilled to have a son with you, if that's what we're having."

"But you really want a girl," Kate pressed. "A mini-Beckett. You said so in the hospital."

"Of course I want a girl who looks and acts like you," Rick replied. "Just like you want a little boy who...well, looks like me." Rick looked at Kate seriously now. "Boy or girl, as long as you and our baby are healthy, that's **all** I want."

"If we have a boy, how would you feel about 'Alexander' for a name?" Kate asked.

Rick considered this for a moment. "It would be okay for a middle name," he said.

Kate smiled. "Remember that case from years ago with the psychic?" she asked.

"Vivian Marchand," Rick said, nodding. "It turns out she was right, after all. A beautiful woman **did** one day move into my loft, and she's going to stay with me forever. And it **wasn't** my mother."

"Well, her daughter told me, during the investigation, that she had a little of what her mom had, that she had dreams about people sometimes, and she had a dream about me and that she felt very strongly that she was supposed to tell me something important. She told me that I would meet an Alexander, and he would be extremely important to me, and at some future date, he may even save my life."

Rick beamed. "That was no coincidence! She was talking about me!"

"She was," Kate agreed. "So 'Alexander' for a middle name if we have a boy is okay with you?"

"Absolutely," Rick replied. "I actually had a thought about a middle name if we have a girl."

"I know you want a mini-Beckett, but we're **not** naming our daughter after me, not even her middle name," Kate said firmly.

"I didn't figure you'd go for that," Rick replied. "That's not what I was thinking. I was thinking our hypothetical future daughter's middle name should be 'Johanna.'"

Kate's eyes welled with tears. "Yes," she said instantly. "Yes. Definitely."

"Great, so now all we have to do is come up with first names," Rick said.

"Nothing trendy," Kate said firmly. "And nothing weird."

"And no comic book or sci-fi characters," Rick said. Off Kate's look of surprise he said, "Oh, like that wasn't going to be the next caveat out of your mouth."

"It was," Kate replied. They wandered down toward the lake and walked to the end of the dock, but the breeze off the lake was cold for late September, and Kate shivered involuntarily. Rick immediately took off his button-down shirt and draped it over her shoulders.

"Let's head back to the cabin," Rick said. "I'll build a fire. We can't have you and Sweetpea getting cold."

"A nap sounds good too," Kate said, linking her arm through his as they made their way back to the cabin. "We'll need our energy for later." She gave him a saucy smile.

He turned his head to kiss her temple as they walked, and she felt him smile against her temple. When they got back to the cabin, he built a fire in the fireplace, and they snuggled together on the couch.

And when Kate fell asleep with her head on Rick's shoulder a few minutes later, he pulled the afghan off the back of the couch and covered her with it, then just sat there, holding her and watching her sleep and being grateful for how blessed he was to have her and their baby-to-be.


	35. Chapter 35

_**Thank you to everyone who is reading, reviewing, and supporting. I hope you continue to enjoy the story. Life got in the way this week, so this chapter will be shorter than most, but I'll do my best to make up for it next week.**_

* * *

When Kate blinked herself awake, the first shadows of darkness were beginning to fall outside, and Rick's steady, even breathing behind her let her know that he had fallen asleep too, probably sometime after her.

The fire was almost completely out, and a slight chill was settling over the cabin, even though Kate realized that she and Rick were covered with the afghan from the back of the couch. Well, she was covered with the afghan from the couch, but she had been in his arms, her head on his shoulder, and their shared body heat had kept them warm as they slept.

Kate watched Rick sleeping for a few minutes. He looked so much like a little boy when he slept. She got a mental picture then, of herself and Rick, standing beside their baby's crib late at night, watching him or her sleeping.

Just as Kate was reconciling herself to the fact that she was going to be one of _ **those**_ mothers, the ones who got up in the middle of the night and checked on their kids just to make sure they were still breathing, she felt Rick stir and focused her attention on watching him awaken. "Hi," she said softly, smiling at him.

Rick awoke to Kate's smiling face beside him, the afghan thrown haphazardly across her lap and trailing onto the floor in front of the couch, the arm of his that she had slept on having a pins-and-needles feeling as the circulation returned to normal.

"Hi," he said, his voice rough with sleep. "Did you have a good nap?"

"Mmm-hmm," Kate replied, playing with the buttons on his shirt. "Did you?"

Rick stretched his arms above his head before wrapping them around Kate. "Yes," he replied. "I didn't intend to take a nap, but I was holding you in my arms and watching you sleep and I just drifted off before I knew it. But it's a good thing I had a nap. My wife told me earlier I'm getting lucky later." Rick leered at Kate then, which sent her into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

Rick gave Kate a wounded look as she fought to get herself under control. "Awww, babe," Kate said as she finally regained control of herself and took a deep breath. "I'm not making fun of you, honestly. It's just that when you leered just then..." She trailed off, coughing to cover an impending fit of laughter. Recovering herself again, she said, "I love how expressive you are—your face, your emotions, your words, everything."

"So you're saying that the leer is not my strong suit," Rick concluded.

"Not really, no," Kate admitted. "But I don't need you leering. You turn me on in so many other ways."

"I do?" Rick asked, sliding his hands beneath Kate's sweater, making her breath catch as he slowly rubbed up and down her back.

"Y-yes," Kate stuttered. "And never more than when you're being completely serious and earnest...and...and when you touch me..." She trailed off to kiss him, her tongue tracing the seam of his lips. He offered her instant entrance, pulling her closer as she mapped the interior of his mouth with her tongue. After several heated minutes of kissing and caressing each other on the couch, Kate rested her forehead against Rick's and breathlessly said, "I think we'd better move this to the bedroom, because you're gonna get really lucky right now."

Rick just smiled as he and Kate stood up, leaving the afghan puddling from the edge of the couch to the floor and, hand-in-hand, headed upstairs.

Much later, with moonlight streaming in the window, they lay in bed, wrapped up in the sheets, Rick propped up against the headboard of the bed, and Kate lying sideways in the bed with her head and shoulders resting in the middle of Rick's chest, right above his stomach. Rick had one arm stretched across Kate's abdomen, and she threaded her fingers through his.

"I was thinking," Kate began, "about the baby announcement we'll be making in a few months. We have to tell everybody at the same time. I don't want anybody feeling slighted."

"Definitely not," Rick agreed.

"And when I say 'everybody,' I'm including Gates and her husband," Kate continued. She looked up at Rick. "I want Gates to be one of the baby's godmothers, if she'll say yes."

"And Lanie will be the other," Rick concluded.

"That's what I was thinking," Kate replied.

"Of course, Esposito and Ryan will be the godfathers," Rick continued.

"I wouldn't want anybody else," Kate replied honestly. She bit her lip before asking, "You don't think Alexis will be upset that we don't ask her to be godmother, do you?"

"No," Rick said honestly. "I think being a big sister will be plenty enough for her."

"Good," Kate said, smiling again. She shifted, moving up so that she was now propped against the headboard, lying next to Rick, her hand still in his. "I don't want Alexis to feel left out or excluded in any way." She moved closer to him under the covers. "I think I know one way we can make the announcement special."

"How?" Rick asked.

"What if we have everybody over on Christmas Eve—they don't have to stay, because I'm sure at least Ryan and Jenny will have other plans, their parents wanting to see Sarah Grace and Nick, and Gates will probably have her mother-in-law to contend with again—but what if we had them all over early in the evening, and we told them all at the same time?" Kate proposed.

Rick's face lit up. "That would be perfect!" he exclaimed excitedly. "And I was thinking of how, specifically, to announce it. Something special that we, and they, will always remember, and I have an idea." He looked at her earnestly now as he began to explain what he had in mind.

By the time he had finished outlining his idea, Kate was the one whose face was lit up. "Oh, Rick, that's it! That's exactly, **exactly** how we should tell everyone! And we'll know by then if we're having a boy or a girl!"

"Ooh, that's right, we will!" Rick exclaimed excitedly. "So are we going to tell them what we're having too?"

Kate considered for a moment. "Yes," she said. "I really think yes."

Rick beamed. "Seeing the looks on all of their faces when we tell them we're having a baby...and then when they find out it's a baby girl or baby boy..." he began.

"I can't even begin to imagine how my dad will react," Kate said, looking concerned then. "He'll be the hard sell. I'll have my work cut out for me even getting him to come over." She paused to brush a hand across Rick's cheek. "You gave Christmas back to me, but he still comes up here every December. I'll have to be really convincing to get him to come by our place Christmas Eve."

"You'll get him there, Kate," Rick said. "And even if our news doesn't give Christmas back to your dad, he'll be happy for you, for us."

"I'm hoping our baby **does** give Christmas back to my dad," Kate admitted softly. "There's nothing like a Castle Christmas, but when my mom was alive, we Becketts had traditions and Christmas was always good."

"If the news that he's gonna be a grandfather doesn't do it, then once Sweetpea is here, she...or he and whatever appropriate nickname I come up with for him...will give Christmas back to your dad," Rick said with certainty, even as he made a mental note to ask Kate what the Beckett family Christmas traditions were, so they could start incorporating those into the Castle Christmas that year.

"I hope so," Kate said pensively. Her stomach rumbled then, getting both her attention and Rick's.

"What would you and Sweetpea like for dinner?" Rick asked.

Kate considered for a moment. "Burgers, fries, and cole slaw?" she suggested.

"You've got it," Rick pledged. He got out of bed, gathered up his clothes, and got dressed, padding out to the kitchen in his sock feet to start cooking the burgers and fries. The cole slaw, they had picked up ready-made at the grocery store on their way out of the city.

Kate joined Rick a couple of minutes later, wearing his button-down shirt, which he had left on the floor of the their bedroom where Kate had tossed it earlier, and a pair of her yoga pants. Her feet were bare. She retrieved the cole slaw from the refrigerator, got out a plate and a fork, and began to dig in while Rick cooked their burgers and fries.

After dinner, they returned to the living room, where Kate made a beeline for the shelf of board games, and proceeded to soundly defeat her husband at Scrabble three times.

"'Xerosis'?" Rick challenged in the final game. "That's a word?"

Kate picked up the old, falling-apart, paperback edition of _The American Heritage Dictionary_ and handed it to him. "Check for yourself."

"Only because you checked 'quadrat' when I played it," Rick replied, picking up the dictionary.

Sure enough, there it was in the 'x's: "'Xerosis,'" he read aloud. "'Noun. 1) Abnormal dryness, especially of the skin, eyes, or mucous membranes. 2) The normal hardening of aging tissue.'" He looked up from the dictionary to Kate's triumphant face. "You learned this word from Lanie!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, I did," Kate countered. "But it still counts."

"It does," he agreed. Then he added, "One of these days, we should play Scrabble with Lanie and Alan, guys against the girls, and you and Lanie can use cop and medical terms, and Alan and I can use words from sci-fi shows and movies."

"That's actually a really good idea," Kate mused. "We'll have to do that soon. Just not before I have a handle on the morning sickness once and for all, because it really wouldn't be fair for Lanie to know about the baby before anyone else." She got up from her side of the table and sat in Rick's lap, winding her arms around his neck. "Besides, the idea we came up with to announce the baby to everyone is just so right, we **have** to do it, and for it to really work, no one can have any idea before then."

"The announcement will work out exactly the way we have it planned," Rick vowed, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Kate smiled before touching her forehead to his. "I can't wait to see everyone's faces," she said.

"Well, it won't be much longer. Three more months," Rick replied. He kissed her softly, and when she yawned into the kiss, he pulled back and said, "Tired?"

"Yeah," Kate admitted.

"Then let's get some sleep," Rick said.

They packed up the Scrabble game but left it on the table ("I want a rematch tomorrow so I can win," Rick said. "In your dreams, Castle," Kate retorted. "My dreams come true, remember?" he countered.), then got into their pajamas. As Kate got into bed, Rick found an extra blanket in the chest at the foot of the bed.

"It's September," Kate said, amused, "it's not snowing, Rick."

"I just want to have it handy. I don't want you and the Sweetpea getting cold," Rick said as he dropped the folded blanket on top of the closed chest.

He climbed into bed beside Kate and she snuggled up to him, resting one hand over his heart. "We have the sheets and comforter on the bed, and you to keep us warm," she said. "And you're better than any blanket."

Rick smiled before they kissed good night, then he moved down in the bed to kiss Kate's belly. "Sweet dreams, Sweetpea," he said. Then he moved up again and looked into Kate's eyes. "Sweet dreams to you too, Kate," he said earnestly.

This would be the acid test, Kate reflected silently. She hadn't slept a single night through at the cabin the summer after she was shot at Montgomery's funeral, awakening from screaming nightmares in which she relived the shooting, or worse, in which Rick was shot and **she** was the one leaning over **him** in the grass, begging him to hold on, to stay with her, admitting her love for him as she watched his eyes slip closed and his life's blood ebb out of his body and onto the grass beneath them.

"Hopefully," Kate said. She kissed Rick, a long, slow kiss of love and hope and gratitude, and from which they both drew comfort.

Then she laid her head on his chest and, lulled by the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek, and the warm, solid feeling of their bodies entwined and his arms wrapped around her, prayed to a God that she had started talking to more lately than she had talked to Him in almost 20 years that she would get through the night without any nightmares.


	36. Chapter 36

_**Thank you to everyone taking this journey with me and our beloved Castle characters. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**_

* * *

Rain pounding on the tin roof of the cabin woke Rick the next morning. He wasn't sure what time it was—early, he knew, because through the sheets of rain falling outside, only the barest hint of light was coming through the windows—but he didn't particularly care, as it was a Saturday morning and Kate was sleeping peacefully and soundly in his arms. She hadn't awakened in the middle of the night at all. He had, a couple of times, when she had shifted in her sleep, but she was only doing normal shifting of position to get more comfortable.

His mind flashed ahead several months, to when Kate would be very pregnant, and find it impossible to get comfortable enough to sleep through the night. He was grateful Kate was catching up on her sleep now.

He brushed his lips tenderly across her forehead, and in the dim light of the rainy morning, he caught the hint of a smile on her face, before she settled more fully back into sleep, snuggling closer to him. She had become more tactile with him after the summer he spent missing, and they had both become more tactile with each other after being shot in May.

Rick knew he would never **not** be amazed that Kate Beckett loved him, married him, and was having a family with him.

He just lay there in bed with Kate asleep in his arms, her head resting in the crook of his neck, listening to the rain outside, and let the contentment and peace he was feeling wash over his whole being, like a giant tidal wave. He had Kate and their baby...Alexis...his mother...their friends and family...their home…

It took Rick a while to realize what the root of this feeling was: the fact that he wanted for absolutely nothing. He had everything he had ever wanted, everything he had ever dreamed of, and he could be nothing but grateful and overjoyed that this was the case.

Kate eventually stirred and awoke, giving Rick a sleepy smile before jolting to full wakefulness. She sat up and exclaimed, "Rick, I slept!"

"Very well," he agreed.

"No...I mean, yes, but Rick, I slept **all night**. I didn't have any nightmares!" Kate exclaimed. "I didn't wake up screaming or have a panic attack either!" She threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, smiling.

"Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

He drew back to look at her, slightly puzzled. "For what?" he asked.

Kate cupped his cheek in her hand. "I'm pretty sure the reason I **didn't** have any nightmares or wake up screaming last night was because you were here with me," she said. "I know that I'm brave, badass Beckett-"

"Excellent use of alliteration there," Rick murmured approvingly.

Kate gave him a look before continuing, "-but you've always had my back...except for the times I was too stubborn, too prideful, too scared to let you in...and I am so glad and so grateful that I get to do this," here she touched her still-flat belly, "and go through life with you by my side...that I don't have to be brave, badass Beckett all alone."

Rick couldn't come up with words to respond to that, so he kissed Kate soundly, tenderly, and then there were no words for several minutes. As they lay in each other's arms in the afterglow, Kate finally noticed the rain. Turning her head to look out the window, she frowned. "Well, so much for apple picking today," she reflected.

Rick kissed her bare shoulder. "We can find plenty of other things to do today," he said. "How's the morning sickness?"

"Nonexistent today, thankfully," Kate said. "I'm starving."

"Well, we can't have that," Rick replied. Throwing off the covers, he retrieved his boxers and t-shirt. After hastily dressing, he said, "I'll go get started on breakfast."

Kate raked a hand through her hair and smiled at him. "I'll be out in a few minutes," she promised. He smiled before heading for the kitchen to cook breakfast.

Kate grabbed the t-shirt and pajama pants she had slept in and carried them into the bathroom. Before putting them on, she looked at herself in the mirror over the sink; her eyes were bright, her face relaxed. She let her eyes drift down to her chest and torso, and the road map of fading scars crisscrossing her body. Those scars were no longer ugly to her, and not only because Rick thought they were beautiful and never hesitated, when she **did** start to feel self-conscious about them, to tell her so.

Those scars were badges of honor to Kate now. They were proof of her survival, proof of how hard she fought to stay with Rick, how hard she fought for him and them and her very life...a life that was now going to include motherhood. Alexis had been in her early teens when they met, and they had not always been on the best of terms, although they were growing increasingly closer with each passing week. Kate understood where Alexis was coming from; when she was in her early teens, she wouldn't have been happy if either of her parents had been working with someone who put their lives in danger every day. But that was one thing Alexis, and Sweetpea too, for that matter, wouldn't have to worry about anymore.

Kate pulled on the pajama pants, then let her hand drift, as it so often did, to rest over her and Rick's unborn child. "I'm still pretty new at the mom thing, if my experiences with your big sister even really count," Kate confessed to the baby. "And being a mom from the very beginning...I've never done that before. But your dad has. He raised Alexis all by himself, for all intents and purposes, and she turned out great, she really did. And you couldn't have a better dad. We both love you so much already.

"I can't promise that I'm not going to screw up sometimes, and given what your dad and I were both like when we were younger, you'll probably do things once in a while...hopefully not too often...that will require us to be strict with you, and to punish you." She gave a watery laugh. "Your Grandma Johanna would have a field day if she were here and you turn out to be the girl that I know deep down your dad really wants. Not that he'll love you any less if you're a boy," she added hastily. "I know he'll be crazy about you whether you're a boy or a girl. But he's already raised one girl, so if you're a boy, it'll be new territory for both of us.

"But that's what great about your dad and me. Well, everything about your dad and me is great, really. We're gonna be the embarrassing parents when you get older, just so you know. Not having PDAs in public...well, not most of the time," she amended, "but we're in this for life, and we're not shy about showing each other affection. Not inappropriately, at least not in front of other people, but..." She blew out a breath. "You can see why I'm warning you up front that I'm new to all of this."

Kate pulled her t-shirt on over her head and smoothed it down. "No matter how many mistakes I make, though, I can and I will promise you two things right now: that you are **very** much loved and **very** much wanted...and that no mother will do more or fight harder to make sure her child has the best and happiest life possible than I will do and fight for you...always."

"Kate? Breakfast is almost ready!" Rick called from the kitchen then.

"Be right there!" she called back. She pulled her hair into a quick bun, then smoothed her shirt down once more. "And thank you for not making me feel like I have to throw up today, because I'm pretty sure I smell pancakes out there."

Sure enough, Rick had whipped up a batch of pancakes, with maple syrup, butter, and whipped cream as available toppings, and a pot of regular coffee, though Kate limited herself to just one cup because of the caffeine.

The rain had picked up while they were eating breakfast. After they washed and dried the dishes together, Kate went to the front door of the cabin. She opened the screen door and then the front door, and was hit by a gust of rain-soaked wind. Hurriedly slamming the door shut, she said, "This is obviously in for the day."

"So we'll pick apples tomorrow," Rick said.

"Or we could do it the next time we come up here," Kate replied.

Rick's answering grin was brighter than the sun. "I have an idea," he said. Taking Kate's hand, he led her upstairs, and into the bathroom, where he proceeded to turn on the faucet to fill the bathtub.

"Sometimes I really love the way your mind works," Kate said.

"Only sometimes?" Rick asked, feigning a pout.

"A lot more often than I used to," Kate replied.

Rick retrieved the bath oil, and Kate's shampoo and conditioner, while Kate grabbed towels and washcloths.

It wasn't nearly as spacious as their tub at home, but Rick and Kate got into the tub together, and after washing their bodies, Rick washed Kate's hair, gently massaging her scalp at the same time. She hummed contentedly. "I think you're spoiling me," she said.

"Is that an objection?" Rick asked.

"Not at all," Kate replied as Rick rinsed the last of the conditioner out of her hair. She turned her head to look at him. "I have a feeling you're going to spoil me more the further into this pregnancy we get."

"Your instincts are spot on as usual," Rick said. He moved her wet hair aside and nuzzled the back of her neck before kissing it.

"So I should get used to it, is what you're saying," Kate said, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

"You know what's great about us?" Rick asked.

"Everything," Kate replied.

"Yeah," Rick said. She turned to face him again now. "And above all, we're a team. We have never teamed up on anything that **hasn't** turned out to be a great success. This will be the greatest adventure and the biggest success of our lives."

"It's going to be an adventure, all right," Kate agreed. "You've done this before. I'm really in uncharted territory here."

"You are going to be an extraordinary mother," Rick said. "I know it."

"I'll make mistakes," Kate said worriedly.

"Every parent makes mistakes," Rick said. "I did, my mother did, your parents did. We're only human. But it's all going to work out. And I promise, you won't have to be the bad cop all the time."

"You know, one of the things that made me realize you weren't the devil-may-care playboy you presented to the world was seeing you with Alexis," Kate admitted, "seeing the kind of dad you are to her. I can't wait to see you with our kid."

"That's another thing: you won't be up in the middle of the night alone," Rick vowed. "And you won't be the only one changing diapers or giving baths or walking the floor. I'm a very hands-on parent."

"So I gathered," Kate said. She leaned back against Rick, the back of her head resting against his chest.

"I can't wait to see you with our kid either," Rick said softly, right in Kate's ear. He knew she was smiling at that even before he saw her face when she turned to meet his kiss.

After their bath, and after Kate had blow-dried her hair, they wandered down to the basement, since Kate had mentioned wanting to look for some photo albums that she thought might be down there.

The basement was bigger than Rick had thought it would be. One whole wall was taken up by a workbench loaded with tools, which was obviously Jim's. Another wall was floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves that were loaded down with fishing equipment, picnic baskets, Mason jars, and several cardboard boxes and plastic storage totes. A large space heater sat unplugged in the middle of the floor, with a battered old recliner, end table, and lamp near the lone window.

Three long wooden posts were spaced several feet apart, stretching from floor to ceiling. While Kate was inspecting the shelves, looking for the photo albums, Rick noticed what he thought were some scratches on the middle of the three posts, and went to take a closer look.

Kate was rummaging through a storage tote that was half filled with cookbooks when she heard Rick say, "Kate? What's this?"

She turned and looked over her shoulder at him to find him standing in front of the middle of the three wooden posts in the basement. Pushing the storage tote back into its place, she wiped her dusty hands on the thighs of her jeans before crossing the room to join Rick.

When she saw what he was looking at, what he was asking about, she felt tears well in her eyes. "Oh my god," she whispered. "I had completely forgotten about this."

Kate reached out and traced the initials carved into the wooden post with her fingertips, wondering how she could have forgotten something as monumental as this had been, then answering herself in the next breath: because for so long, it hurt too much to remember.

"That's you," Rick said softly, reaching out to touch the letters KHB carved into the post with the tip of his index finger.

"Yes," Kate whispered. She swallowed hard, then cleared her throat. "I was...nine years old, I think, and I was really bored. It wasn't raining like it is now, but it had been raining, so it was too wet to go swimming or even go outside without sinking into a mud puddle up to your knees, really, and I didn't feel like helping my mom in the kitchen. I don't know what my dad was doing, but he wasn't down here. I wandered down here, and I found a jackknife mixed in with my dad's tools over there, so I carved my initials in this post." She ran the tip of her own index finger over her initials now.

"My mom caught me just as I was finishing the 'B,'" Kate continued. "I really thought she was going to blow her stack, or at least lecture me on defacing the cabin, and using the jackknife without an adult around. But all she did was ask if she could see the jackknife. I gave it to her, and the next thing I knew, she started carving her initials into the pole, right above mine." Kate touched the initials carved above hers, slightly off-center, so that the 'B' in the carved "JMB" lined up with the "H" in the "KHB" below it.

"So JMB is your mom," Rick said quietly.

Kate nodded once. "Johanna Marie Beckett," she said. "And just as Mom was finishing the B in **her** initials, Dad came downstairs and said he wondered where we had disappeared to, and then he noticed the jackknife in Mom's hand, and me standing there with a guilty expression on my face. So he looks and sees that we've carved our initials into the post, and he gives my mom this raised eyebrow look and asks if this was her idea or mine. She told him it was my idea, but she went along with it because it was a good one.

"As I realized I wasn't about to get grounded for the rest of my life, Dad said, 'Well, it looks like it's my turn, then,' and Mom handed him the jackknife, and he carved his initials above hers." Now she touched the JRB above Johanna's initials. "James Reece Beckett."

Before Rick could respond to that, Kate hurried across the basement to her father's workbench and began rifling through all the tools on the pegboard, on the workbench itself, and in the storage drawers next to the workbench before finally finding what she was looking for. She returned to Rick's side and carefully held a jackknife out to him. "I'm not sure how sharp it is," she said, "but now it's your turn."

The light in her eyes was so radiant, the smile on her face so dazzling, that Rick opened the jackknife and carefully carved his initials—REC—below Kate's, staggering them as Jim and Johanna had done with theirs, so the E in his initials was under the B in Kate's initials.

Kate traced her fingertips across Rick's initials as he carefully closed the jackknife. "Perfect," she breathed. "Absolutely perfect." She looked at the pole. "And there's room for our kids to add their initials someday."

Rick smiled. "I think I just participated in my first Beckett family tradition," he said.

Kate laughed happily. "You did," she said. "You really did." She put an arm around his waist, and he wrapped his arm around her waist. "Maybe there'll be more Beckett family traditions you can participate in."

"I'd like that," Rick said, brushing a kiss to the crown of Kate's head.

"Me too," Kate replied honestly.

The rain didn't let up for the rest of the weekend, so they lazed around the cabin, napping, eating, making love, and finalizing their plans for their big Christmas Eve baby announcement to all their family and friends before heading back home to the city on Sunday afternoon.

* * *

Alexis and Javier were in their seats in the theater, waiting for the matinee of _Steel Magnolias_ to start. They had already had a wonderful time on the drive up, talking and laughing and flirting and stopping off for lunch at a diner on the Interstate.

"Thank you so much for getting these tickets," Alexis said. "I'm really happy to be here with you."

Javier beamed at Alexis, threaded his fingers through hers, and said, "I'm really happy to be anywhere with you."

Alexis smiled back at him, and her expression softened before she leaned in to kiss him. He returned the kiss, mindful that they were in a public theater in Pennsylvania, so they didn't let themselves get too carried away with the kiss, but neither did they completely hold back.

Alexis rested her forehead against Javier's for a moment, then gently pulled back. But Javier was startled when Alexis stiffened, having caught sight of someone or something out in her peripheral vision, and then she slowly turned her head to look directly at whoever or whatever it was, before turning pale, slumping in her seat, and going, "Oh, no."

"What's wrong?" Javier asked urgently.

"She saw us!" Alexis exclaimed in a stage whisper.

"You said Beckett and your dad weren't gonna be here this afternoon," he reminded her.

"It's not Kate," Alexis said glumly. "It could turn out to be worse."

All of this happened in a matter of a few seconds. The thought that Martha, Jenny, and Lanie all already knew about him and Alexis dating had Javier puzzled; if it wasn't Kate that had Alexis so upset, then who could it possibly be?

Before Javier could turn his head to follow her gaze, though, he heard a familiar voice saying, by way of greeting, "Well, Miss Castle, Detective Esposito, this is a surprise."

Javier looked up to find Victoria Gates, her husband at her side, standing in the row behind Alexis and himself, looking at them with undisguised curiosity and tempered surprise.

 _Aw, hell,_ Javier thought. No wonder Alexis was so upset. Gates! Javier remembered how he and Kevin, and Beckett and Castle, had kept their mouths shut for months when Beckett and Castle finally got together so that Gates wouldn't throw Castle out of the 12th Precinct.

Of course, it turned out she had known about them all along.

And Alexis didn't work with him.

But she _**was**_ Castle and Beckett's daughter—Castle's by birth, Beckett's by choice. And they had no idea yet. They knew Alexis was dating someone, but not that it was him, Javier Esposito.

And Javier really didn't want that particular piece of news being relayed to them by Victoria Gates.

Javier surreptitiously squeezed Alexis's hand in what he hoped she would take as a reassuring manner. "Yes, it is, sir," he agreed.

The fact that Esposito was holding hands with Alexis Castle now, and had just squeezed her hand in what was clearly a gesture of reassurance, coupled with the fact that she had seen them kissing just a moment ago, crystallized the situation for Victoria Gates: they were clearly a couple. And every instinct she possessed told her that Kate and Castle had no clue about their relationship yet.

Alexis knew it would be childish and immature to plead with Gates not to inform her dad and Kate about her and Javier, so she fought back her initial panic and said, "It's nice to see you again, sir, Mr. Gates."

"It's nice to see you too, Miss Castle, Detective Esposito," Victoria said. _I could certainly have some fun with this,_ Victoria thought as she and Gerald took their seats...directly behind Alexis and Javier.

The show began, and all conversation ceased. Javier did not let go of Alexis's hand, partly because he wanted to hold her hand, and partly as a reassurance to her that no matter what might happen with Gates, they would handle it together.

At the intermission, Alexis excused herself to the ladies' room the instant the lights came up. "I should powder my nose too," Victoria said as Alexis hurried up the aisle. "Excuse me."

"Sir, wait," Javier said.

"Detective?" Gates asked, giving him a look she used to reserve solely for Castle.

Undaunted, Javier forged ahead. "Can't you see Alexis is rattled by your presence, sir? She needs a few minutes to regroup."

"What, exactly, does Miss Castle think I'm going to do?" Victoria challenged.

"She doesn't have any idea what you'll do, sir. That's the problem," Javier replied.

"And you? What do you think I'm going to do?" she asked.

"Yes, Alexis and I are dating," he admitted. "And no, Castle and Beckett don't know about it... **yet**." He emphasized the "yet."

"I deduced that within a minute of seeing the two of you here," Victoria replied.

"It's serious, all right? This is the real thing," Javier said, struggling to keep a tight rein on his temper and remember exactly to whom he was speaking. "We're going to tell Castle and Beckett, but it **has** to come from us, sir. We don't know exactly when we're going to tell them, but we **are** going to tell them. Us. Together. So I'm asking you, with all due respect, not to say a word to Castle or Beckett about what you saw here today."

"I had no idea your memory was so short, Detective Esposito," Victoria said wryly. At his puzzled look, she said, "Plausible deniability. I practiced it with Kate and Castle, and I have every intention of practicing it with you and Alexis. Unless, of course, one of you winds up standing on a bomb and the other refuses to leave them alone. Then I'd have to say something, as I did when that happened to Kate and Castle."

Javier realized that Gates was messing with him, and that she would not tell Beckett and Castle about him and Alexis. "Thank you, sir," he said, not even trying to hide his surprise and relief.

"Don't thank me," Victoria said seriously, sternly. "Just do right by her."

"I will," Javier promised.

Victoria gave a short nod, then did excuse herself to the ladies' room. Alexis was lingering by the sinks, her discomfort now gone, the look on her face one of steely resolve and determination that distinctly reminded Victoria of Kate Beckett.

Before Victoria could say a word, Alexis spoke. "Deputy Chief Gates, it's true that Javier and I are dating. But it's also true that this is serious. It took us by surprise, but our feelings for each other are very real. This isn't some fling, this isn't some rebellion, or some experiment. And no, my dad and Kate don't know about it yet. But we're going to tell them. We just wanted to be absolutely sure before we told them. So I am respectfully asking you not to tell them what you saw here today. It has to come from Javier and me."

And Victoria surprised Alexis then by saying, "I completely agree. You and Detective Esposito have to be the ones to tell Castle and Kate about your relationship. And because of your father and Kate, I am an expert on plausible deniability. I practiced it with them, and I will practice it with you and Detective Esposito."

"Thank you, sir," Alexis said, hoping she didn't sound too relieved.

"You're welcome, Alexis," Victoria replied. "And for what it's worth, which I have a feeling is a lot, I was delayed in coming in here because your boyfriend made his own appeal to me not to say anything to Castle and Kate, and let me know how serious he is about you."

Alexis smiled, looking so like her father smiling at or because of Kate in that instant that it nearly took Victoria's breath away. "He would," she said. "Thank you again, sir. Excuse me. I'm going to return to my seat now."

When Alexis returned to her seat, even knowing that Gates' husband was sitting behind them, intently focused on his program, she leaned over and kissed Javier on the cheek. "I talked to Deputy Chief Gates," she said.

"So did I," he replied.

"She told me," Alexis said. "She also told me what you said. Well, the Cliff's Notes version. How serious you are about me."

"I've never been more serious about anyone in my life," he said so only she could hear. "You make me feel things I didn't know I could feel, Alexis."

"You make me feel things I didn't know I could feel, Javier," Alexis replied. "It's kind of scary. But good scary. The best possible scary."

"Yeah," Javier agreed. He kissed her hand as the lights flashed on and off, signaling that the second act was about to begin.

Victoria returned to her seat and saw them, Javier and Alexis, sitting together, holding hands still. And when M'Lynn had her breakdown over Shelby's death, and Alexis cried, just as she had on Opening Night (Kate had cried then too, but she and Rick were the only ones who knew that her tears were more pregnancy hormone-induced than anything else), Javier produced a fresh handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped away her tears.

Victoria noticed the gesture even as she was fighting her own tears at the scene onstage, and it was in that moment that she knew Alexis and Javier were destined to follow in Castle and Kate's footsteps.


	37. Chapter 37

_**Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing. It means a lot to me that you've taken my story to heart as much as I do in writing it.**_

* * *

Alexis was surprised when the screen on her phone showed that the incoming call was from Kevin Ryan. "Hi, Kevin," she answered as she walked across campus. It was a crisp October Friday afternoon, and autumn had put a definite bite in the chilly air. Her classes were over for the week, and she had plans with Javier that night. "Did you get your sergeant's exam results?"

"No, not yet," Kevin said. He sounded distinctly uncomfortable, but resolutely determined. "Javi doesn't know I'm calling you, Alexis. We argued about it. He didn't want you to know yet, but I told him you'd want to know. If it were me, Jenny would want to know. If it were your dad, Beckett would want to know. I know he'll be mad at me, but I just think you would want to know as soon as possible."

Alexis stopped walking, her blood running colder than the gust of wind that was now whipping her hair around her face and slicing through her clothes and into her bones.

"Know what, Kevin?" she asked as a feeling of dread washed over her in a tidal wave.

"We've been working a case all week, and we finally cracked it today. We went to bring in the murderer, and the guy went ballistic. So we had to chase after him, and he had a knife...he stabbed Javi," Kevin said.

Alexis felt lightheaded for a moment, and her stomach began churning like she was going to throw up. She rushed to the nearest tree, dropping her messenger bag on the ground, bending at the waist, and putting her head down, taking slow, deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth as her therapist had taught her to do. She faintly heard Kevin calling her name over and over anxiously, and, bracing one hand against the tree to give herself something solid to hold onto, she stood upright again and addressed Kevin on the phone once more. "I'm here," she said, her voice gaining in strength with every syllable. "What hospital?"

"Mount Sinai St. Luke's ER," Kevin replied. He sounded even more nervous now. "But Alexis-"

She cut him off. "You tell Javier to hang on, Kevin. I'm on my way. Stay with him 'til I get there, all right?"

"Of course," Kevin said.

Alexis ended the call, picked up her messenger bag and threw it over her shoulder, and took off running, flagging down the first cab she spotted and breathlessly telling the driver, "Mount Sinai St. Luke's ER, and please, hurry!"

The whole way to the hospital, Alexis fought off both an encroaching panic attack, and fears of the worst, of Javier having a punctured or collapsed lung, needing multiple blood transfusions. She remembered dimly that Kate's mother had died from being stabbed, then forced that thought away, refusing to let it back in, the same way she was refusing to let herself get catapulted back to May and the morning she and Javier and Kevin and Lanie found her dad and Kate shot and bleeding on the kitchen floor of the loft.

The cab screeched to a halt at the Emergency Room Entrance of Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital. Alexis all but threw the money at the cabbie, telling him to keep the change, and dashed into the hospital. She skidded to a stop at the desk, took a few seconds to catch her breath, and frantically said, "My boyfriend was brought in here a while ago. He's a homicide detective with the NYPD and he was stabbed. Javier Esposito. I need to know where he is, right now!"

Before the woman at the desk finished typing his name into her computer, Javier Esposito emerged from an ER cubicle, Kevin Ryan at his heels, and Javier frowned when he saw Alexis standing there. "Alexis?" he asked.

Alexis spun around at the sound of Javier calling her name, and her knees buckled with relief to see him standing there in his A-line t-shirt, carrying the shredded remnants of his button-down shirt slung over his right arm. His left bicep was covered with thick gauze bandages, but otherwise, he looked normal. "Javier," Alexis breathed. Again her messenger bag hit the floor, and then she was running to him, throwing herself into his arms. He grunted a bit from the impact of her weight. "I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But thank God, thank God you're okay!" She released him to frame his face in her hands.

"Alexis, what are you doing here?" Javier asked.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here?" Alexis asked. "Kevin called me-"

Javier scowled at Kevin over his shoulder. "Bro, I specifically **told** you, do **not** call Alexis!" he scolded his partner and best friend.

Before Kevin could respond to that, Alexis took her hands away from Javier's face and backed up a step. "Why didn't you want me to know that you'd been stabbed?" she wanted to know.

"For exactly that reason!" Javier exclaimed. "I was not 'stabbed.' Ryan told you I was stabbed, didn't he? I wasn't **stabbed** , I was _**knifed**_! There's a big difference! The punk made a couple of cuts in my arm-"

"Javi, you needed 18 stitches and a tetanus shot," Kevin interjected.

"I know! I was there!" Javier snapped, glowering at Ryan again. Then he returned his attention to Alexis. "I see it in your eyes, Alexis: the fear, the panic, the worry...I was trying to spare you all of that."

"So were you going to tell me _**at all**_?" Alexis wanted to know, feeling angry and defensive now. "What, you think I'm too fragile to be able to handle it? You think I don't **know** what your job entails, the risks you take every time you go to work? I know them all too well, Javier! I watched my dad take those risks for years, and Kate too! You think you're sparing me anything? News flash: you're not!"

"But I'm trying to!" Javier exclaimed, getting angry and defensive himself now.

A nurse approached them then. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave," she told them. "You're causing a disturbance to our patients."

Alexis spun and stormed outside, Javier storming after her, and Kevin, knowing he was going to catch more hell from Javi but standing by his decision to let Alexis know about Javi's injury sooner rather than later, trailing after them.

"Javier, I'm **with** you! I'm with you because I **want** to be with you, for **all** of it, no matter what it is!" Alexis said when they were on the sidewalk in front of the hospital. "You can't shut me out when something like this happens because you're trying to protect me!"

"But protecting you is what I'm supposed to do!" Javier argued. "I'd be the world's worst boyfriend if I **didn't** try to protect you, Alexis!"

"From reality? From the truth?" Alexis said. "You didn't answer me before: were you going to tell me you got hurt in the line of duty if Kevin hadn't?"

Javier shifted his weight and paused before answering. This did not help his case with Alexis.

"You wouldn't have told me!" she exclaimed, feeling angry and hurt at the same time.

"I didn't say that," Javier said.

"You didn't have to," Alexis said. "You not saying anything said it all." She paused, realizing how that sounded. "You know what I mean!"

"Alexis," Javier said urgently, "I saw what you went through after your dad and Beckett were shot. I don't ever want to be the one that makes you react like that."

If she didn't get away from him, she would start crying on the spot, and Alexis wasn't going to do that. "I'm here!" Alexis exclaimed. "Yeah, I was scared when Kevin called me, I was worried about you...but I'm **here,** Javier! I don't want you keeping things like this from me like I'm some...some child, or some fragile flower who can't handle this! I'm here, and there's nowhere else I would be, and if it would have been more serious than this, I'd be in there, waiting for you, just like I waited for Dad and Kate, because that's how important you are to me!" She got choked up, but managed to get out the last thing she wanted to say. "I'm not saying I wouldn't fall apart, but **I'm here because of how much I care about you**!" Then, unable to keep the tears at bay any longer, Alexis turned and rushed away.

"Alexis, wait!" Javier called. He started after her, but Kevin grabbed him by his good arm and kept him in place.

"She needs some time," Kevin said.

"Do you see what you did?" Javier said angrily, shaking off Kevin's hand.

Kevin drew himself up to his full height. "Javi, you're my best friend, and I love you like a brother, but **I'm** not the one who screwed up here. You should have told Alexis so I didn't have to. And I'm not the one you need to convince that you were going to tell her. She is, because did you really think she wouldn't have noticed the bandages? They'll have to be changed."

Javier's face faltered. "Dammit, I screwed this up," he said.

Only in that moment did Kevin see the fear in Javier's eyes. "What if I ruined everything?" he asked. "What if she cuts me out of her life after this? What if I lose the best thing that ever happened to me because of this?"

"You give her some time to calm down, and then you go to her and do whatever it takes to make it right," Kevin said.

"What if I can't make it right?" Javier asked quietly.

"I didn't say it would be easy," Kevin replied, "but you can do it. Give Alexis some credit. Have some faith in her, and in your relationship."

Meanwhile, Alexis sought refuge with Martha, and tearfully poured out the whole story. After ascertaining that Javier would be all right, Martha handed Alexis a box of tissues, then went and made her a cup of hot tea. "I'm not saying Javier was right," Martha said carefully as she set the tea in front of her granddaughter, "but I understand why he didn't tell you right away."

"Gram, I'm not sure he was going to tell me at all!" Alexis exclaimed. "What, did he think I wouldn't notice the bandages, or notice that he was favoring his left arm?"

"His instinct was to protect you," Martha pointed out. "Didn't he say that?"

"He didn't say it was his instinct, but yes, he said he was protecting me," Alexis admitted. "That kind of protection, I don't need. God, we're turning into Dad and Kate at their worst—Kate just walking out and leaving Dad, leaving all of us, trying to keep us safe from LokSat."

"Your father and Katherine worked that all out," Martha reminded Alexis. When Alexis opened her mouth to speak, Martha held up her hand to forestall whatever objection Alexis was about to make.

"I'm not saying Katherine was right to do what she did. She never felt safer than when your father had her back, so for her to cut him out like that, she had to be running on blind terror that completely obliterated her objectivity and everything she knew to be true. Thankfully, it was only temporary. But it does raise a larger question for you, kiddo. I watched your father go through this with Kate for years. But I never had to ask him what I'm about to ask you, because I only had to look at him to know his answer was and would always be yes.

"You know the realities of Javier's job. You saw what your father went through the first time Kate was shot, and what all of us went through when they were both shot earlier this year," Martha said. "If ever there was an acid test for a relationship, Alexis, this is it. Today it was a few minor knife wounds. But someday, it might be more serious than that. Someday it might be a knife wound that collapses his lung...or a bullet. Can you handle that, Alexis? Can you **really** handle that? Are you willing to take that risk, being involved with a man whose life is in danger literally every time he goes to work?"

The tears had been exhausted, but Martha's questions required very little conscious thought on Alexis's part, because, she realized, she had been thinking about this for months. She hadn't spent all those years watching her dad and Kate, worrying about her dad, then worrying about Kate, for nothing, and what they had all been through earlier in the year when both of them had been shot had been Alexis's crucible, her reckoning, even before she and Javier became a couple.

"Yes," Alexis said firmly, definitely, in a tone that brooked no arguments. "I won't live my life waiting for the sky to fall, Gram, but I won't live my life without Javier, either. At least, I don't **want** to live my life without him." She bit her lip then, looking more like Kate than she knew. "But if he can't trust me, if he can't let me in and be honest with me when something like this happens, that, I **can't** live with." Her phone binged then, signaling an incoming text message.

It was Javier. _"Can we talk? In person, I mean."_

Alexis texted him back. _"Yes. Where and when?"_

Javier replied instantly: _"_ _Where are you?"_

Alexis: " _At Gram's."_

Javier: _"On my way. Be there in 15 min."_

Alexis: _"Okay."_

Alexis looked up from her phone and addressed her grandmother. "That was Javier. He wants to talk, and he said he'll be here in fifteen minutes. Is it okay if we talk here, Gram?"

"Yes," Martha replied. "Do you want me to stay?"

"I wouldn't feel right asking you to leave your own apartment," Alexis hedged.

"I think in this case, it would be better if the two of you talked alone," Martha replied. "Fortunately, I have a class to prepare for, and I can do that at my studio." She hugged Alexis and kissed her cheek. "Good luck, sweetheart." Then she gathered up her things and left.

Javier arrived ten minutes after Martha departed, still in his A-line tank top and black slacks. His shredded button-down shirt was nowhere in sight, but he was carrying a manila folder. Alexis let him in and asked, "Does it hurt much?"

"It's not too bad," he replied. "They gave me a prescription for some painkillers, but I don't think I really need them."

Alexis sat down on one end of Martha's couch, and Javier sat down on the other end of the couch. "I would have told you," he said. "I was just trying to figure out how best to break it to you. You went through so much after Castle and Beckett were shot earlier this year. I didn't want to trigger a panic attack or any flashbacks for you. Are you all right?" He looked at her anxiously, worriedly, fearful that despite his intentions, he had hurt her anyway, which he would have hated.

"When Kevin said you'd been stabbed, I thought I would throw up right then and there," Alexis said bluntly, meeting his gaze. "And I had to fight it off, fight off the panic attack, fight off the reminder that Kate's mom died when she was stabbed, and not let myself get thrown back to Dad and Kate's shooting last spring...but I did it. I did my deep breathing exercises, and I just concentrated on getting to you as fast as I could. I didn't have time to fall apart, because you needed me. At least, I believed you needed me."

"I did. I do," Javier said fervently.

"But the fact is, you're in danger every time you go to work, Javier," Alexis said matter-of-factly. Off his surprised look, she said, "I've been down this road with Dad and Kate. In the end, I had to trust that Kate would keep my dad safe so he could come home to me and Gram every night...and then when Kate became part of our family, I had to trust that she and Dad would keep each other safe and they'd both come home every night. And they did, with help from you and Kevin. And I trust Kevin to keep you safe. I'm sure Jenny trusts you to keep Kevin safe. Just because we haven't talked about this before doesn't mean I haven't thought about it."

"You've thought about it more than I have," Javier mused. "You've thought about it more than I gave you credit for, and that was wrong of me. One of the things I admire most about you is how intelligent you are. I should have known that you had given this some thought."

"A lot of thought," Alexis gently corrected him.

"A lot of thought. My instinct is always going to be to protect you, Alexis," Javier said earnestly. "I've never really dealt with this before. Not like Kevin and Jenny, or your dad and Beckett. When I realized that dirtbag had knifed me, after I cuffed him and read him his rights, and Ryan pointed out that my arm was all bloody, even before the pain and my injury registered with me, my first thought was you, and how you were going to take it, how you'd react...if this would be when you decided that you couldn't go through this again. Beckett's retired. She and Castle aren't at the 12th anymore. They're not putting their lives in danger every time they go to work anymore. And you put up with that for eight years, Alexis."

"It was good practice," Alexis replied. "I didn't know it then, but I know it now."

"Do I have any right to ask you to put up with it from me?" Javier asked, metaphorically holding his breath while he waited for her answer.

"Are you breaking up with me?" Alexis asked, unable to hide the upset on her face or in her voice.

"No!" Javier exclaimed firmly. "No! That's the last thing I want! No, that's not right—I don't want to break up with you at all." He moved closer to her on the couch, until they were sitting side by side. He set the manila folder on the coffee table and took Alexis's hands in his, his eyes boring intensely into hers. "I don't want to lose you over this, Lex. But it's my job. I like it, and I'm good at it, and I just can't walk away from the force."

"And I would never ask you to walk away from the force," Alexis replied earnestly. "I understand you wanting to protect me, but **life** is risk. Do you remember when I was kidnapped a few years ago?" At his nod, she continued, "I was grabbed and drugged and taken to Paris because an enemy of the grandfather I never knew, of the father my dad never knew, targeted me to get revenge on my dad's father. We never even knew the man's real name. I never even met him. I know how frantic Dad and Gram were then. Kate too, for that matter, and she and I weren't nearly as close then as we are now. But you can't live your life on 'maybe's and 'what if's. When trouble comes, when bad things happen, what matters is the people who are there to help you get through them.

"I've been very blessed, because even though Meredith is a complete flake, I've always had my dad and Gram to help me get through whatever life threw at me. And for the past eight years and counting, I've had Kate, and because of her, I met you...and Kevin and Jenny and Lanie and Alan and even Deputy Chief Gates. I'm not saying I won't worry, and I'm not saying I won't be scared if something happens to you, but I **am** saying that I'll be angry and hurt if you shut me out, if you're not honest with me, if you don't have enough faith in me and in our relationship to tell me when something like this happens." She gestured to his bandaged arm.

Javier smiled, part relief, part happiness. "You're a strong woman, Alexis Castle. I'm sorry I let myself forget that for even one moment. And I'm sorry I hurt you by not being the one to tell you myself that I'd gotten hurt on the job." He reached for the manila folder and handed it to her. "But I can promise you that's not a mistake I'll ever make again." Alexis looked questioningly at the manila folder. "Take a look," Javier said.

Alexis opened the folder and scanned the sheet of paper in it, her eyes going wide. "You designated me your primary emergency contact," she said, surprised, as she looked from the paper to Javier and back again.

"Ryan's been bumped down to second, but he swears he's okay with it, as long as you're okay with being the first person that gets called in case of an emergency involving me," Javier said.

Alexis looked up from the paper to Javier. "I'm more than okay with it," Alexis replied. "I mean..."

"I know what you mean," Javier replied.

She looked at him intently now. "Just...be careful. More than you already are, I mean."

"I will be," Javier pledged. Taking the folder out of Alexis's hands and replacing it on the coffee table, he said, "I have the most amazing, incredible reason in the world to be the most careful cop in the whole NYPD: you."

They kissed until they were interrupted by Martha saying, "Oh, good, everything's all right now. You're making out on my couch."

Alexis and Javier hastily pulled apart. "Gram," Alexis said, her voice an octave higher than normal. "You're back."

"Oh, don't mind me," Martha said as she breezed into the living room, headed toward the kitchen. "By the way, Javier, that's a lovely shade of lip gloss you're wearing."

Javier tried to surreptitiously wipe at his mouth with his hand, but gave up when Alexis handed him a tissue. "I'm glad to see you two worked this out," Martha said, returning with a glass of wine, which she held up to them in salute. "Nothing good comes of brooding for weeks or, worse, months. Always talk things out as soon as possible. It can only help."

"Speaking from personal experience, Martha?" Javier asked.

"Secondhand personal experience," Martha replied. "Lack of communication is one reason it took Richard and Katherine four years to get together."

"Oh yeah," Javier agreed. He looked at Alexis now. "I want to keep the lines of communication open between us all the time."

"Well, except for today's lapse, I think we're doing pretty well so far," Alexis said, threading her arm through his.

He smiled at her. "Yeah," he agreed, "I guess we are."

* * *

"You weren't this nervous when we filled out the paperwork to get our marriage license," Rick said.

"Because I didn't have any doubts at all that I wanted to marry you and spend the rest of my life as your wife," Kate said. "But I've been asking myself if this is really fair to the baby."

"Having a New York City Councilwoman for a mother would be unfair to Sweetpea?" Rick asked. "How?"

"How?" Kate echoed, laying the pen down and pushing away the paperwork in front of her at the dining room table.

"How," Rick repeated, sitting down next to her.

"When I'm at work, I won't be with the baby," Kate said.

"Which would be true of any job," Rick said, determined to play devil's advocate. "You don't **have** to do this, Kate."

"I'm really excited about being a mom, and I want to be the best mom I can," Kate said, "but I don't think I can be **just** a mom, Castle."

"You could never be **just** a mom, Kate," Rick replied.

"I'm serious, Rick."

"So am I. If you want to **not** work for a while, we can afford that. You'll rock Mommy and Me, and the playground, and Gymboree, and I already feel sorry for any toddler that dares to tell you no when you're in charge of the play group."

Kate bit her lip. "I want both," she said after a long moment. "I've worked since I was sixteen. I needed the time off after the shooting, obviously, and it was time for me to leave the police department. This feels like the logical next step. I need to learn about government firsthand instead of walking into a Senate seat right off the bat."

Rick leaned closer, putting an arm around Kate's shoulders. "How did you feel after you graduated from the academy and before you went out on your first patrol?" he asked.

"Head to toe adrenaline," Kate replied. "I was headstrong and overeager, determined to be the best officer in the whole NYPD. I still had a lot to learn, though. The academy was great, but out on the streets, for real...it was totally different. I'd had the procedures and protocols drilled into me at the academy, but putting them into practice, being able to think on my feet, fly by the seat of my pants when necessary when everything was going wrong because it almost never happened exactly the way it did at the academy...But I found my way. I had great mentors. Montgomery...Mike Royce… I learned so much from both of them. And in the end, when they gave me the ball, I ran with it. I like to think I became **one** of the best officers, one of the best detectives, on the force."

"You did," Rick assured her.

"You're incredibly biased," she pointed out.

"Even being biased, you did, Kate. You are, without question, one of the best detectives in the history of the NYPD," Rick insisted.

"So you think this is just jitters?" Kate asked.

"Do you?" Rick tossed the question back at her.

Kate sighed, scrubbing at her face with both hands. "I really wish my mom was here," she said softly. "She worked the whole time I was growing up. Maternity leave was a new thing when I was born, but I know she took it, and then went back to work after...I don't know, three months, four months? I wish I could ask her how she did it. And she did it so well, Rick. She didn't miss a school play or a softball game or anything really important."

"She must have had her jitters about leaving you in daycare, or with a baby-sitter, or your grandmother, whoever it was that watched you, while she was at work, before you started to school," Rick said.

"Dad would know," Kate said, "but I'm not ready to ask him yet. It's still so hard for him to talk about her. For the past several years, whenever we have talked about her, it's always been about her death and her case, and then in May, it was about seeing her again someday. I'm letting the good memories of her come back to me, but I don't know if he's there yet, and I don't want to hurt him by bringing it up to him." She rested a hand on her abdomen. "Maybe by the time we tell everybody about the baby, I'll be ready to ask him. Or at least before she, or he, is born." She shuffled the papers before picking up the pen again, then looked at Rick. "I want this, Rick. I want to run for City Council."

"You know I'll back your play, no matter what it is, Kate," Rick said earnestly.

"I might not even win," Kate said.

"You'll win," Rick said confidently. "When you take your case to the people of Manhattan during the campaign, you'll win in a landslide."

"And if I do win..." Kate said.

"Unless it's a closed meeting, Sweetpea and I can always sit in the gallery," Rick offered. "Do they have a gallery at City Council meetings?"

"I guess we're gonna find out," Kate replied. She finished filling out the page she'd been working on, then laid the pen down after signing her name at the bottom. "So, I file these to register with the Campaign Finance Board, and then I have to get a minimum of 450 signatures from the district I'd be representing in order to get on the ballot."

"We can definitely do that," Rick said. "If you want my help, that is."

"Babe, I wouldn't dream of doing this without you backing me up. You're my partner, in everything and every way," Kate said seriously.

Rick smiled then, the smile that never failed to make Kate's insides melt. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "Speaking of Sweetpea, I finally got the origin story on Popeye's Sweetpea. Actually, they didn't pronounce the 't,' so he was Swee'Pea. He was left on Popeye's doorstep in a box, and Popeye raised him as his son and officially adopted him in 2004."

"Maybe that will come up in Trivial Pursuit sometime," Kate mused.

"Well, for now, we're going to concentrate on our greatest joint project to date," he gently splayed his hand over her abdomen now, "and on getting you elected to the City Council."

Kate ran a hand through his hair, cupping the back of his head in her palm. "Sounds like a plan," she said before leaning in to meet his lips with hers and seal it with a kiss.

* * *

 _ **I looked it up, and that really is the backstory of Swee'Pea from Popeye.**_


	38. Chapter 38

_**My deepest, most heartfelt thanks to everyone who is continuing to read and review and support this story. And a special thanks to WRTRD, who helped me to see that continuing to follow my heart in crafting this story is the only way to go regarding the most important point of this chapter. You're an excellent writer, friend, and reader.**_

* * *

And so it was that Kate announced her candidacy for Manhattan City Council to her and Rick's family and friends, earning a boatload of support from them, including offers from all of her friends, Martha, and Jim to gather signatures from their respective apartment buildings, and Alexis's offer to canvass among her friends and classmates at Columbia before her graduation in December to gather signatures from those who were Manhattan residents. By a fortuitous stroke of luck, Rick hadn't yet found a buyer for his old P.I. office, and he insisted Kate use it as her campaign office, which led to a spirited debate among Lanie, Jenny, Gates, Alexis, Martha, and all of the men (except Gates' husband, who was at home in bed with bronchitis) over when and how to move the few things Rick had left there out and how best to optimize the space for Kate's campaign, while Jim and Martha jointly offered to team up to write campaign literature for Kate, a prospect which panicked Rick much more than it panicked Kate.

"You do remember my mother's one-woman show, right?" Rick asked Kate when they were getting ready for bed that night.

"I thought it was very good," she replied. "Besides, my dad will keep her from getting too theatrical or melodramatic. It's nice to see them getting along so well, considering the first dinner we had with them."

"Well, we've all come a long way since then," Rick said as he drew back the covers and climbed into bed next to Kate. "And when they find out about Sweetpea, I think the race will be on to see which grandparent will spoil him or her more."

"And with the baby's big sister, and all the aunts and uncles, four of whom will be godparents, this kid is gonna be completely spoiled by the time we come home from the hospital," Kate replied.

"We won't let that happen," Rick said. "Our kid is going to be amazing. Our kid already **is** amazing—growing every day, I gotta get some books, some of those _What to Expect When You're Expecting_ kinds of books. I'm sure they've updated since Alexis was in utero."

Now Kate did show panic. "You can't go down to the bookstore and buy pregnancy books!" she exclaimed. "It'll end up on Page Six, and then everybody will know, and our Christmas surprise will be ruined!"

"Nothing is going to get ruined," Rick promised her. "Amazon, Kate. I'll have them delivered right to our front door. They even come in plain brown boxes, the way the old _National Geographic_ s used to come in plain brown wrappers." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Which you no doubt read for the articles," Kate said wryly.

"It was a very educational magazine all the way around," Rick said, his too-innocent expression making Kate dissolve into laughter. Rick beamed at her then. "I hope Sweetpea has your laugh and your smile, especially if she's a girl," he said.

"Well, if he's a boy, I hope he's as ruggedly handsome as you are," Kate replied. She was startled when Rick bounded out of bed and raised his arms in the air in triumph, fists pointed at the ceiling, and gave a whoop of triumph. "What?" she asked.

"You finally admit it! You think I'm ruggedly handsome!" he exclaimed happily. "It only took eight years, marriage, and getting pregnant with our first child, but you said it, and you meant it!"

Kate rolled her eyes, but good-naturedly. "Yes, babe, you really **are** ruggedly handsome, and I hope that our future son or sons are as ruggedly handsome as you are."

Rick climbed back into bed as Kate turned out the light and then moved to straddle him. "So me being a goofball works too?" he asked hopefully.

"It always has," she replied before leaning down to kiss him as his body began to respond to hers.

* * *

Kate wasn't entirely sure why she was nervous. Well, okay, bringing up last year was the main reason, but she hoped that her belated first-anniversary gift would make up for it. She **really** hoped her belated first-anniversary gift would make up for it. If not for LokSat, she would have given this to Rick on schedule, last year. But she also wondered about his reaction to it. They had never really discussed it. She refused to believe that he didn't have an opinion, but she hadn't consulted him before doing this...not because she was pulling away from him, but because she wanted this to be a (hopefully wonderful) surprise for him.

It was November 10...their second wedding anniversary. She had gone traditional with her first-anniversary gift to him, which had always been her intention, but non-traditional with her second-anniversary gift, because she couldn't find anything in cotton or china that she thought he would like or use, and they weren't exactly the most traditional couple in the world, anyway.

"I can hear you thinking." Kate looked beside her to see Rick staring sleepily up at her. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Kate fibbed.

Rick sat up and leaned back against the headboard next to Kate. "Something's the matter. What's wrong on this, the greatest day of the year?"

"I thought that was Christmas," Kate stalled.

"Okay, it's a tie," Rick relented. He reached for Kate's hand. "Seriously, Kate. It's our wedding anniversary. And we're waking up together this year, so that's a big step in the right direction right there."

Kate bit her bottom lip, then said, "Well, I got you an anniversary present for this year-"

"I got you one too," Rick said, smiling.

"-but I also have the present I was supposed to give you, the present I wanted to give you, last year and didn't get to," Kate continued, "and I'm not sure how you're going to react to it."

"It's from you. I'll love it," Rick said confidently. At the mention of presents, he had instantly become more alert. "And our mind meld remains intact, because I got you a present for last year too."

"You did?" Kate asked.

"Of course," Rick replied. "I'm not the kind of guy who's going to forget our anniversary. Ever. If I thought you wouldn't consider it excessive, I'd get you a present every March 9." He paused. "March 9 was-"

"-the night we met," Kate concluded in unison with him. At the look of surprise and happiness in his eyes, she said, "I don't forget important dates either. And March 9, 2009, is one of the best days in my life. I didn't know it at the time, but believe me, Rick, I know it now, and I'll always consider it one of the best days of my life...along with November 10, 2014, and when Sweetpea makes his or her debut." She got out of bed then, crossed the room to the closet, and, moving some things around, emerged a moment later with two gift-wrapped boxes, one of which was a box wrapped in gold foil and ribbon, with a big red bow on top and a lid that clearly was to be lifted straight off the box to reveal the gift, and the other a larger package wrapped in paper emblazoned all over with 'Happy Anniversary!' but with no bow on top.

"You should probably open this one first, since this is the one from last year," Kate said, holding out the gold foil-covered box.

Rick all but tore the gift from Kate's hands, and she watched anxiously as he removed the lid and pushed back the tissue paper. Then he frowned as he sifted through the contents of the box before looking up at her in confusion. "This is your driver's license, Kate...and your passport, and your Social Security card. Do you want to take a trip somewhere, like a babymoon?"

"The first anniversary is traditionally paper," Kate said.

"Right," Rick said, still not getting it.

"Look more closely," Kate said, holding her breath.

Rick lifted her passport out of the box and flipped it open...and, as instructed, he looked more closely.

And there it was on the top line, underneath Kate's photograph: SURNAME: Castle.

His heart pounding, Rick picked up Kate's driver's license next.

There it was again: CASTLE, KATHERINE B.

595 BROOME STREET

NEW YORK, NY 10013

DOB: 11-17-79

Feeling his vision start to blur, Rick picked up Kate's Social Security card last, and sure enough, that too now read, CASTLE, KATHERINE B.

He looked up at her in shock and awe. "Professionally, I'm still going to be Kate Beckett," she said, "because that's the name I built my career and my professional reputation on. And you do still occasionally call me 'Beckett,' and I've always liked the way it sounds when you do that." She ducked her head shyly for a second before looking up at him again. "We never really talked about it, me taking your name, and I didn't really start to think about it until...well, until LokSat. Because right before all of that stuff first hit the fan, when I got called in to talk to the party and they wanted me to run for the Senate, they attacked my methods as a detective at the 12th, and our relationship, and the Nikki Heat books, and I told them off. I told them how proud I am to be your wife, and to be your inspiration, and that was when I first started seriously thinking about it. And I put everything in motion to make the change legally two days before I pulled my first disappearing act because of LokSat.

"These were ready this time last year. But everything was so uncertain then, and then we were hiding the truth from everyone for so long, I didn't want to do this, give you these, that night with that shadow hanging over us. So I decided I'd save them for this year and give them to you as a belated first-anniversary present.

"Professionally, I'll remain Kate Beckett. But personally, I'm Kate Castle. I want to share your name, Rick. I want to have the same last name that you and our children have. Because as proud as I am of being Jim and Johanna Beckett's daughter, and as proud as I am of everything I accomplished as Officer, Detective, and Captain Beckett, I'm even **more** proud to be your wife, and I dare any other mother to be as proud of her kids as I'll be of ours. And one doesn't cancel out or diminish the other. I'll be both, at the same time, in a way. So happy belated first anniversary, and I really need you to say something now."

Rick was floored. He had actually had the name conversation with both Meredith and Gina, and it hadn't taken 60 seconds in either case before both women said a resounding 'no.' It stung both times, but more out of ego than anything else.

And he and Kate never really had discussed it. He had just assumed that she would remain Kate Beckett, and he was okay with that. There were times he had thought how wonderful it would be for Kate to take his name, but he wasn't going to push. As she had just pointed out, she had built her career on the Beckett name, and he would never do anything to diminish that or take it away from her. As long as she shared his life, he didn't need for her to share his name.

But now she was telling him that she **had** thought about it, and she had put enough thought into it that she had gone out and had her name legally changed, and her personal identification documents updated to reflect that change. At a time in their lives when everything was going wrong, when Rick was wondering if he was going to lose Kate, she was solidifying her connection to him in the only way she knew how then...and she had waited until now to tell him in order to make their anniversary even more special then it already was, with this being their second one and Sweetpea being on the way.

Words were his stock in trade, but he couldn't find any words that would let Kate know how much her taking his name meant to him.

So he carefully set aside the box with her driver's license, passport, and Social Security card in it, got up on his knees, framed her face in his hands, and then kissed her, slowly, tenderly, thoroughly, until Kate sighed and melted against him, and they kissed until they were both out of breath.

When Kate caught her breath, she said, "And you still have this year's present to open."

Rick laughed so hard and long, the few tears remaining in his eyes leaked out, and Kate laughed too.

When they caught their breath from the laughing, Rick said earnestly, "I love you, Kate Castle. And it's not an ego thing, I swear it's not, but I have to tell you...I really like the way that sounds."

She beamed back at him. "Me too," she replied. "And I love you too, Rick Castle." Then she handed him his second gift, the one commemorating that day, their second anniversary. Rick tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box to reveal a 12-inch digital picture frame with 8 gigabytes of memory, a clock/calendar function, and stereo speakers, since it could play video in addition to displaying photographs.

"This is awesome!" Rick exclaimed as he inspected the power adaptor and the USB stick that were included with the frame. "And just in time, too, since we'll be taking a ton of pictures of Sweetpea. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kate replied.

Rick then got out of bed and rushed to his office to retrieve Kate's gifts. Both boxes were small, but one was rectangular in shape, and the other was a perfect cube. "Happy anniversary, Kate," Rick said with a big smile. "The one on top is the paper gift."

Since officially getting together with Rick, Kate had rediscovered the joys of unwrapping presents. She was completely floored at what the box contained. "Front row Bon Jovi tickets at Madison Square Garden?!" she exclaimed.

They're going on tour next year. I have a guy," he said. "I know you like them, and I'd like to be your date to the concert."

"You're absolutely going to be my date to the concert!" Kate exclaimed. "You know, Bon Jovi was my first concert. 1993, the I'll Sleep When I'm Dead tour. It was July, it was unbearably hot, they were playing the Garden, actually, but since I was only thirteen, my parents didn't trust me to go alone, so they got four tickets, and they took me and Madison, remember my friend Madison?" Rick nodded as Kate continued, "I should call her and catch up. Anyway, I was completely embarrassed that both of my parents were there. Madison had no such qualms, however. We were in the tenth row, and she screamed herself hoarse singing along and trying to get Richie Sambora's attention. Which she didn't. By the time they got about halfway through the set list, I managed to forget my parents were right behind us, and I started screaming and singing along with Madison, saving up most of my energy and lung power for my two favorite songs, of course, which they played at the end: 'Wanted Dead or Alive' and 'Livin' on a Prayer.'"

"I wonder if they'll take requests?" Rick mused.

"Even if they don't play those two songs, it'll still be a great concert," Kate said. "And this time, I'll get to go with you."

Rick picked up the second gift, the one commemorating the anniversary they were celebrating today, the moment two years ago they had gotten married. "This is the untraditional gift, for today's anniversary."

Kate removed the wrapping paper and opened the box to reveal a round red object. At Rick's encouraging, excited look, she opened the lid to reveal a decorative compass, wood with a rosewood finish. The interior of the lid was gold, and Rick had had it engraved with the following:

" _ **KB-**_

 _ **You are my North, my South,**_

 _ **My East & West,**_

 _ **My working week**_

 _ **& my Sunday rest,**_

 _ **My noon, my midnight**_

 _ **My talk, my song**_

 _ **Our love will last for always.**_

 _ **-RC"**_

"It's beautiful," Kate said softly. "I love it. And my concert tickets. And you."

"Happy anniversary," Rick said, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Happy anniversary," Kate replied before leaning in to kiss him again.

* * *

A week after their wedding anniversary was Kate's birthday. She insisted she didn't want a big party like she had surprised Rick with a few years ago, along with the murder mystery that really wasn't while he was recovering from his skiing accident. But birthdays were another thing that Rick had given back to her, so when he insisted, "It's your **birthday** , Kate—I can't **not** celebrate that. It's your day, so whatever you say goes. But November 17...it's sacred to me. The day you were born is one of the greatest days of my life, Kate, and it's worth celebrating."-Kate couldn't say no to some kind of celebration.

"Let's have everybody to lunch at Remy's," Kate said. "That way, they won't get suspicious when I don't drink wine because Remy's doesn't serve wine. Then we can come back here for cake, and you and I can have some alone time, maybe go out for a nice dinner."

"You got it," Rick replied with a smile.

Alexis, Martha, Jim, Ryan, Esposito, Lanie and Alan all joined Kate and Rick for lunch at Remy's. The boys and Lanie brought birthday presents for Kate. "You guys, you didn't have to get me anything," Kate protested.

"It's your birthday!" Lanie exclaimed. "We wanted to get you gifts. It's taken long enough for you to celebrate your birthday the way it should be celebrated, Kate."

Everyone looked at Rick then, but it was Alexis who spoke. "If Dad could get away with it, all of our birthdays would be national holidays."

"Rick, you do have a lot to do with the changes in Katie's outlook," Jim piped up then. "And I thank you for it."

"We all do," Lanie said.

Esposito's gift was a book on the history of the New York Yankees from before Babe Ruth to after "The Boss," George Steinbrenner. Sarah Grace had made a birthday card for Kate with construction paper and crayons to accompany the iTunes gift card Kevin and Jenny got her. Lanie and Alan's gift was a spa day for Lanie and Kate to share. Kate made a mental note to discuss with her obstetrician whether there was anything she should avoid at the spa, and had just finished thanking her friends (Jim, Martha, and Alexis would be at dinner that night, and would give Kate their gifts then) when everyone heard a female voice excitedly, breathlessly calling, "Kevin!"

Nine pairs of eyes found Jenny Ryan standing in the doorway, her cheeks bright pink from the cold November wind, her eyes shining, one hand wrapped around the handle of Nick's stoller, the other holding tightly to Sarah Grace's hand.

Kevin hurried toward his family even as Jenny was hustling the kids into the restaurant proper and towards Kevin. "I thought you couldn't make it," he said.

"When the kids and I got home from Sarah Grace's preschool, the mail had come, and this was in it," Jenny said, pulling an envelope out of her coat pocket and holding it out to her husband.

Everyone at the tables they had pushed together to fit their party of nine watched as Ryan's expression completely changed when he looked at the envelope.

It could only be one thing: the results of his sergeant's exam.

"Well, go on and open it, bro!" Esposito called across the restaurant.

Kevin helped Jenny herd the kids to the table while Espo and Rick pulled up another couple of chairs, and Rick flagged down their waitress to ask for a booster seat for Sarah Grace.

Kevin Ryan looked at his friends and family. This was the moment of truth. Jenny had removed her coat, and Sarah Grace's coat, hat, and mittens, and unbundled Nick and was now holding him on her lap. "I'm sorry to hijack your birthday celebration like this, Beckett," he said earnestly, looking at Kate.

"You're not hijacking anything, Kevin," Kate said seriously. "Go ahead and open it already!" The others began to call out encouragement to Kevin to open the envelope as well. He looked at Jenny, who was looking back at him with all the love, faith and encouragement in her heart. He looked at Sarah Grace and Nick, who didn't really understand what was going on, but were both smiling up at their dad. Then he looked around the table, his gaze roving from Beckett to Castle to Castle's mom to Beckett's dad to Lanie to Alan and lastly, to Alexis and Javier.

Then, with a deep breath and a silent prayer to St. Joseph of Cupertino (the patron saint of success in examinations), Kevin opened the envelope, pulled out the folded paper inside, unfolded it, and stared at it, his eyes going over and over the words on the printed page.

The silence seemed to stretch out forever, and was unbearable. "Well?" Javier finally demanded.

Kevin looked up from the paper in his hands to everyone at the table, this time letting his gaze take in everyone. Then his face lit up like a Christmas tree as he announced, "I passed!"

Everyone began cheering and congratulating Kevin. Jenny shrieked and, carefully shifting Nick to the crook of one arm, sprang up and gave Kevin a big kiss and a hug while chanting, "I knew it, I knew it, I knew you were gonna pass!"

"I did better than just pass," Kevin said, his arm around Jenny's waist. He held the paper in his other hand aloft. "92 out of 100!"

This led to another round of cheering. Sarah Grace wasn't sure why everyone was cheering, but she clambered out of her booster seat and started jumping up and down before asking her daddy to pick her up. Kevin carefully folded the paper and stuck it in his back pocket before picking up his daughter, perching her on his hip. He got hugs from Beckett, Castle, Lanie, and Martha, handshakes from Alan and Jim, and then he looked at Alexis and Javier. Sarah Grace was squirming by now, wanting down again, so Kevin set her on her feet and she went back to the table, where chicken fingers, French fries and a chocolate milkshake were waiting for her, courtesy of Rick, who had quietly told Jenny to order anything she and Sarah Grace wanted, since now they had another reason to celebrate.

"I couldn't have done this without you guys," Kevin said seriously.

"You did all the hard work," Alexis insisted.

"Yeah, we were just your moral support and interrogators," Javier said.

"I'm serious," Kevin said. "I'll never be able to thank you enough for all that you did to help me with this."

"We were happy to help out," Alexis said. Then, belatedly realizing how that sounded, she hastily added, "I'm glad my decades of study skills were of use to you."

"You're my best friend. You're my partner. There's nothing I wouldn't do you for you, Kevin," Javier said.

Kevin and Javier hugged, then Kevin hugged Alexis.

Javier then picked up his milkshake glass. "A toast," he said, and everyone picked up their milkshakes and sodas, and even Sarah Grace picked up her plastic cup of milk with a straw and lid. "To Kevin Ryan, the newest sergeant on the NYPD...and he'll make a da-arn good one," Javier quickly censored himself because of the kids.

"To Kevin," everyone chorused.

Then Rick said, "And to the extraordinary Kate Beckett...happy birthday, and many, many, many more."

"To Kate." "To Beckett." "To Katie," everyone chorused.

As lunch progressed, talk turned to Thanksgiving. Alexis, Martha, and Jim were, of course, spending the holiday with Kate and Rick. Lanie and Alan hadn't made any firm plans—Lanie's parents weren't coming to town, and Alan's parents, retirees who lived in California near his brother and his brother's family, their only grandchildren, were staying close to home with the grandkids for the holiday—so they jumped at Kate's invitation. Kevin and Jenny were having two Thanksgiving dinners: lunch at his sister's house with his family, and dinner at Jenny's parents' with her family, since both sets of grandparents wanted time with Sarah Grace and Nick, so they wouldn't make it to the Castles' for Thanksgiving, but made plans to come over the day after.

"You're not working again this year, are you, Javi?" Kate asked Esposito.

Making sure to avoid eye contact with Alexis, Javi said, "Actually, I'm not."

Rick peered critically at Esposito. Then his face lit up, and he said, "Well, what do you know? Our Esposito's got himself a secret girlfriend!"

"Oh, come on," Kevin blurted in an effort to cover for Javi and Alexis. "We'd know if he had a girlfriend."

"Kate and I didn't tell you about us right away," Rick pointed out.

"Well, that's you guys," Kevin said. "We knew, though."

Kate noticed Javi focusing on his coffee mug. "Rick's right!" she exclaimed, amazed. "You **ARE** seeing someone, Javi!"

To everyone in the know, Alexis and Javi were very pointedly not looking at or reacting to each other in any way. But Rick was teasing and badgering Espo about his secret girlfriend.

"Are you spending the day with her?" Kate asked, not-so-subtly elbowing her husband in the ribs to get him to shut up.

"I can't," Javi said, and the tone of voice in which he uttered those two words made it clear that the topic was not up for discussion.

"But you do have the day off?" Kate continued.

"Yes," Javi said.

"So spend it with us," Kate said. "You're family, Javi. If you can't be with your girlfriend, be with your family."

Now everyone was carefully schooling their expressions so as not to give Javi and Alexis's secret relationship away to Kate and Rick. Jim Beckett, being no fool, quickly put two and two together and followed everyone else's lead, keeping his mouth shut and his expression normal.

Javi knew he had to play it cool. And it would be a challenge, spending the holiday with Alexis and not acting like boyfriend and girlfriend, since Kate and Rick would be right there the whole time.

But this was the first Thanksgiving in Javi couldn't even remember how long that he was looking forward to the holiday, and even if he had to put on the best acting job of his life, getting to spend it with Alexis, and with the friends he considered family, was worth the charade...although he and Alexis were going to have to come clean to Rick and Kate very, very soon.

"I'll be there," Javi said, with a flash of a smile and a curt nod to Kate and Rick. "Thanks."

"You're family," Kate repeated. "We'll see you as early as you want to get there."

"We make a day of it," Rick added, "so bring your appetite."

"I will," Javi promised.

It was all Alexis could do not to react. She and Javi had thought they would have to sneak out and meet somewhere, but now, she would get to spend the whole day with him...but she couldn't act like his girlfriend, because her dad and Kate had no idea, and neither did Kate's father (Alexis didn't know that he had figured it out just now). It would be a challenge, but they could get through it...and they were going to have to make a plan for telling her dad and Kate about them, and soon. She really didn't want to still be hiding this from them at Christmas.

Hmm...Christmas...That might be something!

And if not Christmas, then New Year's Eve, Alexis resolved, also resolving to talk to Javi about it as soon as possible.

Javi, Kevin, and Lanie were called to a murder scene then, and Alan had to get back to work, and Jenny had to get the kids home, since it was time for Nick's afternoon nap, and Sarah Grace still sometimes took a nap too.

Alexis, Jim, and Martha went back to the loft with Rick and Kate. Alexis had gotten Kate a new briefcase to use in her upcoming campaign for City Council; Martha gave Kate a gift certificate to her favorite motorcycle shop ("Perhaps a new helmet...I'm sure you'll be able to find something you like."), and Jim surprised Kate by gifting her a pair of sapphire earrings that had belonged to Johanna.

Kate recognized them instantly. "These—these are Mom's," she said, looking from the earrings to her father in shock.

Jim nodded. "I gave them to her for our 20th wedding anniversary," he said. "You always admired them, and I think they'd look really great on you, Katie."

Choked up, Kate hugged her father tightly, and he hugged her back. "She's always with us," she whispered to Jim.

"She is," he agreed, sounding emotional himself. "And she is so much more than how she died. It's time to remember the way she lived, Katie. I think...I think I'm finally ready for that."

Sniffling, Kate pulled back. "I am too," she said, thinking of the baby and the big Christmas announcement she and Rick were planning for everyone.

While Jim and Kate were having their moment, Martha and Alexis helped Rick with the cake and candles, Alexis gathering enough plates and forks and the cake cutter.

"Dad, what about your present for Kate?" Alexis asked.

"Later," he said.

At Alexis's horrified expression, Rick said, "Get your mind out of the gutter, young lady!" Martha chuckled.

After a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" had been sung and the candles, in the shape of a number 3 and a number 7 had been lit, Kate asked, "Aren't I missing a present?" and looked at Rick expectantly.

"Later," Rick told her. She rolled her eyes, thinking, as Alexis had, that it was an intimate gift. "And it's not that!" Rick exclaimed in frustration. "Why does everybody think that?"

"Because we know you, dear," Martha said.

"Humiliation: the gift that never gets old," Rick said when he saw the sparkle in Kate's eyes as she tried not to laugh. "Make a wish and blow out your candles, Mrs. Gutter Mind."

So Kate did, and after their parents had said good night and gone home, and Alexis had said good night and gone upstairs, and Rick had finished loading the dishwasher, he took Kate's hand and led her into his office. "Wait, it's really not...you know?" Kate asked.

Rick looked at her, amused. "I didn't say that," he said. "But that's not the main component, no. We'll get to that in a few minutes." He went around to his desk drawer, opened the top middle drawer, and removed an envelope with a red bow on it. "This is." He walked back around the desk, leaned a hip against it, and handed Kate the manila envelope. "Happy birthday, Kate."

Kate opened the envelope and pulled out the sheaf of papers. Skimming through them, she looked up at Rick in more shock than she had looked at her father when he had given her her mother's earrings.

"You're putting my name on the loft?" she asked.

"I probably should have talked to you about it first," Rick conceded, raising his hands in surrender, "but then it wouldn't have been a surprise. And I wanted to surprise you." He stood up and rested his hands on Kate's shoulders. "This is your home, too. And this is going to be where we raise our kids. It's **our** place, Kate, and I just thought the deed should reflect that fact. So from this day forward, this is legally **our** loft." He grinned. "You are officially a mortgage holder."

Kate launched herself at Rick, hugging him tightly. "You've been home to me for years," she said, and he could hear the tears in her voice. "You've given me the life I always wanted and didn't think I deserved anymore, or could have. 'I love you' doesn't seem like enough, but it's all I have."

Rick drew back, his hands coming up to frame Kate's face. "Your love will always be more than enough for me, Kate," he said softly. He leaned down and kissed away her tears, then whispered, "Happy birthday, Kate."

She looked up at him, her eyes shining with love and tears, before saying, "It's the best birthday of my adult life."

"Good to know. Now I know where the bar is for next year," Rick said seriously.

Kate laughed happily, knowing that he'd go all out for Sweetpea's birthdays too, and any kids they had after that, and that he would, indeed, consider it a personal challenge to top himself on her birthday every year from now into perpetuity.

"Let's go to bed," Kate said then, pulling Rick toward the bedroom. "I bought myself a little birthday present while I can still fit into it, and after I get into it, I'm gonna need you to get me out of it. It's black and silky and short."

"I'm the man for the job," Rick said.

Kate stopped, looked over her shoulder at him, then turned around to face him and pulled his head down so she could give him a quick, hard kiss. "You certainly are," she agreed before pulling him into the bedroom.


	39. Author's Note---NOT A CHAPTER!

_**I spent my week completely flattened by a very bad case of the flu. Doctor's office, missed work for three days, in bed for four alternating between suffering, taking over-the-counter medicines, and sleeping. Therefore, the next chapter won't be posted on time tomorrow, since I am still in the process of writing it. I apologize profusely for the delay, but I promise, I will do everything I can to make the wait worth everyone's while. Thank you.**_


	40. Chapter 39

_**Thank you, everyone, for the get-well wishes, and for understanding about the delay in the new chapter of the story. If you have not had the flu this year, you're very lucky, and I hope you don't get it, because it's a horrible experience! Here, now, is the real chapter 39.**_

* * *

The Monday before Thanksgiving, Rick asked Alexis at breakfast, "So, are you inviting your boyfriend to Thanksgiving? He's more than welcome."

"He has plans," Alexis replied evenly, reminding herself that technically, this was true.

"Are you dating The Invisible Man?" Rick asked.

"Of course not," Alexis replied.

Kate entered the kitchen then, robe open over her pajamas, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "Of course not what?" she asked on a yawn. Her morning sickness was tapering off, thank goodness, but she was finding herself more tired than she'd ever been in her life. Her obstetrician and the small library of books Rick had had delivered and that they kept safely hidden in their bedroom assured her this was normal, but still, she would be glad to get to the second trimester, when she was supposed to have more energy.

"Of course I'm not dating The Invisible Man," Alexis replied.

"Disappointed?" Kate asked Rick, pausing to give him a quick good morning kiss before accepting the mug of coffee he was preparing for her.

"Is there some reason we haven't met this guy yet?" Rick asked. "Other than he's older than you?" He looked horrified for a minute. "Wait a minute...he's older than you. He's not your grandmother's age, is he?"

Now Alexis looked horrified. "Ewww! Dad! No! He's not!" she exclaimed, barely repressing a shudder.

"Okay, so he's not a geezer, he's not The Invisible Man...what, is he a vampire, and he can't come out in the daylight? Put some sunglasses and a hat on him. We won't stare...much."

"He's not a vampire, either," Alexis said. "He's a regular, mortal man."

"When are we going to meet him?" Rick persisted.

"Soon," Alexis said.

"You keep saying that," Rick said. "How soon is soon? And why not Thanksgiving?"

"In front of most of the family?" Alexis asked. "No. He has plans. But I promise, I'll bring him over in December."

"Before or after Christmas?" Rick pressed. "Or **for** Christmas? He's welcome for Christmas."

"He's welcome any time, Alexis," Kate added. "And I promise, I'll make sure your dad doesn't have a gun, even if it's just a dueling pistol, when he meets your boyfriend."

"I appreciate that, Kate, thank you," Alexis said. She finished her breakfast and put her dishes in the dishwasher. "Gotta run. I have a class at nine. See you tonight." She hugged and kissed her dad, then Kate, and then left the loft.

Rick got to work cooking breakfast for himself and Kate, egg white omelets and French toast. "She's never held off this long on introducing a boyfriend to me," Rick reflected as he folded green peppers into the omelets.

"Maybe they like sneaking around," Kate said. "We enjoyed it, as I recall. Well, except for the part where you made me hide in your closet when your mother returned home with Alexis unexpectedly the morning after our first night together."

Rick looked over his shoulder at Kate. "This from the woman who tried to get me to hide in **your** closet when Ryan showed up at your place when we were there together?" he countered.

"You have to admit, sneaking around was fun," Kate admitted.

"You really think that's all this is? The Alexis equivalent of sneaking around?" Rick asked.

Kate drained her coffee mug and went to get the orange juice out of the refrigerator. "Well, they do say that girls tend to go for guys like their fathers," Kate mused. "Maybe she doesn't want to introduce you to The Boyfriend because she's afraid you'll steal him away for endless _Halo_ nights and Comic-Cons."

"Oh, don't put that thought in my head," Rick groaned. "I'm the dad. I'm supposed to hate The Boyfriend. I can't hate the guy if he's a young version of me."

"Impossible. There is only one Richard Castle in all the world," Kate said seriously. "This guy might like video games, and he might happily geek out over VIP passes to Comic-Con, but that would be where the similarity ends, if there even is a similarity. It could just be that they're enjoying sneaking around, the same way we did. And it's not even really sneaking around. We know she's seeing someone, we know he's older, and we know he's in law. We just don't have a name and a face."

"Yes, but if we did, we could have the boys do a background check on him," Rick said.

"You don't trust Alexis's judgment when it comes to relationships?" Kate asked.

"I was not the greatest role model in that department...until you," Rick replied. "And I just don't want another Pi on our hands."

"Nobody wants that, babe," Kate assured him. "But Alexis has grown since then. We all have. I really don't think she's seeing another Pi."

"I hope not. One was more than enough," Rick said with a grimace. He dished up breakfast, and as he watched Kate devour her omelet, he mused, "Sweetpea must like omelets."

"I think my cravings are like prenatal takeout," Kate mused. "The baby wants something, he or she lets me know, I eat it...usually after you have thoughtfully and lovingly provided it...and we're both happy."

"We're **all** happy," Rick corrected. "Now, Thanksgiving...Do you and Sweetpea have any requests?"

"Ooh, are you gonna do the whipped sweet potatoes with the brown sugar and marshmallows on top?" Kate asked eagerly.

Rick smiled. "I am now," he said.

"Make a lot of those," Kate said.

"What else?" Rick asked, and they brainstormed what they'd be serving for Thanksgiving dinner while finishing up their breakfast.

* * *

"H'lo?" Javier asked sleepily, cell phone at his ear, eyes still closed.

"Do you want to meet at the parade?"

He forced himself awake now. "Alexis?"

"We're not gonna be able to act like boyfriend and girlfriend all afternoon and evening. I think it would be helpful if we could see each other before dinner," Alexis said.

Javier scrubbed a hand over his face and looked at his alarm clock. "It's 5:30 in the morning," he said. "On Thanksgiving."

"And people are already staking out spots to watch the parade," Alexis said.

"Yeah, they are," Javier replied. "You're sure about telling Castle and Beckett about us at Christmas?"

"Yes," Alexis said firmly. "You agreed. Christmas is the plan."

"Yes, I agreed to tell them at Christmas, after you promised me that neither Beckett nor Castle would stab me through the heart with an icicle," Javier reminded her.

"You were their friend before you became my boyfriend. I just don't want to mess anything up for you," Alexis said earnestly. "They're going to have to get used to the idea, and the way we do Christmas, there will be plenty of distractions for Dad, which is important. Although I'm sure he'll like you better than he liked Pi."

"Wait a minute, that was for real? You actually dated a guy named Pi?" Javier asked incredulously. "Ryan and I thought Castle and Beckett just made him up to mess with us."

"He was real," Alexis said ruefully. "And a mistake. My taste has vastly improved since then."

"I can't argue with that," Javier replied, a smile in his voice. Then he grew serious. "It's gonna be fine, Lex. We'll make them see and understand how serious we are about each other, and how important this relationship is to both of us. They may not approve right away, but we'll win them over. We got your grandmother on our side."

"And I'm sure she'll be helpful if we need her to be," Alexis said. "So, are we on for the parade?"

"Yes," Javier said. "I'll bring breakfast. Where do you want to meet, and when?"

"Macy's in Herald Square at 8?" Alexis suggested.

"I'll be there," Javier said. He glanced out the window. "I hope it doesn't rain."

"Are you afraid I'll melt?" Alexis asked, amused.

"No, I'm afraid you'll get sick," Javier replied seriously. "And since we're not telling Castle and Beckett about us until Christmas, if you did get sick, they'd be the ones taking care of you instead of me."

"You'd take care of me if I got sick?" Alexis asked, her heart doing somersaults in her chest.

"Of course I would," Javier replied. "Cold medicine, chicken soup, pharmacy runs...whatever you needed, I'd do it, happily."

Alexis felt herself grinning and hoped that her dad and Kate were still asleep. "You're an amazing man, Javier Esposito," she said.

"You're the one that's amazing," he replied.

"So I'll see you in Herald Square at 8:00," Alexis said.

"I'll be there with coffee and muffins," Javier promised.

Their plan was to tell Rick and Kate that they were a couple at Christmas. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans; Javier and Alexis's cover would not be blown on Thanksgiving Day, but they wouldn't make it to Christmas before Rick and Kate found out about the true nature of their relationship.

* * *

Rick let Kate sleep as he shuffled out to the kitchen to put the turkey in the oven at 5 AM. Then he shuffled back to bed and curled up with Kate, spooning her, one hand splayed across her belly, even though, much to his disappointment, Sweetpea wasn't moving yet.

Kate awoke a short time later, and Rick was drifting in that twilight between dozing and wakefulness. "Rick, are you asleep?" Kate whispered.

"Not really," he replied, opening his eyes.

"Do you realize that this time next year, we'll have a baby at the table?" she asked. That thought had literally just occurred to her.

"Yes, we will," he agreed with a smile.

"I'm new to all this," Kate said. "It just hit me that the baby will be here next Thanksgiving. The baby will be several months old next Thanksgiving, actually."

"Six months, depending on exactly when she or he is born," Rick said.

Kate felt the warmth of his hand through her sleep shirt. "No movement yet," she said. "Believe me, you'll be the second one to know, after I do."

"It's worth the wait," he said. "Everything with you has been worth the wait. That will never change."

"We're gonna have to be really careful today," Kate said. "I don't want a bunch of questions about why I'm not drinking wine with dinner."

"I've got that covered. You and I will be drinking sparkling red grape juice," Rick replied. "I picked up a couple of bottles and stashed them in the back of the fridge. Cover the labels, stick 'em in an ice bucket, and no one else but you and I will know what we're actually drinking."

"Hopefully that'll work," Kate said. "Lanie said she and Alan are bringing a bottle of wine, even though I told them they don't have to bring anything. My dad won't be drinking either, and I don't know if Alexis or Javi will."

"Alexis isn't much of a drinker," Rick reflected. "Mother will indulge, of course. Esposito...I don't know. If there's any chance he might get called into work, he won't be drinking. We'll figure it out."

"I just don't want anything spoiling our Christmas surprise. I want to see the looks on everyone's faces, and we've planned this out so carefully so that everyone will find out at the same time. I don't want anyone getting weird about it, or getting their feelings hurt, which is why I want us to tell everyone at the same time, on Christmas Eve."

"It's going to go off exactly as we planned," Rick promised. "The first part of what we need will be here next week. We'll get the second part, and then we just have to come up with the third part."

"The third part...That's one of the few things we've never actually done together," Kate said. "You're sure I won't hold you back, or be too...I don't know...corny?"

"I'm sure," Rick said. "You're doing fine so far. And it just feels right that it comes from both of us."

"Yes, it does," Kate agreed. "I know what I'm most grateful for this year."

"Me too," Rick said, gently stroking Kate's abdomen before leaning in to kiss her.

Unlike Alexis and Javier, Kate and Rick **would** keep their news a surprise until Christmas Eve, and as Rick said, it would go off without a hitch. But they still had a few things to do, and a few things to get through, before they made their grand announcement.

* * *

Thanksgiving was relatively low-key. No one caught on to the fact that Kate and Rick were actually drinking sparkling red grape juice instead of wine, and no one who was drinking wine overindulged. And even though Alexis and Javier arrived at the loft at the same time, Rick and Kate bought Alexis's explanation that they had run into each other outside when Alexis was returning from the parade. Esposito brought a flower arrangement consisting of peach spray roses, burgundy mini carnations, and butterscotch daisy poms tied with a plaid ribbon, and Kate and Rick thanked him for the flowers while Martha got a vase for them and then put them in the center of the Thanksgiving table.

The big news of the day was Lanie and Alan's announcement that they would be moving in together in the new year when their respective leases ran out (Lanie's in January, Alan's in February), and that they had already begun the search for a new apartment that would be theirs, since they were currently splitting their time between his place and hers, and the back and forth was getting exhausting. Everyone congratulated Lanie and Alan on this big step in their relationship.

"Well, when it's right, you just know it," Lanie said, looking at Alan adoringly (and taking care not to look at Javier or Alexis).

"Hear, hear," Kate said, raising her glass to Lanie and Alan.

"And don't worry, we **will** be hiring movers," Alan assured everyone.

"You guys can help us pick out curtains if you want to, though," Lanie said. "I'm not much good at that domestic kind of stuff."

"We're both learning," Alan said, threading his fingers through Lanie's.

"And you'll go right on learning," Rick said.

"Yes, you will," Kate agreed.

Talk then turned to Alexis's graduation, which, she informed everyone, would be happening in February, not December. She had made the deadline, but Columbia held its graduation ceremonies in October, February, and May. She hadn't finished her last class in time for the October deadline, so her graduation would be February 8, and she would start law school in the summer, so she was investigating internships through Columbia to fill the months between getting her bachelor's degree and starting law school.

"I hope you'll all be there," Alexis said. "Tickets are going to be kind of hard to come by, but I'll get as many as I can."

"I wouldn't miss it for anything," Javier said.

Jim Beckett interjected into the silence that followed Javier's statement, before it became a silence that would arouse suspicions, "You don't have to worry about a ticket for me, Alexis. Being a faculty member, I'm required to be at commencement."

Of course, Rick, Kate and Martha would be there. "If you can't get tickets for us, we'll understand," Lanie said, gesturing between Alan and herself. "I remember when I graduated med school. I couldn't get tickets for my whole extended family. I still have a few cousins who aren't speaking to me because of that, but when a graduating class is as big as mine was, and as big as I assume yours is going to be, the school tends to limit the number of tickets each graduate gets."

"Well, I'll film the whole thing for anyone who might have to miss it," Rick said.

They enjoyed each other's company through a long, leisurely dinner and dessert, and then everyone sat down together to watch _Elf._ Alexis sat on the floor in between the couch, where Martha was seated with Kate and Rick, and the chair, where Javier sat. Jim took the other chair, and Lanie and Alan pulled a couple of dining room chairs into the living room to sit next to each other.

About halfway through the movie, Alexis and Jim were in the kitchen together, Jim going after a second slice of pumpkin pie, and Alexis getting a glass of water. Everyone else was seated in the living room, watching the movie. "So," Jim said softly as he carefully slid the slice of pie onto his dessert plate, "how long have you and Detective Esposito been dating?"

Alexis had just taken a drink of water when Jim asked the question, and she was so startled, she choked, shooting water out of her nose and mouth and spraying it all over the island, soaking Jim's freshly cut slice of pie.

Hearing the commotion, everyone looked to the kitchen with concern. Javier started to get up, but the look in Alexis's eyes made him merely shift his weight in his seat. Lanie did stand up, though, along with Rick, Kate, and Martha. "Are you okay, Alexis?" Rick asked anxiously.

Alexis coughed a couple of times, cleared her throat, and then said, "Yeah. I just...it went down the wrong pipe is all." She then vaulted for the paper towels and as she cleaned up the water, she said to Jim, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry about your pie. Let me cut you another slice." Then she got right up by his ear and frantically whispered, "Who told you?"

Jim looked amused. "No one told me," he said so only she could hear. "I have eyes. I saw you two at Katie's birthday lunch, and the way almost everyone else there was going out of their way **not** to look at you. It wasn't that hard to figure out." He paused a beat and said, "Neither was the fact that Katie and your dad don't have any idea yet."

"We're planning to tell them at Christmas," Alexis said. "We wanted to be sure of where this is going before we told them. Could you please, please not say anything to Kate or my dad?"

"Is he treating you right?" Jim asked.

"Yes," Alexis replied, fighting the instinct to look at Javier, whom she felt glancing back at her quickly, until she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Lanie nudge his foot with her toes, even though Kate and Rick were engrossed in the movie.

"Your secret is safe with me," he assured her. "But I wouldn't wait too much past Christmas to tell Katie and your dad. I'm a little surprised they haven't figured it out yet."

"Actually, I am too," Alexis mused, "but I figure that means they either trust my judgment, or they're so busy gearing up for Kate's City Council run they don't have the time to pry. But yes, we're definitely going to tell them at Christmas."

"So this is a long-term situation, then," Jim said, having cut himself another slice of pie.

Alexis got the Cool Whip out of the refrigerator and handed it to Jim. "That's how we're looking at it, yes," she said.

"I think your dad and Katie will be surprised, but if they raise serious objections, I'd be happy to talk to them for you and Detective Esposito," Jim said as he spooned Cool Whip on top of his pie.

"I don't want to drag you into the middle of this, Jim," Alexis said, "but it's very sweet of you to offer."

"You're not dragging me into anything, Alexis," Jim assured her. "And the offer stands. I will say this, though: it's difficult for a father when he realizes he's not the number-one man in his daughter's life anymore. Of course, I had lost that position with Katie long before she met your dad, and I had to earn her trust back. Try to cut your dad some slack after you tell him about you and Detective Esposito. It's going to be hard for him."

"Was it hard for you, when Kate and Dad got together?" Alexis asked.

"Yes and no," Jim said. "I'd been hearing about your dad from Katie for four years, and I had met him by that point. Katie wasn't admitting anything, but I knew she wouldn't talk about him the way she did, or as much as she did, if she wasn't in love with him, and I knew from the first time I met your dad and I saw him and Katie together that he was in love with her. I was happy that my daughter had found a good man who would move heaven and earth for her. But knowing I'd never truly be the number-one man in her life again, because that spot was Rick's from now on, took some getting used to for me. It'll take some getting used to for your dad too, so for both your sakes, take some advice from a dad who's been where yours is about to be and cut him a little slack."

"I will," Alexis promised. "Thank you, Jim. For everything."

"Anytime," Jim replied, picking up his pie plate and fork before returning to the table. "We're family, Alexis, and nothing is more important than family. You and your detective tell Katie and Rick in your own way and your own time...but if you need someone to back you up in any way, I'll be here."

Alexis felt Javier's eyes on her again, and sure enough, he was looking at her, and she knew she'd have to fill him in on her conversation with Jim later. "Thank you," she repeated, marveling all over again at how lucky she really was, and hoping that when she and Javier did tell her dad and Kate about them, it wouldn't end up in a big fight.

* * *

It was the middle of December, and a big day for Kate and Rick: the day they were going to find out whether their baby was a boy or a girl.

They were in an exam room at Dr. Elliott's office, Kate already changed into her gown and trying not to fidget too much because of all the water she'd had to drink before they left home, and Rick practically bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet in his excitement. "We're definitely finding out, right?" he asked suddenly, stopping mid-bounce.

"Definitely," Kate said firmly.

"Just a few more minutes, and we'll know if we're having a boy or a girl," Rick said.

"Yeah, we're gonna have to get serious about names," Kate said. "We have middle names, but we need first names, Rick."

"Well, we've already ruled out our own first names. That's a start," he pointed out.

Further conversation was forestalled when Dr. Elliott entered the room. "Hello, Kate, Rick," she greeted them. She consulted Kate's chart before setting it aside. "Gonna find out today whether you need to do the nursery in pink or blue, I see."

"That's the plan," Kate said.

Dr. Elliott got right down to business, smearing the cold gel on Kate's abdomen, and then running the transducer over her belly. Rick was sitting beside Kate now, and she reached for his hand, threading her fingers through his. "Well, hopefully, Baby will cooperate," Dr. Elliott replied. "Here we go," she continued as the sound of the baby's heartbeat filled the room, and the baby appeared on the screen.

"It's a little person," Kate said softly, awed at how much the baby had grown since the pregnancy had been confirmed.

"Yes, it is," Dr. Elliott said. "There's the baby's head..." She pointed out the head to Kate and Rick. "...and its hands..."

"Such tiny fingers," Rick said, his voice hushed, completely in awe.

"The positioning is excellent," Dr. Elliott continued. "There are the baby's legs...which are open today. I have a clear picture. There's no mistake about it."

Kate and Rick both looked at Dr. Elliott expectantly. She beamed at them. "Congratulations, you two. You're having a little girl."

A watery laugh bubbled up from the depths of Kate's soul. A girl! Rick was getting his mini-Beckett!

Her face wreathed in smiles, Kate turned to look at Rick.

And Rick was sitting there, his fingers knotted through hers, tears streaming down his face. He tore his gaze from the monitor to look at Kate, and he couldn't find the words to tell her how happy he was, how much he loved her and their daughter, how amazing this moment was, but that it wouldn't have been any less amazing if Dr. Elliott had told them the baby was a boy.

Kate would forever remember the look on Rick's face in this moment.

Dr. Elliott surreptitiously wiped the gel from Kate's abdomen, then said, "I'll just give you two a few minutes," and excused herself from the room.

When they were alone, Kate cupped Rick's cheek in her palm with her free hand. "You're getting your mini-Beckett," she said thickly. Now she was starting to cry.

"I would have been just as happy if it was a boy," he assured her earnestly.

"Sweetpea gets to stay Sweetpea," Kate said.

"Yeah, she does," Rick realized. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Kate wiped away his tears with her fingertips. "Thank you," he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. "Thank you so much."

"You had something to do with this too, you know," Kate said.

Rick looked at the monitor again. "Look at her, Kate. She's beautiful."

"She is," Kate agreed.

"I hope she has your eyes," Rick said.

"I hope she has your heart," Kate replied. "We're having a daughter, Rick."

"We're having a little girl," Rick said. "And with you teaching her how to shoot, I don't stand a chance when she's old enough for Laser Tag."

Kate laughed. "She has the best dad in the world," she said.

Rick brushed an errant strand of Kate's hair off her forehead. "She has the best, most amazing mom in the world too," he said.

They were kissing when they heard a throat being cleared. "I'm assuming you want pictures and video?" Dr. Elliott asked.

"Absolutely," Kate replied. She did a quick count in her head, then said, "We'll need...actually, can you print us a dozen pictures?"

"Announcements?" Dr. Elliott guessed.

"Something like that, yes," Kate said.

"You got it," Dr. Elliott replied. "How are you doing there, Dad?" she asked Rick then.

"On top of the world," he replied, wiping his eyes and glancing at the doctor before looking back at Kate, "with no plans to come down anytime soon."

When they got home, with their stack of sonogram pictures and their DVD, Rick suggested working on their announcement a little more. Kate said, "In a little while. Wait here, okay? I have an early Christmas present for you, and I don't want to wait one more second to give it to you."

Rick seated himself on the couch as Kate disappeared into their bedroom. She returned a moment later with a flat rectangular package wrapped in white paper covered in tiny Santa Clauses, with a bright red bow on top. She sat down on the couch and handed the box to Rick with a big smile as she said, "Merry Christmas early, babe."

Rick tore into the package eagerly, and opened the box, parting the tissue paper to reveal an impossibly tiny white onesie. Across the front, in pink letters edged in black, the onesie proclaimed, "I'm a One-Writer Girl."

Rick looked from the onesie to Kate. "I don't know if it was wishful thinking, or mother's intuition, or some combination of the two," she said, "but a few days ago, I got this really strong feeling and I just couldn't ignore it. So I went out and got that," she nodded at the onesie. "I could have waited until Christmas, it's another nine days away, but after finding out today that we're having a girl, I just didn't **want** to wait any longer to give that to you. I know that she'll be the one wearing it, but you can consider it your first Christmas present from our daughter."

"I love it," Rick said. "And I love you, and I love Sweetpea, and I have never in my life been as happy as I am right now."

And it was at that exact instant that the expression on Kate's face changed and her hand flew to her stomach as she gasped.

"What? What's the matter?" Rick asked anxiously.

"I think she just moved!" Kate exclaimed. "It felt like...like a fluttering in my belly."

"She's moving?" Rick asked. He pressed both his palms to Kate's belly, and they sat there in silence for a full five minutes. Finally Rick said, "I don't feel anything."

"There!" Kate exclaimed a second later. "She's doing it again!"

"Why can't I feel it?" Rick asked, frustrated.

"All those books we've been reading say that the baby generally starts moving between 13 and 16 weeks, and we're in week sixteen," Kate replied. "The last thing I read said that other people can usually feel the baby kick between the 20th and 24th weeks, but every pregnancy is unique. Maybe she'll kick for you on Christmas. That would put us at week 18."

"Well, she'll be worth the wait, just like her mom," Rick said. He set the onesie back in its box, put the box on the coffee table, and then moved so that his head was in Kate's lap, and he was addressing the baby. "Hey, it's Daddy. Your mom and I love you so much already, Sweetpea, and you have a big sister and a grandma and a grandpa and a bunch of aunts and uncles that are gonna be crazy about you too."

Kate ran the fingers of one hand through Rick's hair as she smoothed her other hand over her belly. She had definitely begun to gain weight, and she had been wearing loose-fitting clothes for the past month, almost, but she wasn't going to be able to keep up that particular charade for much longer. She would noticeably start showing any day now. It was time to invest in some maternity clothes.

In that instant, she decided on another Christmas present for Rick, and with one hand resting on their unborn daughter and her other hand making furrows through Rick's hair as he spoke softly to their daughter about how excited he was to be her dad and how much he loved her and her mom, she smiled, and when Rick paused to take a breath, Kate said, "You are going to be the most loved little girl in all the world."

Rick beamed up at Kate, then sat up, and she laid her head on his shoulder as he rested his hand next to hers over the growing mound that was their daughter. "She already is the most loved little girl in all the world," he said.

Kate smiled back at Rick. "Yes, she is, isn't she," she agreed.


	41. Chapter 40

_**Thank you to all my readers, followers, and reviewers. I hope you enjoy this chapter, as it's one of the biggest ones in the whole story.**_

* * *

Javier surveyed the dozens of Christmas trees of all shapes, sizes, and thicknesses on the lot, and then looked at Alexis beside him, her cheeks pink from the cold, a sky blue beret that matched her parka perched on top of her head, practically bouncing with excitement, and he couldn't keep from smiling. "I haven't really done anything for Christmas in years," he said.

Alexis looked at him, her eyes shining brightly with happiness and holiday spirit. "Well, you're with me now, so all that's going to change," she said. "A Castle Christmas is, by its very definition, big and fun and filled with decorations."

"You're not gonna make my apartment look like the toy department in _Elf,_ are you?" he asked.

"Not an exact copy, but you're thinking in the right direction!" she exclaimed. At the stunned look on his face, she burst out laughing. "I'm kidding," she assured him. "I swear, Javier, I'm kidding. We'll work our way up to that. But come on, don't you miss having a Christmas tree?"

"Sorta," he said. "That's why we're here, isn't it?"

"Yes!" Alexis exclaimed. "And I'll finally get to see your apartment."

"It's not that impressive, trust me," Javier said.

Alexis threaded her arm through his and they began a slow stroll up and down the rows of trees. "Maybe not yet, but wait until I'm through with it. I'm an apprentice elf in good standing. Do you have ornaments and lights and tinsel and garlands, or will we need to get those too?"

Seeing how excited Alexis was, Javier rested his other hand on top of hers. He had a few things from his mother and grandmother, but he hadn't put up a tree in several years, so he wasn't really sure what kind of condition they were in. The strings of lights were probably burned out or a fire hazard. So new decorations would be a must. "I think we'd better get those too," he said.

Alexis fairly radiated light and elation. "Good answer," she said.

While Alexis and Javier were wandering through the rows of Christmas trees, Rick and Kate arrived at the lot to get their tree. Neither couple knew the other was there at first.

But while Kate was inspecting a 10-foot Scotch Pine, Rick caught sight of a familiar-looking flash of sky blue beret and parka and red hair. "Hey, Alexis is here!" Rick exclaimed to Kate.

Kate looked up from the tree she'd been inspecting. She took the two steps that put her right next to her husband, and they both saw Alexis in profile, laughing. They saw her arm shoot out and pull a man towards her. The man's back was to them, so they couldn't see his face. But he brought one hand up to reveal mistletoe. Alexis tilted her head and beamed at him. "She's with The Boyfriend!" Rick exclaimed. "Come on, turn around so we can see your face, guy."

No sooner had Rick said those words than The Boyfriend held the mistletoe over Alexis's head. She gave him a coy look, and then, with his hand still holding the mistletoe over her head, he held out his other arm. She stepped into his embrace, her arms going around his neck, and they kissed.

The kiss lingered. "Okay, you can let her go now," Rick said, even though Alexis and The Boyfriend were too far away to hear him.

"Babe, they can't hear you," Kate said. Now she was peering at them critically, thinking there was something familiar about The Boyfriend, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

Alexis and The Boyfriend pulled apart, and Alexis was laughing. They still had their arms wrapped around each other. Alexis snatched the mistletoe from the hand The Boyfriend was holding above her head. Holding it and still laughing, she started to make a break for it…

...and that was the moment that The Boyfriend took off after her, laughing and looking at her like she was the only person on Earth…

...which was also the moment that Rick and Kate saw his face and saw that Javier Esposito and Alexis's secret boyfriend were one and the same person.

Rick and Kate watched, speechless and shocked, as Javier caught up to Alexis, picked her up, and, both of them laughing, whirled her around, setting her on her feet and then looking up when she held the mistletoe over his head before she went up on tiptoe and he lowered his face to hers and they kissed again.

"Esposito is The Boyfriend!" Kate exclaimed in a stage whisper. "Shut the front door!"

Rick watched Alexis and Esposito kissing, and his emotions were churning and roiling. He was all over the place. He wanted to go over there, pull them apart, and pound Esposito's face in. He wanted to demand that they never see each other again. He wanted to know what they were thinking. He wanted to know how long this had been going on.

But he stood there frozen to his spot, looking at them in misery, because he saw the way they were looking at each other. He saw the way they laughed together, the way they held each other, the way that Alexis triumphantly brandished the mistletoe over Esposito's head when they broke the kiss, and the way Esposito looked at Alexis, a mix of humor and...this was the hard part for Rick... and love etched deeply into his face.

Could this be serious? Could this be the real thing for Alexis and Espo, the way it was for him and Kate, and for Ryan and Jenny, and even for Lanie and Alan, and for Gates and her husband?

Rick wasn't sure what to think or how to feel. He didn't have enough information to process all of this.

For her part, Kate was just as shocked as Rick. She had noticed a subtle change in Esposito the past few months. It was becoming clearer to her every second that the reason for that change was Alexis...or that she had a lot to do with it, at the very least.

Kate had just as many questions as Rick did, all of the same ones he had, and a few more besides.

Since Alexis and Espo were in their own little world, as Alexis pulled Espo towards a scraggly tree that looked like it was straight out of _A Charlie Brown Christmas,_ only slightly taller, and they stood there looking at the tree and debating about it, since they kept looking from the tree to each other and they were both talking animatedly, Kate looked at Rick, and saw the misery and the uncertainty and the "how the hell did this _**happen**_ and what exactly _**is**_ it?" written all over his face, and she knew that she had to get him out of there before Alexis and Espo saw them, that she needed to go over all of this with Rick before they confronted Alexis and Espo with what they knew.

"Babe, we should go before they see us," Kate said, gently pulling Rick after her.

"They're not gonna notice us, Kate. They're in their own little world," Rick said glumly, but he let her pull him away. He looked back over his shoulder at Alexis and Esposito just in time to see Alexis motioning Harvey, the owner of the tree lot, over to where she and Esposito stood in front of a 5-foot scraggly pine tree that looked like it belonged in a stage production of _A Charlie Brown Christmas._ He saw Espo lean in and say something right in Alexis's ear, and watched as his daughter's expression softened before she laid her head on Espo's shoulder for a moment before standing upright again while Espo paid Harvey for the tree, and then he couldn't watch anymore, and not only because Kate had pulled him around a corner so he couldn't see Alexis and Espo any longer.

Though they beat a hasty retreat from the Christmas tree lot, Kate told Harvey to tag the 10-foot Scotch pine for her and Rick and they'd be back to pick it up tomorrow. "Oh, and don't tell Alexis that we were here," Kate added.

"My lips are sealed," Harvey assured her. Rick fumbled his wallet out of his pocket to pay for the tree. "She'll be ready and waiting for you tomorrow morning, Mr. Castle. Merry Christmas."

"You too," Rick said.

"Merry Christmas, Harvey," Kate said. Then she steered Rick to the car and when he got in the passenger seat without a word, she seated herself on the driver's side and drove them back home to the loft.

They both stayed silent until they were in the living room, their coats and scarves and gloves put away, and then Kate sat down on the couch, where Rick had already flopped down heavily, his head bowed, his hands clasped and dangling between his knees.

"Say something," Kate requested softly.

Rick turned his head to look at Kate. "I never, in a million years, thought that The Boyfriend would be Esposito," he said.

"Neither did I," Kate agreed.

"How long has this been going on?" Rick wondered. "When did it start? How... **why** did it start?"

"Well, let's think about this for a minute," Kate said. "When is the first time Alexis mentioned that she was dating somebody?"

Rick thought back. "The weekend we went up to your dad's cabin," he said. "We invited her along, and she declined."

"Yeah, that's right," Kate remembered. "She was on the phone and she ended the conversation when we walked in, and that's when she admitted that she was dating someone, and it was still new. So it's only been going on for a few months."

"She said he was older, and he was in law," Rick recalled.

"Both of which are true," Kate mused. "Alexis is gonna make one hell of a lawyer."

"She left out the most pertinent information!" Rick exclaimed. "Why didn't she just **tell** us it was Esposito?"

"Babe, you're gonna have to ask her that," Kate said.

"Oh, believe me, I will," Rick said, jumping to his feet. He started walking towards the front door.

"Where are you going?" Kate asked.

"I'm gonna go kill Esposito," Rick replied with a straight face.

"No, you're not," Kate said matter-of-factly.

"You're right," Rick said. "You're better at intimidation than I am. You kill him, and I'll watch."

"I'm not killing Javi either," Kate said.

The miserable look from the Christmas tree lot returned to Rick's face. "Did you see them earlier?" he asked Kate.

"I did," she replied.

"It's not like I've spent a lot of time spying on Alexis and her boyfriends," Rick said, "but I've never seen that look on her face before. And I've never seen her act like that before either."

"Off in her own little world with her boyfriend," Kate said. "I've never seen Javi like that either. He and Lanie...there was chemistry, but I don't think they were ever really in love with each other. Not like Lanie is with Alan. Seeing Lanie with Alan versus seeing her with Esposito...the difference is night and day. She never would have even thought about moving in with Javi. She and Alan are looking for a place to make their home together."

Rick's face fell further as he slumped against the front door. "The way Alexis was laughing with Esposito, teasing him with that mistletoe...she laid her head on his shoulder...Kate, she was looking at Esposito the way you look at me."

"I know," Kate replied. "And Javi was looking at Alexis the way you look at me. I never even saw him look at Lanie in exactly that way. I think this could be serious, Rick."

"No wonder Esposito didn't look depressed on Thanksgiving about not being with his new girlfriend! He was with her the whole time!" Rick realized.

"Sneaking around, like we thought," Kate said wryly.

"It's worse than that," Rick said.

Kate got up from the couch and walked over to meet Rick at the door. "How is it worse than sneaking around?" she asked. "Would you rather they were just friends with benefits...the occasional booty call, and on again and off again, like Lanie and Javi were?"

Now Rick looked sick. "She's my daughter," he said emotionally.

"She's my daughter too," Kate said gently. She smoothed Rick's furrowed brow. "Which is why I want her to have what you and I have."

Rick sighed. "Alexis has always been an old soul, wise beyond her years, mature for her age," he mused. "But Esposito..."

"Pi," Kate said. "And I'm not talking the dessert, or 3.1416, when I say that, either."

"Point taken," Rick said. "But I don't have to like it."

"Not right away you don't, no, but if this is heading where it seems to be heading, it would be easier all the way around for everybody if you got to like it eventually."

"You know I don't think Esposito's a bad guy," Rick said. "I just...I never pictured him with Alexis."

"None of us did," Kate said. "But sometimes, when you're not looking for it, that's when love finds you."

"I don't want to lose her, Kate," he said worriedly.

"You won't," Kate assured him.

"I'm not gonna be the number-one man in her life anymore," Rick said.

"Not in the same way," Kate agreed.

"How did we not figure this out?" Rick asked.

"Probably because we've been sitting on a pretty big secret of our own," Kate said, gesturing to her abdomen.

Rick looked at Kate's belly; her pregnancy was just beginning to show, and she had taken to wearing loose-fitting clothes while she checked out maternity clothes online before going shopping. He rested his hand on the small bump that was their unborn daughter. "Can we keep her from dating 'til she's thirty?" he asked hopefully.

"Probably not," Kate said earnestly. "And you know, we don't **have** to wait around for Alexis and Javi to come to us now that we know. We could go to them and tell them we know **all** about them."

"But we **don't** know **all** about them," Rick pointed out.

"Ah, but they don't know that," Kate said. "And you won't rest until you **do** find out **all** about them."

"You sound like you have a plan," Rick said, and he sounded more cheerful.

"I think I do," Kate said, and proceeded to fill Rick in on her idea.

"I like that," he said when she had finished. "I like that a lot. Can we do that?"

"Is tomorrow soon enough?" Kate asked.

"Yes!" Rick exclaimed. "Tomorrow we get our answers! And in such a creative way that's so true to who we are."

"I thought you'd enjoy that part," Kate said.

Rick looked pensive now. "You saw how they looked at each other," he said again.

"I did," Kate agreed.

"They were looking at each other the way you and I look at each other," he said.

"Yes, they were," Kate agreed. She wound her arms around his neck. "And if they can have what we have, but not take quite as long a time to get there, and not have as much baggage as we had, then I'm happy for them."

"Our story is still the best story," Rick said.

"Definitely," Kate agreed. "And our story is still being written."

"Every day," Rick said before pulling Kate into his embrace. She hugged him tightly, hoping that things wouldn't get too out of hand the next day when they talked to Alexis and Javier.

* * *

It was a slow day at the 12th Precinct; no murder to solve. Ryan looked up from his pile of paperwork to see Esposito staring at his phone with a besotted grin on his face.

Needing a respite from his boredom, Ryan wheeled his chair over to Esposito's desk and snatched the phone out of his hand.

"Hey!" Esposito said, affronted. "Gimme back my phone!"

"I just wanted to see what you've been staring at with that goofy look on your face all day," Ryan replied.

"I have not had a 'goofy look' on my face all day," Esposito retorted.

"You clearly haven't been anywhere near a mirror today," Ryan replied. He focused in on Esposito's phone, and saw that Javi had been grinning at the wallpaper, which was a picture of Javi and Alexis standing next to a small Christmas tree covered in colored lights, a hodgepodge of ornaments, paper snowflakes, and strands of tinsel. They both had luminous smiles on their faces, and their cheeks were touching. Ryan thought they outshined the Christmas tree.

Wordlessly Ryan handed the phone back. Esposito looked at the picture again before sliding the phone into his shirt pocket. "That's it?" he asked. "You're not gonna give me crap anymore?"

"No, I'm not," Ryan said.

"Why not?" Esposito asked.

"Because I don't believe in mocking love," Ryan replied.

"Whoa, wait, what? Love?" Esposito asked.

Ryan looked at Esposito intently. "You're not actually going to stand there and tell me you're not in love with Alexis? Because that picture is all the evidence anyone with half a brain would need to see that that's the case."

"I'm not discussing this," Esposito said. "She should hear it first."

"You haven't said 'I love you' yet?" Ryan asked, his paperwork forgotten once more.

"Neither has she," Esposito said, somewhat defensively. "I'm waiting for the perfect moment to tell her. I don't want to freak her out or scare her off or go too fast."

Ryan leaned closer to Esposito. "Javi, look at her in that picture. She loves you. It's obvious. As for the perfect moment, those are rare. Remember how I ended up proposing to Jenny? You can build something up in your head, and then it happens in what you initially think is the least romantic way possible, but it turns out to be right after all. It isn't the where or the how that really matters. It's that you say it at all."

Before Esposito could reply to that, the elevator doors opened, revealing Beckett and Castle, striding purposefully into the precinct side by side. "Beckett, Castle, this is a surprise," Esposito said.

"Yeah," Ryan added. "It's great to see you, but we don't even have a murder we're working on. Just a lot of paperwork."

"We're here for another reason," Kate said succinctly. "Esposito, a word?" She inclined her head toward the nearby empty interrogation room.

Esposito gave a nod, then headed towards the interrogation room. Castle followed after him, and Ryan stood up, but before he could take a step, Beckett said, "No, Ryan. You wait here. This is between Espo, Castle and me."

Then Beckett headed for the box, and Ryan dove for his desk phone. Punching in Alexis's cell number, he waited anxiously for her to pick up. "Hello?" she greeted him cheerfully, thinking it was Javier calling her from work, maybe to ask her to meet him for lunch or to firm up their dinner plans.

"Alexis, it's Kevin," he said. "I swear to you it wasn't Jenny or me, but Beckett and your dad just showed up and pulled Javi into an interrogation room to have a word with him. I think you guys have been made."

"Oh no!" Alexis exclaimed. "I'm fifteen minutes away from the precinct. Keep my dad and Kate from killing Javier until I get there, okay? Please, Kevin?"

"I'll do my best," Kevin promised. Alexis ended the call then, so Kevin replaced the receiver and hustled to the two-way mirror outside the interrogation room to watch, ready to step in if things got too heated between Castle and Beckett and Javi.

In the interrogation room, Javi knew what this was going to be about. Somehow, Castle and Beckett had found out about him and Alexis. Everyone had been doing so well keeping their secret, and Christmas was so close now. He wondered idly who had slipped up and given them away as Beckett closed the door. Castle was seated at the table, his hands clasped on the tabletop in front of him, his posture stiff and tense.

"Have a seat," Kate said, taking the chair next to Castle as she motioned to the chair opposite theirs.

Esposito dropped into his seat, waiting to see how this was going to start before he said anything.

"You didn't mention whether or not you're bringing your new girlfriend to our place for Christmas Eve," Kate began.

"No, I didn't," Esposito replied.

Castle leaned forward. "But then, you won't have to bring her, will you, Esposito? Because she'll already be there, just like she was at Thanksgiving. Your girlfriend is Alexis."

Esposito wasn't about to deny it. "Yes, Alexis is my girlfriend," he said, looking Castle right in the eye.

"Once upon a time, Lanie was your girlfriend," Castle said.

"Not like this," Javier replied.

"What does **that** mean?" Castle asked. "You forget, Esposito, I've known you for eight years. I know you're something of a player."

" **I'M** a player?" Esposito asked. "You had a photo shoot with stripper female cops **in the precinct,** you brought a stewardess bimbo you picked up on a flight from Vegas to a crime scene and let her drive off in your Ferrari, and you're calling **me** a player?"

"Yes, I believe that's exactly what I'm saying," Castle said.

"All right, so I have a past," Esposito replied. "Everybody does."

"Some of us more than others," Castle said.

Esposito's eyes narrowed. "If you've got something to say, Castle, just come right out and say it," he said, his voice low and dangerously controlled.

"Why Alexis? Why, out of the literally millions of women in New York City, are you dating my daughter?" Castle asked. "My 12-years-younger-than-you daughter."

"You're ten years older than Beckett," Esposito said.

"That's different!" Castle exclaimed.

"How? Because it's you and Beckett, and not me and Alexis?" Esposito asked.

Kate laid a hand on Rick's arm, trying to keep him calm. "Javi," Kate said, "how long has this been going on?"

"Officially or unofficially?" he asked, focusing on Beckett.

The corners of Kate's mouth twitched as she fought a smile, thinking how like her and Rick that sounded.

Before Beckett could say anything else, Esposito went on. "We were going to tell you at Christmas. Who told you?"

"You did," Kate replied. At Esposito's puzzled look, she said, "Rick and I were at the Christmas tree lot yesterday, and we saw you and Alexis there together."

"Oh," Esposito said. "We didn't see you."

"Of course you didn't. You only had eyes for each other," Kate replied.

"So help me, Esposito, if this is just some fling, if you're just marking time or playing around with my daughter until some hot model or bereaved relative comes along," Castle began.

Esposito shot up out of his chair and slammed his palms down on the table. "That's really what you think of me?" he demanded. "Not that it's any of your damned business, Castle, but Alexis and I haven't even slept together, because we're not ready for that yet. This is not me being a creepy cradle robber, this is not me playing around or having a fling until something better comes along. There isn't going to **be** anything better than this for me!"

"Months! This has been going on for a few months!" Rick shouted. "Why didn't you say something? Why didn't Alexis say something? Why the secrecy? What, are you ashamed to be seen in public with my daughter?"

Esposito shot to his feet. "Stop putting words in my mouth, and stop thinking the worst!" he shouted. "You wanna be mad at me, you wanna hate me, fine, but don't you stand there and disrespect Alexis in that way."

Alexis came barreling into the precinct and hurried towards the interrogation rooms. "Alexis! In here!" she heard Kevin calling. Alexis skidded to a stop beside Kevin at the window and watched the trio in the interrogation room anxiously.

"Don't you tell me I'm disrespecting my daughter!" Rick shouted. "For a guy who claims that this isn't just a fling, you have spent months not being honest and aboveboard with us, and you've got Alexis doing it too!"

"Everything is at stake here!" Esposito retorted. "You guys...you're family to me. You **know** that." He looked from Castle to Beckett, then back to Castle again. "This has taken both Alexis and me completely by surprise, and we knew it was going to affect not just us, but you and Beckett. I don't want to lose the two of you. But I don't want to lose Alexis either, because she's the best thing that's ever happened to me. The **only** reason we didn't say anything right away is that we wanted to be sure where this was going before we told you."

"And where is it going?" Kate asked, even though she already knew the answer, and deep down, so did Rick.

"I've never felt this way before, about anyone," Esposito said.

"What way?" Castle challenged.

Alexis opened the door to the interrogation room just in time to hear Javier declare forcefully to her father, "I'm in love with Alexis!"

Before she could stop herself, Alexis blurted out, "You are?"

Javier, Rick and Kate all three turned to look at Alexis, standing in the doorway of the interrogation room, Kevin hovering behind her.

Javier hung his head. "Aw, dammit," he said. Then he lifted his head to look at Alexis. "That is **not** how I wanted to tell you that I love you for the first time," he said.

Alexis was beaming, and Kate and Rick recognized it as the same smile she had had on her face at the Christmas tree lot yesterday. Kevin saw Alexis's face and her smile and saw that it was the same smile from the picture of her and Javi in front of Javi's Christmas tree that was Javi's phone wallpaper.

"It still counts," Alexis said. "I wanted to say it first, though. I've been trying to find the perfect moment to tell you that I love you. This may not be the perfect moment, but I love you too, Javier."

Javier's face lit up. "You love me? Really?" he asked hopefully.

"I love you, really," Alexis replied. She stepped up next to him and threaded her fingers through his.

They both turned to look at Beckett and Castle. Alexis was struck by how sad her father looked. Kate didn't look surprised. "What gave us away?" she asked.

"We saw you at the Christmas tree lot yesterday," Rick said quietly.

"Oh," Alexis said just as quietly. "We were going to tell you, Dad, Kate. We were going to tell you at Christmas. We just wanted to be sure where things were going before we said anything."

"And you're sure now," Kate said, stating it as a fact.

Still holding hands, Alexis and Javier looked at each other, then looked back at Kate and Rick. "We're in love," Alexis said, unable to keep the joy out of her voice, eyes, and face as she said it.

And in all the years Kate had known Javi, she had never seen him look as happy as he looked right now, standing there, holding hands with Alexis and looking at her in utter amazement. That was a feeling Kate knew well—the awe at knowing that the person you loved with every fiber of your being loved you back in exactly the same way.

Kate looked from the happy couple to Rick, and saw the misery in his face again.

"So you're together, and you're in love, do we have that right?" Kate asked.

"Yes." "Yes." Alexis and Javier answered in unison.

"What happens next?" Kate asked.

Alexis and Javier looked at each other before looking back at Kate and Castle. "We're not in any rush," Alexis said.

"No," Javier agreed. He looked at Alexis now. "You're graduating in February, and starting law school next summer. You have goals, plans, dreams. And I want to be right there beside you as you accomplish them."

"I want you beside me as I accomplish them," Alexis replied, looking back at him. "And I want to be by your side as you accomplish your goals and plans and dreams."

"I want you by my side too," Javier said. "I am completely committed to you, Alexis. I'm in this for the long haul."

"I am too," Alexis replied. They turned to look at Kate and Rick again, and Alexis said, "The best way to sum it up right now is that we're together, and we're staying that way."

"That's right," Javier said.

A beat of silence passed, and then Rick spoke. "I have one question for you, Alexis."

Alexis focused her full attention on her father. Rick looked at his daughter wistfully, then asked her, "Does he make you happy?"

Alexis was whirled back in time to another time and place, when she had been the one asking that question of Rick, about Kate. And now, she gave her father the same answer he had given her when she had asked him that question about Kate.

"Yes, he does," she replied. She let go of Javier's hand and walked around the table until she was standing in front of her father. "We weren't expecting this to happen," she said. "We didn't plan for it to happen. But we're happy, Dad. And we're taking things slow."

Rick looked at Alexis, mustered a smile, and then gave her a big hug, which she eagerly returned. "I'm still your little girl," she said so only he could hear.

"Forever," Rick said firmly.

After releasing Alexis, he walked over to Esposito. "You can understand how shocked I was, can't you?" he asked.

"Yes," Esposito said.

"I know you're a good man, Espo. It wasn't personal, the things I said earlier. As far as I'm concerned, nobody will ever be good enough for Alexis."

"I will spend the rest of my life trying to be good enough for her," Javier said seriously. And everyone in that room—and Ryan watching from outside—knew that he meant it, knew that he had just made a declaration of his intentions without formalizing anything because it was too soon for that. But Kate noticed that Alexis's smile grew wider, and watched Alexis gently bump Javi's shoulder with her own.

"This is gonna take some getting used to for me," Rick continued. "But I want to make one thing clear right now: if you **ever** break Alexis's heart, I will demolish you, and I'll leave just enough of you after the demolition for Kate to finish the job."

"I understand," Esposito replied. Then he looked deeply into Castle's eyes, wanting the other man to know and understand exactly where Esposito was coming from. "Castle...I'd lie down in front of a train for Alexis. I wanted what you and Beckett have, what Ryan and Jenny have, and I didn't think I'd ever find it. But I did, with Alexis." He looked at Alexis again before looking back at Castle, still completely serious. "I wasn't expecting it, but she's the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I'm not gonna do anything to mess this up."

"See that you don't," Rick said.

Kate approached them then. "Be happy," she said to Alexis and Javier.

Alexis and Javier looked at each other before looking back at Kate. "We are," Alexis said.

"And Rick wasn't kidding about what will happen to you if you break her heart," Kate added.

"I won't," Esposito said. "I know you could totally kick my ass, Beckett. And I've seen some of the damage Castle has inflicted on your behalf. Alexis means more to me than my own life. There's no way I will ever break her heart."

"We'll remember you said that," Kate said, nodding at Rick.

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Ryan walked into the interrogation room. "So, is everything and everybody okay?" he asked cautiously.

"I think so," Alexis answered. She looked to her dad and Kate. "Are we?"

"I think so," Kate replied.

"It's gonna take some time for me to get used to this," Rick said. Then he looked at Alexis once more. "But for you, I'll do my best to get used to it."

Alexis let go of Javier's hand to go and hug her dad again. "Thank you, Dad," she said. Then she hugged Kate. "Thank you, Kate."

"One big happy family," Ryan said.

"That's the goal," Javier said, looking at Castle and Beckett once more.

"Yes, it is," Castle said. He gave Alexis a wistful smile, and she understood how he felt. It was how she had felt when she first realized how seriously in love her father and Kate were.

But Alexis had a good relationship with her father, and a good relationship with Kate. She knew it had taken time for her to come around, to give Kate a real chance, to accept her as her father's soulmate and love of his life. Her father and Kate had both been nothing but patient with her on that score, and she vowed to herself to return the favor now, as they got used to her and Javier being a couple.

And, being her father's daughter, Alexis knew, deep down, that everything would work out in the end for all of them.

It would just take time, but they had time.

* * *

Snow started to fall in Manhattan around 2:00 on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. "A white Christmas!" Rick exclaimed jubilantly.

Kate looked out the window. "Maybe a light dusting," she said.

"Okay, so, we're only going to have Ryan and Jenny and the kids, and Gates and her husband, for a little while tonight," Rick said.

"And my dad," Kate said. "He's stopping by on his way up to the cabin." Rick had given Christmas back to Kate, but Jim Beckett still sequestered himself at the cabin every December, arriving on December 24 and staying until the afternoon of January 1.

"If anyone can give Christmas back to your dad, it's Sweetpea," Rick said. "Maybe next year, he won't be able to resist spending Christmas with us. It'll be her first one out here. He'll want to be a part of that."

"That would be nice," Kate said wistfully. There had been a time, long ago, that Jim Beckett had loved Christmas almost as much as Rick did. But that had ended with Johanna's death. Kate wasn't going to put any pressure on her dad to start celebrating the holiday again, even after she and Rick welcomed their daughter. If he never celebrated Christmas again, Kate would respect that. She wasn't sure how he was going to take the baby news. They had never really talked about her having kids someday. Kate's mother had put what she (Johanna) referred to as "the Mother's Curse" on Kate when she was a wild teenager: "Someday, I hope you have a kid who acts just like you do!" Kids were an abstract concept to Kate back then, though, but she thought her mother would have been excited to be a grandmother.

"So we'll have Mother, Alexis, Esposito, Lanie and Alan for the whole evening," Rick continued, bringing Kate out of her reverie.

"And all of their presents are wrapped," Kate said. She rested her hand on her baby bump, which she was still camouflaging with oversized, loose clothes. She beamed now, the smile that never failed to melt Rick's heart, the smile he was already hoping and praying their daughter would inherit. "I can't wait to see the looks on everybody's faces when they open them and find out about the baby."

Afternoon gave way to evening, and with the tree lit up, a fire blazing in the fireplace, and dinner almost ready, Rick and Kate greeted their family. Alexis had gone ice skating at Rockefeller Center that afternoon with Esposito, and they arrived first, and together. Martha was right behind them, and within a few minutes, Lanie and Alan, Gates and her husband Gerald, and the Ryan family arrived. Jim Beckett was the last to arrive, and Kate saw in his eyes how difficult it was for him to be around all the Christmas decorations, and the smells of the traditional Christmas Eve dinner.

"Everyone, if Kate and I could have your attention, please!" Rick called. "We're very happy that you're all here, and since not all of you can stay for the whole evening, Kate and I would like to give you all your Christmas gifts from us now."

Kate was standing by the Christmas tree, and she bent to retrieve a stack of boxes. Rick followed suit, and they went around the room passing them out.

"Dad," Kate said, handing him the wrapped box with his name on the tag. "Lanie, this one's for you and Alan..."

"Mother," Rick said, handing Martha her gift. "Alexis." He gave Alexis her box. Esposito was standing right next to Alexis, of course, and Rick paused for only the shortest beat before handing him his present. "Esposito."

"The Ryans," Kate said, handing Kevin his family's gift.

"And you and your husband, sir," Rick finished, handing his last box to Kate's.

"You got us all the same thing?" Ryan asked, having noticed that all of the presents were identical in size, shape, and even wrapping paper and ribbon.

"We did," Kate said, "but we don't think there will be any objections."

"So can we open them now?" Lanie asked.

"Commence ripping off the wrapping paper!" Rick pronounced. Kate found his hand and squeezed it as they watched their family and friends unwrap their presents.

"A picture frame," Alexis said, being the first one to get her box completely open.

"And a letter?" Ryan asked.

Taped over the slot in which the picture in the frame rested, each frame bore an identical sheet of paper that said the following.

Everything was silent for a couple of minutes while everyone read what Kate and Rick had written together.

" _ **I am half Kate Beckett**_

 _ **The beauty, brains, and bravery**_

 _ **She possesses, I will inherit**_

 _ **At least, my daddy hopes so**_

 _ **But half my genes are Richard Castle**_

 _ **And my mommy hopes I'll have his heart, his optimism, and his way with words**_

 _ **But whoever and whatever I turn out to be**_

 _ **You'll meet me in May, unless I'm late (which Mommy and Daddy hope I'm not)**_

 _ **Greetings, my family**_

 _ **I can't wait to see you**_

 _ **Ready I'm getting to come forth and meet you**_

 _ **Look beneath this paper for your first glimpse of me"**_

"Oh my gosh!" Jenny exclaimed. She and Kevin had finished reading first, and Kevin pulled the piece of paper off the frame to reveal a copy of Kate's last sonogram picture.

"You guys are having a baby!" Kevin exclaimed, being very familiar with sonogram pictures.

Everyone else removed the top sheet to look at the picture. "Kate, you and Castle are having a baby!" Lanie exclaimed.

"I'm gonna be a big sister?" Alexis asked, looking from the sonogram to Rick and Kate excitedly.

In response, Kate unbuttoned and removed the baggy, oversized jacket she had been wearing. Lanie, Alexis, and Martha all gasped when they saw Kate's baby bump, and Esposito, Gates, her husband, Alan, and Jim Beckett all just stared at Kate and Rick, while Sarah Grace chattered to Nick, who was strapped into his baby seat, and Kevin and Jenny sprang to their feet and rushed to Kate and Rick.

"Congratulations, Beckett, Castle, this is terrific!" Kevin exclaimed. He hugged first Kate, then Rick.

"We're so happy for you!" Jenny exclaimed, as she hugged first Kate and then Rick.

The dam broke after that, and everyone but Jim Beckett rushed towards Rick and Kate. "I'm really gonna be a big sister. Really?" Alexis asked eagerly, hopefully.

Kate pointed out the baby in the sonogram picture. "You see that little blob right there?" she asked.

"Yeah," Alexis said, looking from Kate to the picture and back at Kate again.

Rick looked at her. "That's your baby sister," he told Alexis.

Alexis let out a shriek of happiness. "Baby sister? It's a girl?" she asked.

"It's a girl," Kate said. "We just found out a few weeks ago."

"Wow," Alexis said. "Wow!" She launched herself at her dad, hugging him tightly, and then she hugged Kate tightly before springing back. "Oh, I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't do that, hug you that tightly, I mean," she said.

"It's fine, Alexis," Kate said.

"Congratulations, Beckett," Esposito said, hugging Kate. Then he looked at Castle and held out his hand to shake. "Congratulations, Castle."

Rick shook Esposito's hand, then pulled him in for a one-armed hug, clapping him on the back, right between the shoulder blades.

"Thanks, Espo," Kate said.

Martha pushed and elbowed her way through the throng and embraced Rick and Kate at the same time, her eyes misty. "I'm so happy for both of you...for all of us, really!" she exclaimed. "Another granddaughter! This is wonderful!"

Rick looked at Kate. "I don't think we're gonna be able to top this next year."

"Well, next year, she'll be here, and we'll all get to make a big fuss over her first Christmas," Lanie said. "That's good enough for me." She reached out and rested her palm on Kate's baby bump. "You're gonna be a mom," she said. "I'm so happy for you, Kate. You too, Castle." Lanie hugged Kate, while Alan shook hands with Rick, and then Alan hugged Kate while Lanie hugged Rick.

"And you're going to be a godmother," Kate told Lanie. "Assuming you say yes."

"I say yes!" Lanie exclaimed.

"I call godfather!" Esposito and Ryan exclaimed in unison.

"You're already godfather to both of my kids. I'm not anybody's godfather," Ryan said.

"But I have experience being a godfather," Esposito argued.

"Guys, you're both gonna be godfathers!" Kate exclaimed. Gates and her husband were approaching then, and Kate said, "And sir, since our daughter is going to have two godfathers in Ryan and Esposito, Rick and I would really like it if you would agree to be our daughter's second godmother, along with Lanie."

"I would be honored, Kate, Castle, but on one condition," Gates said, fixing them with the look they had seen from her thousands of times at the 12th Precinct.

"What's that, sir?" Rick asked.

"That the two of you stop calling me 'sir' and start calling me 'Victoria,'" Gates said firmly. "I don't want my goddaughter to grow up calling me 'Aunt Sir,' for Pete's sake."

"We'll work on it...Victoria," Kate said.

"Yes, we have another five-and-a-half months, as long as she doesn't come early," Rick said.

Jim Beckett had hung back from everyone else, just watching Kate and Rick as everyone else congratulated them and fussed over them. He looked from the sonogram picture to Kate.

Kate looked at Rick, and inclined her head slightly in her dad's direction. Rick, knowing she wanted to talk to her dad, dipped his chin in a nod.

Kate approached her father. "Dad?" she asked tentatively.

Jim couldn't stop staring at his daughter's belly. "You're having a baby," he said.

"Rick and I are, yeah," Kate said. "You're gonna be a grandpa."

"And it's a little girl," Jim said.

"Yes, she was very cooperative at the last sonogram," Kate said. "You're getting a granddaughter."

Jim swallowed hard, and Kate saw the tears in his eyes. She wasn't sure if they were tears of joy, tears of sorrow that her mother wasn't here for this, or if the baby news coming on Christmas Eve was just too much for him, given his refusal to celebrate the holiday since Johanna's death.

"Wait right here, Katie, okay? Don't move from this spot. I'll be right back," he said. He turned toward the front door, then stopped, turned back, handed Kate his copy of the framed sonogram picture, and then hurried to the front door, opened it, and hurried out, closing it behind him.

Rick, having seen all of this play out, excused himself from everyone else and rushed to Kate's side. "Kate, what happened? Why did your dad leave?" he asked.

Kate looked at Rick, and he saw the confusion in her eyes. "I don't know," she said. "He told me to wait right here, don't move from this spot, and he'd be right back, but he gave me back the sonogram picture. I...I didn't have any idea how he would react, but I didn't think he'd run out like that."

"He said he was coming back, though," Rick said.

"Yes, he did, but I don't know where he went or what's going on with him," Kate said.

At that moment, the front door opened again, and Jim Beckett stood there, carrying a suitcase. "I was wondering if I could impose on you and stay here tonight," he said, unable to keep the nervousness completely out of his voice. He reached out and took the sonogram picture out of Kate's hands, hugging it to his chest protectively.

"That's where you went? To get your suitcase from your car?" Kate asked.

Jim nudged the front door closed with his foot and set his suitcase down. "Rick gave Christmas back to you, Katie. And I just could never get there." He held up the sonogram picture. "But I remember the Christmases we had when you were a little girl. And if your mother," his voice broke on the word 'mother,' but he cleared his throat, recovered himself, and continued, "if she were here, she would be so happy for you and Rick, and thrilled about becoming a grandma. And on your birthday, I said that your mother was so much more than how she died, that we need to remember the way she lived."

"That's right, you did," Kate said.

"So it's time for me to stop holing up at the cabin every Christmas," Jim said. "I want to spend Christmases with my family again from now on, and next year, I want to hold my granddaughter up to the Christmas tree and watch the look on her face as she looks at all the bright, shiny lights and decorations, and I want to watch her tear into her presents and upend her stocking so the contents spill out all over the floor. I'll go to the cabin for New Year's Eve, but if it's all right with you and Rick, I'd like to stay here tonight. I can sleep on the couch."

"We haven't started converting the guest room to a nursery yet, Jim," Rick said. "You can sleep up there."

Jim carefully set his framed sonogram picture on top of his suitcase, and then took hold of both of Kate's hands. "My baby girl is having a baby girl of her own," he said. He looked at her bump. "May. That's an excellent month for a birthday."

"It'll be good to have a happy occasion in May to celebrate from now on," Kate agreed.

Jim hugged her gently. "I love you, Katie," he said.

"I love you too, Dad," Kate said. She kissed his cheek before he let her go.

Then Jim turned his attention to Rick. "Congratulations, Rick."

"Thank you, Jim," Rick replied. "And congratulations to you too...Grandpa."

"Grandpa," Jim repeated. He smiled at Kate. "I like the sound of that."

Then Ryan exclaimed, "Hey! Everybody look at what Beckett and Castle wrote again! Look at the first letter of every line."

"Why?" Lanie asked.

"Just do it," Ryan exclaimed. "Look what the first letters spell from top to bottom."

Everyone pored over their copies of the poem again. After Ryan, Gates was the first one to figure it out. "'It's a baby girl,'" she said. "That's what the first letter of each line spells out when you put them all together." She looked up from the paper in her husband's hands to Kate and Rick. "Very clever."

"Thank you, sir...I mean, Victoria," Rick corrected himself. "Kate and I wrote it together."

Martha and Alexis had been pouring cups of hot apple cider and were now passing them around to everyone. When everyone, including Kate and Rick, had a cup of cider in hand, Martha said, "A toast." Everyone raised their glasses. "To the new member of our family who will be gracing us with her presence next year. She will be as strong, as fierce, and as extraordinary as both of her parents."

"To my little sister," Alexis added.

"Do you think the world is ready for a person who's half Beckett and half Castle?" Esposito wondered.

Rick and Kate looked at each other and beamed. Her arm went around his waist, and his arm went around her shoulders. Before either of them could say anything, Gates said, "Since she's half Beckett and half Castle, she'll have the world by the tail before she starts preschool."

Everyone laughed. Rick gently tapped his cup of cider against Kate's. "To our daughter," he said.

"To our daughter," Kate said, gently tapping her cup of cider against Rick's.

"To Baby Girl Beckett-Castle!" Lanie exclaimed, and everyone echoed her before sipping their cider.

Later that night, when Alexis and Jim were asleep upstairs and everyone else had gone home, Rick was sitting by the Christmas tree, waiting for Kate, who had left to get what she called "a very special present" for him. "Are your eyes closed?" Kate called from their bedroom.

Rick slammed his eyes shut. "They're closed," he said.

"They'd better be," Kate said. He heard her soft footfalls as she walked into the living room, then felt her stop right in front of where he was sitting on the couch. "So, have you been naughty or have you been nice?" Kate asked.

Rick opened his eyes and saw Kate standing there, her robe tied closed over her pajamas. She wasn't holding a wrapped package. "I've been nice **and** naughty," he said, "but I don't see you holding a present."

She reached out, took his hand, and put it on the belt of her robe. "That's because the present is under here," she said.

"Ooh, so we get to be naughty together now," Rick said, waggling his eyebrows as he untied Kate's robe. He was expecting some kind of lingerie, but when he opened the robe and then pushed it off her shoulders to pool at her feet on the floor, she was wearing yoga pants and an oversized white t-shirt that said in pink letters edged in black "I'm a One-Writer Girl"-exactly like the onesie she had given him nine days ago.

"I'm blaming this partly on the hormones," Kate said, "because otherwise, I never would have done something this sappy, but-"

She was cut off when Rick stood up, framed her face in his hands, and kissed her deeply. She stepped closer to him and kissed him back, her tongue tracing the seam of his lips until they parted for her. "Not sappy," he said softly, his forehead pressed against hers. "Perfect."

"Merry Christmas, Rick," Kate said, pulling back to look at him.

The smile on his face and the love shining in his eyes matched hers. "Merry Christmas, Kate," he replied before pulling her in for another kiss.


	42. Chapter 41

_**Thank you to all who are reading, reviewing, and enjoying this story. You continue to inspire me as much as the Castle characters do.**_

* * *

In the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve, Kate finally went shopping for maternity clothes. Ever mindful of Page Six, and not wanting the baby news revealed there, she bought just enough to be sure of her sizes, and then did the rest of her shopping online and had the clothes delivered right to the loft.

She and Rick didn't have any big plans for New Year's Eve. They felt like staying in this year. Alexis and Javier were going to Times Square. Since they missed Thanksgiving and Christmas with him, Alan's parents were coming to New York City to visit over New Year's Eve, and so Lanie and Alan were spending the evening with Mr. and Mrs. Masters. Jim was up at his cabin; Martha was celebrating with several friends; and Kevin and Jenny were also staying in and praying that their kids would be asleep and they would be awake at midnight.

8 PM on New Year's Eve found Rick and Kate sitting in the living room, getting ready to watch _Young Frankenstein_ , which, amazingly, to Rick and Alexis, Kate had never seen. Alexis, wearing a fanny pack and dressed in jeans, one of the new sweaters she had gotten for Christmas, and her favorite pair of broken-in tennis shoes, was waiting for Javier. "Tonight we rectify a grievous error in your movie-watching life," Rick intoned solemnly.

Colbie Caillat's "You Got Me" started playing then. "Oh, excuse me!" Alexis exclaimed, jumping up. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, answered it, and said, as she walked away from the couch, "Hi. I'm ready. How soon will you be here?"

Rick sighed. "He has his own ringtone," he said.

Kate took Rick's hand and squeezed it. "You have a ringtone in my phone," Kate said.

"I do?" Rick asked. "How did I not know that?"

"I guess it just never came up," Kate replied. She pulled her phone out of her own pocket. "Call me," she said.

Rick reached for his own phone, which was sitting on the coffee table, and pushed '1' on the speed dial. Kate's phone began playing Andrew Belle's "In My Veins" a second later.

"Our song," Rick said softly.

"Of course," Kate replied with a smile.

The doorbell rang then, and Alexis, who was standing at the front door, answered it. Javier stood there in his parka, scarf tied around his neck, shoving his gloves in one of his parka pockets and beaming at Alexis as she let him in. "Hello," he greeted her.

"Hi," she replied. They kissed quickly, chastely, and Javier stepped into the foyer while Alexis went to get her own parka, beret and gloves.

Kate waved from her spot on the couch. "Happy New Year, Javi," she said.

"Happy New Year, Beckett, Castle," Javier said, nodding at them.

"So, Times Square," Rick said.

"Yeah," Javier replied. "I've actually never been down there on New Year's Eve."

Alexis returned then, bundled up. "Okay, we're off," she said. She went over to the couch and bent down to hug Kate. "Happy New Year, Kate," she said.

"Happy New Year, Alexis," Kate said, hugging her back. Alexis kissed Kate's cheek, then lowered her head to address her unborn sister. "Happy New Year to you too, little sister." Then she gave Rick a big hug. "Happy New Year, Dad."

"Happy New Year, pumpkin," he said softly. "Have a good time. Be careful."

"We will," Alexis replied. "You guys have a good time and be careful too."

"We will," Rick said. "Esposito." He dipped his chin in a nod.

"See ya next year, Castle, Beckett," Javier replied. "I'll have her home as soon after midnight as we can get here." Then he looked at Alexis. "You ready, Lex?"

"Ready," she replied. "Good night, Dad, Kate!"

Kate and Rick said good night to Alexis, and then, after she and Javier had left, Rick said, "Oh, how could I almost forget?" and jumped up, dashing to the kitchen. He began pulling things out of cupboards and the refrigerator.

Kate sat up on the couch and watched him, a whirling dervish as he poured, squeezed, and mixed, before he proudly carried a tray bearing two tall glasses back to the living room and setting it on the coffee table, then gesturing to the tray with a flourish.

"Chocolate milk?" Kate asked. That **did** sound good, now that she was looking at it.

"Not just **any** chocolate milk, Kate," Rick said excitedly. "Ovaltine!" She gave him a look that said she was awaiting further explanation. "It has to do with the movie."

"I thought that was _A Christmas Story_ ," Kate said. They had just watched that last week.

"That one too," Rick said with a nod, sitting down and grabbing a glass before starting the movie.

Since she had never seen _Young Frankenstein_ before, Kate did what Rick called her _Mystery Science Theater 3000_ routine, except the movie was of much better quality than the movies on that show.

She had been nursing her Ovaltine, keeping her comments to a minimum for a while, when, right in the middle of Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle's softshoe to "Puttin' on the Ritz," Kate sat up and gasped.

Rick lunged for the DVD remote and paused the movie. "What is it? What's the matter, Kate?" he asked anxiously, dropping to his knees at her feet.

Wordlessly she set her glass of Ovaltine aside, grabbed his hand, and placed his palm on her baby bump, putting her own palm next to his, her fingertips gently touching his fingertips.

A scant few seconds later, Rick felt the baby moving for the first time. He locked eyes with Kate and exclaimed, "I felt her! She's moving! I felt her kick!"

"You sure did," Kate replied, beaming.

"Wow," Rick breathed. Then he looked at Kate in concern. "Does it hurt when she moves and kicks like that?"

"No," Kate assured him. "At least, not so far. That may change in the last few weeks, though, when she's running out of room in there. But even if that's the case, she's worth it."

"Hey, Sweetpea, it's Daddy," Rick said, addressing Kate's belly. "I can't wait to meet you. Well, no, wait, I **can** wait! You have to stay where you are until May." He looked up at Kate and said with a smirk, "I would **love it** if I could be inside your mom until May." Kate lightly smacked Rick's shoulder at this, rolling her eyes. "Okay, seriously, you stay in there until May and keep growing and stretching and moving, and your mom and I will come up with a first name for you, and get your room ready, and we'll be waiting for you. We love you so much already." He looked up at Kate. "So what do you think it means that she moved at that precise moment? She likes Mel Brooks movies? She likes Irving Berlin songs?"

"I think she was just making her presence known, and saying her first hello to her daddy," Kate replied.

Rick got back up and sat down beside Kate. "Will you be really annoyed if I keep my hand on your belly for a while?" he asked earnestly.

"No," Kate said. "I've been feeling her move and kick for a few weeks. You haven't." She bit her lip. "But would you mind if we skipped the rest of the movie? It's not really my taste."

"You wanna break out the _Nebula 9_ DVDs?" he asked.

"You would watch _Nebula 9_ with me, without a protest?" Kate asked, surprised.

"If you want," Rick replied.

"That's very sweet of you," Kate said. "But actually, I'd rather break out our tablets and start looking for baby names."

"Then that's what we'll do," Rick said. And so that's what they did.

* * *

"I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a great idea!" Alexis exclaimed. Times Square was a teeming mass of rowdy humanity, and at least half of the people surrounding her and Javier were not behaving very well at the moment.

"I'm beginning to think I should call for hats and bats!" Javier exclaimed right back, his voice close to her ear.

They were getting jostled by the crowd and had to keep moving because everyone around them was moving. "I thought this would be more fun!" Alexis shouted. "It always looks fun on TV!"

"Do you wanna get out of here?" Javier asked.

"Is that even possible?" Alexis asked.

"It has to be!" Javier said.

Clutching each other's hands tightly, they made their way through the hordes of New Year's revelers.

Then without warning, an obviously drunk young man, Alexis's age or younger, listed heavily to one side, then the other, and since he was facing Alexis at the time, he threw up all over her shoes.

Alexis shouted in dismay. This was the first time someone had ever thrown up on her, and it was a drunk stranger in Times Square. "Okay, that's it!" Javier said. "We're getting out of here."

They plowed their way through the crowd and finally found a deserted stretch of sidewalk. "Some New Year's Eve," Alexis said.

"The night's not over yet," Javier said. "Unless you want it to be over. Do you want me to just take you home?"

"I want to ring in the new year with you," Alexis said. She looked down at her shoes. "And I really want to get out of these barfy shoes."

Javier looked around. "Got it," he said. He pulled his phone out and sent a quick text to Ryan.

"Who are you texting?" Alexis asked.

"Ryan," Javier replied. "Odds are we won't be able to get a cab with this being New Year's Eve, so walking, we're closer to Ryan and Jenny's place than to your place. We can at least go there long enough to clean up your shoes."

Javier got a text back from Ryan letting him know it was okay with him and Jenny if Javi and Alexis came to their place, but asking that they be quiet because both kids were asleep.

When they arrived at the Ryans', Ryan let them in. "I really hope we're not intruding," Alexis said. She was now carrying her shoes, having taken them off in the lobby of the Ryans' building.

"Having a drunk stranger puke on you is very disconcerting," Kevin said sympathetically. "The bathroom is right back there." He pointed.

Alexis excused herself to clean up her shoes, and Javier flopped down on the couch with a sigh. Jenny returned from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn then. "Rough night?" she asked sympathetically.

"Not so hot," Javi replied.

"It's not your fault the guy puked on her, Javi," Ryan said sympathetically. "Be grateful all he got was her shoes. I'm sure she is."

"It's our first New Year's Eve as a couple," Javi replied. "I wanted it to be special. I wanted it to be a big deal."

"Okay, so what happened was gross," Jenny said as she set the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table before sitting down next to Kevin on the couch. "But you can't let it ruin the evening."

Alexis returned then. "I left my shoes in your bathroom to dry," she said.

"That's fine," Jenny said with a smile.

"I'm not sure how long it's going to take for them to dry," Alexis said somewhat worriedly.

Kevin and Jenny exchanged a look. "The kids are asleep, we have plenty of popcorn, drinks are in the kitchen, and we were just gonna hang out and watch the ball drop on TV," Kevin said. "You're welcome to stay."

Now it was Alexis and Javier who exchanged a look. "Thanks," Javi said. "We'd like to stay and ring in the New Year with you guys."

"Okay, then," Kevin said.

They spent the next couple of hours snacking and chatting, talking about everything from Sarah Grace and Nick to Kevin's new professional status as a sergeant to Alexis's upcoming college graduation to the day-to-day of their individual lives.

Kevin got up to tend to Nick once. He just needed a diaper change. Nick didn't want to go back to sleep right away, however, so Kevin brought him out to the living room to be with the others. It was almost midnight when father and son returned to the living room, and Jenny led everyone in a quiet countdown to midnight. She and Kevin kissed each other, then kissed Nick, and then went to check on Sarah Grace, who slept soundly even as her daddy kissed her on the forehead and her mommy kissed her on the cheek and they whispered, "Happy New Year" to her.

Alone together in the Ryans' living room, Javier put his arm around Alexis's shoulders. "Happy New Year, Lex," he said.

"Happy New Year, Javier," Alexis replied before moving in closer for the midnight kiss.

* * *

After abandoning _Young Frankenstein,_ Kate and Rick got into their pajamas and then got into bed with their tablets and started looking at baby name websites.

They each read silently, neither of them finding anything they really liked, until suddenly, Kate spoke one word into the silence thoughtfully: "Lily."

Rick instantly pulled up the name at the website he was perusing. "'Lily,'" he read aloud. "'English. Lily flower." Rick then went to another website. "'Lily of the Valley has the flower meaning of humility, chastity, sweetness, purity and is said to bring luck in love. It also means 'the return of happiness' which is the reason why it is often used as decorations in weddings.'" He looked up from his tablet to Kate. "That's definitely fitting," he mused.

"Lily," Kate said again.

"Lily Castle," Rick said.

"Lily Johanna Castle," Kate said.

Rick shut off his tablet and set it aside. Then he shifted so that he was lying on his stomach and addressed the baby. "What do you think of the name 'Lily'?" he asked as he rested his hand on Kate's baby bump.

For the rest of their lives, Kate would chalk it up to the baby responding to the sound of Rick's voice, while Rick would insist it was the baby enthusiastically agreeing with the name her parents had taken such a strong liking to for her.

Perhaps both of them were a little bit right. But the fact remained that after Rick asked the question, the baby gave a hearty kick in response.

"The Sweetpea has spoken!" Rick declared. He looked up at Kate. "It looks like she has a name."

"Yes, she does," Kate agreed. "But can we keep it just between us until she's born? I want to surprise everyone with it, especially my dad."

"We can do that," Rick replied with a nod, "can't we, Lily?" She didn't respond this time. "Okay," Rick said, still speaking to Kate's belly, "but if somebody finds out about the name before you're born, we'll know it was you who told, because our lips are sealed, aren't they, Kate?"

Kate burst out laughing. "I love you so much," she said after she recovered herself.

"Me or Lily?" he asked.

"Both of you," Kate replied, pulling him closer.

A couple of hours later, sleepy and sated, wrapped up in the sheets and comforter and each other, the honking of car horns and a general cacophony of noise on the street below roused Kate and Rick from their post-coital dozing. Kate looked at the alarm clock. "It's midnight," she said. She found Rick's gaze and he brushed her hair off her forehead as she cupped his cheek in her palm. "Happy New Year, Rick."

"Happy New Year, Kate," he said before leaning in to share a deep, tender kiss with her.

And then both parents addressed Kate's covered baby bump. "And a happy New Year to you too, Lily," Kate said.

"Happy New Year, Sweetpea," Rick added, ducking beneath the covers to kiss Kate's belly before surfacing again to kiss Kate once more.


	43. Chapter 42

_**Thank you to everyone who continues to give encouragement, enthusiasm, and support to this story. I'd like to take this opportunity to give a shoutout to my guest reviewers, since I can't respond to you personally, with a special note to guest reviewer ChaCha. I hope all of you keep enjoying the story.**_

* * *

Jim and Martha were looking on eagerly, anxiously, as Kate read what they had written for her campaign, with Rick reading over her shoulder. She was silent for the first few sentences of her biography—the standard fare about where and when she was born, the schools she had attended, and the fact that she was a lifelong resident of New York City.

Reading about her mother's murder changing the trajectory of her education and career plans, bringing her home to New York City from Stanford, and her finishing college and then going on to the police academy didn't hurt as much as it would have even a couple of years ago.

But she finally had to speak up—tactfully, of course—at what must have been Martha's doing: "'Meteoric rise through the ranks of the NYPD?'" Kate quoted. She looked up at her dad and Rick's mother. "I think that's overstating things a little. I was on the force for fifteen years and I was promoted at regular intervals and after meeting the department's requirements—passing exams, physicals, those kinds of things."

Kate and Rick were both surprised when Martha's only reaction was to sigh, reach into her pocket, pull out a five-dollar bill, and hand it to Jim, who silently extended his hand with a grin quirking at the corners of his mouth. Jim accepted the bill and pocketed it without comment.

"You bet on what Kate's reaction to what you wrote for her campaign?" Rick asked, surprised.

"It beat arguing," Jim replied. Then he added in a stage whisper, "Your mother can be a bit stubborn, Rick."

Martha rolled her eyes. "Oh, you want to talk stubborn, Mr. 'Technically you can spell 'judgment' with an 'E' but it's better and more widely accepted to spell it **without** the 'E'?" she countered.

"Believe me, Jim, I've noticed," Rick replied.

Martha looked at Kate now. "Perhaps I went a bit overboard...got a little too theatrical, as your father said repeatedly, Katherine, but it's only because I'm so proud of all that you accomplished as a police officer."

Touched, Kate said, "Thank you, Martha. And I love that you're so theatrical. It just..." She trailed off.

"Doesn't quite work in this situation," Martha finished for her. "I understand completely."

Alexis arrived then. "Done!" she announced triumphantly, waving a sheaf of papers above her head. "I finished getting signatures on campus!" She hurried across the room and handed the papers to Kate. "Hi, Gram, hi, Jim," she said, and they returned her greetings.

Kate flipped through the papers. "Alexis," she said, surprised, as she looked up at Alexis. "There must be 500 signatures here!"

"540 to be exact," Alexis said as she removed her parka, beret, and gloves.

"That puts you at..." Rick began, rummaging through a thick file folder on the coffee table. Seeing what he had scrawled on a sticky note on the last page of signatures that Lanie had given Kate when they had met for lunch the day before, he looked at it, then looked up at everyone and declared, after doing some quick math in his head, "One thousand nine hundred and fourteen signatures total!"

"Which is way past the minimum 540 signatures you need to get on the ballot!" Alexis exclaimed. Martha and Jim joined Alexis in a chorus of congratulations and exultations.

Kate looked at Rick, seeing the love and pride shining on his face. She looked at him in wonder. "I'm gonna be on the ballot," she said, awestruck. Intellectually she knew that would be the case; that was the goal, the entire point of all of the signatures everyone had collected for her. But it was only just now hitting her for the first time what this all really meant.

"I never doubted it for a second," Rick said.

Kate hugged Rick, then stood up and went around the room, hugging Alexis, Martha, and Jim, each in turn, as she thanked them all for what they had done to help her fledgling campaign so far.

"Well, I doubt you'll need us to write any more of your campaign literature, since you have a ringer," Martha said, looking at Rick knowingly.

"Mother, Jim, I promise to be much kinder in my revisions than Gina ever was to me," Rick said solemnly.

"So, how are you feeling these days, Katherine?" Martha asked. No conversation Kate or Rick had with any of their family or friends passed these days without eventually turning to the baby and how she was doing and how Kate was feeling.

"The morning sickness is almost completely gone, and I won't miss it," Kate said feelingly. "She's moving a lot, and everything's going like it should, according to Dr. Elliott. Oh, and Rick and I are going to start working on the nursery," she went on, looking at Rick. "We have to pick a paint color, and furniture, and Lanie keeps bugging me about registering for stuff for the baby shower she's insisting on throwing me. I get the impression, since she didn't get to be my maid of honor and have a hand in our wedding reception, she's going to really go overboard for this baby shower from the way she's talking."

"You and Sweetpea deserve it," Rick said.

"Awww, you're calling her 'Sweetpea' like you've always called me 'Pumpkin'?" Alexis asked. "That's so cute, Dad."

Rick grinned. "She seems to like it," he replied.

"She Sweetpea, or she Kate?" Alexis wanted to know.

"Both," Rick answered.

"Something else Sweetpea likes here lately is kickboxing my insides, so if you'll excuse me for a few minutes..." Kate said. She got to her feet and headed for the bathroom.

"I think that's our cue to leave," Martha said. "I have a class in a couple of hours anyway."

"I have some studying to do," Alexis said. "I'll be at the library."

After Rick had hugged and kissed both his mother and his daughter goodbye, Jim, who was lingering after bundling up before heading out into the cold, said quietly, so there was no chance Kate would hear him, "You and Katie haven't bought a rocking chair yet, have you?"

"No," Rick replied. "We're still looking at nursery furniture online. We don't want the baby news making it onto Page Six."

"Don't get one. I've got it covered," Jim replied. "And don't tell Katie, all right? I want it to be a surprise."

"Okay," Rick replied, wondering what Jim had up his sleeve regarding the rocking chair, since he looked downright excited about it.

Kate returned then. "Did Martha and Alexis leave already?" she asked.

"Mother had a class to get ready for, and Alexis is studying at the library," Rick told her.

"Are you taking off too, Dad?" she asked Jim then.

"Yes, I have some things to do this evening," he said. He hugged Kate and kissed her cheek. "Take care, Katie." He shook Rick's hand. "Rick."

"Jim," Rick replied. After Jim left, Kate and Rick went back and sat down on the couch.

"Okay, then, the next step is to submit the signatures so that I can officially be on the ballot and run for City Council," Kate said. "We have time to edit my campaign bio...I can't believe I have a campaign bio." She still sounded awestruck.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Rick said, taking Kate's hand. "When I signed my first contract, for _In a Hail of Bullets_ , I felt the same way. And then when I had to sign off on the galley proofs before the book went to press, it happened again."

"Do you ever get used to it?" Kate asked, propping her head on her fist as she rested her elbow on the back of the couch. She really wanted to know.

"I still feel that same thrill every time I sign off on the galley proofs for a new book," Rick replied.

"This is all so new to me," Kate said.

"You're gonna be great," Rick told her. Then he addressed Kate's baby bump. "Isn't your mom gonna be great as a City Councilwoman, Sweetpea?"

Lily gave a hearty kick then, and Kate stroked her belly, having discovered recently that that sometimes calmed Lily down. "Well, when both of you put it that strongly, how can I disagree?" Kate asked.

Rick looked at Kate earnestly now. "One step at a time, Kate," he said.

"I've gotten a lot better at that since you came into my life," Kate admitted. "So, one step at a time. The next step, then, is to submit the signatures so I get my name on the ballot. And there's no time like the present."

"Can I come along?" Rick asked.

"Of course," Kate said.

And so it was that one hour later, Katherine Beckett was officially a candidate for City Council from District 1 in Manhattan.

* * *

"Look at this view," Lanie said in a hushed voice as she stood in front of the living room windows. Alan had taken immediate notice of Lanie's facial expressions and body language, and the way she had reacted to this apartment, from the second the landlord had ushered them inside. It was a two-bedroom on the tenth floor of a building on West 68th Street, and Lanie was now standing in front of the living room windows, a half dozen in all that took up the bulk of one wall and looked out over the city.

The landlord had wisely gone to wait in the hall after Alan asked him to while he and Lanie looked the place over. Alan had never been a man who cared all that much about what an apartment looked like; as long as there was room for his belongings, and it didn't have roaches, mice or rats, he was fine with it.

But since he and Lanie had started looking at apartments together, Alan had realized how important things like square footage, closet space, and the layout of the apartment itself truly were.

This, he reflected now as he quietly stole up behind Lanie and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and lightly rested his chin on the crown of her head, was because this wasn't going to be just another apartment. This was going to be home. More to the point, this was going to be his and Lanie's home together. These bare walls and floors and windows on the city were waiting for them to put their imprint on them and make this empty apartment into a home that would say, "Lanie Parish and Alan Masters live and love here."

"I think this is the place," Alan said.

Lanie twisted around so she could look over her shoulder at Alan. "Oh, Alan, really?" she asked hopefully.

"We've looked at 28 apartments," Alan said, "and this is the only time you've reacted in such a strong, positive way. This is it. If you can see us living here, that is."

"Can you?" Lanie asked. "I don't want to bulldoze you into anything, Alan." Lanie knew full well that she was a force of nature, whereas Alan was more laid back, which was just one of the many reasons they complemented each other so well.

"You're not bulldozing me into anything, honey,"Alan assured her. "We could look at another 28 apartments, and I don't think we could find something with so much space, in such a great neighborhood, and that we can afford. But more importantly, we could look at another thousand and twenty-eight apartments, and I don't think you'd get the look on your face in any one of them that you did the moment we walked in here for the first time." He rested his hands on her shoulders. "If you're happy, I'm happy. That's the deal."

Lanie beamed at Alan. "I **can** see us here," she said. "If you're sure about this place, Alan-"

"If you're sure, I'm sure," he replied. "A two-year lease sure. That's what the landlord is offering."

"A two-year lease? Really?" Lanie asked.

"Really," Alan said. "What do you say?"

When looking back on this moment in the months and years ahead, it would always strike Lanie that she didn't have to think about it. She didn't have any nervousness or doubts about moving in with Alan, or about signing a two-year lease, because she knew in her heart she would still be with Alan in two years. She knew in her heart that she would still be with Alan in fifty-two years. And this gorgeous apartment on West 68th Street was where she wanted to make a home with him.

"I say yes," Lanie replied decisively. "Absolutely, positively, get the landlord in here so we can sign on the dotted lines yes."

Alan grinned, the boyish grin that made Lanie's heart melt every time, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the way that Lanie so adored. "All right, then," he said. He turned to go and get the landlord, but Lanie stopped him by grabbing his hand. Then she leaned over and kissed him. He kissed her back before going to get the landlord, and in a few minutes, the apartment was officially theirs.


	44. Chapter 43

_**We never learned exactly what Alexis was majoring in at Columbia on the show, so I took the liberty of assigning her a major. I kept in mind the classes we know she was interested in, and her internship with Lanie, and her bachelor's degree is in a real field of study. I'd like to say thank you to Nkeagle for helping me out with this part of the story. Also, studies have shown that people who major in pre-law or political science actually do the worst on their LSAT exams, which is why I did not make one of those Alexis's major. And Hayley, and Alexis working at the P.I. office, never happened in this story, so that's why those two things don't get any mention. On to the chapter now, and thank you all for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing.**_

* * *

What if I just don't come anywhere near this room?" Kate suggested.

"Paint fumes and pregnant women are a major no-no," Rick said firmly.

From her perch on a stepladder taping the window frames, Alexis looked over her shoulder at her parents. "Practicing your 'no-no's already?" she asked with a grin. "The baby _ **is**_ half you, Dad, so that's probably a good idea."

"You know what else is a good idea? You not breathing paint fumes, Kate," Rick said, turning his attention back to his wife.

Kate sighed. "I just hate that I can't help with this part," she said. "I understand why I can't, but I hate that I can't. I'm her mom. This is supposed to be part of what I do."

"The painting is the only thing you won't be able to be a part of," Rick said. "And Alexis and I can get it done in a few hours, get the smell out in a few more hours, and while we're doing this, you can go to your office and finish working on your platform."

They had set up Kate's campaign office in Rick's old P.I. office shortly after New Year's Day. Now that it was the middle of the month, and the primary was in April, Kate had begun work in earnest on her platform—the reasons she was running, and what she intended to do if she was elected. She was getting requests for interviews from virtually every media outlet—print, TV, and online—in New York City, but she had insisted on getting her platform down on paper before having a meet-and-greet with the press.

"All right," Kate finally agreed. Alexis had finished taping the windows and climbed down from her stepladder, crossing the empty room to give Kate a big hug. "You'll call the second I can come back?"

"Yes," Rick promised.

"Thank you for helping your dad with this," Kate said, turning her attention to Alexis.

"Anything for my little sister," Alexis replied. She hugged Kate, kissed her cheek, then gently touched Kate's baby bump quickly. "Dad and I are painting your walls today, little sister," she addressed the baby. "You're gonna love it when we're through."

"The paint color is called She Loves Pink. She's **got** to love it," Rick quipped.

"I'll leave you guys to it, then," Kate said. "At least I'm used to paperwork after all my years at the precinct."

"No commentary on me never helping with the paperwork?" Rick asked.

"Not when you're getting ready to paint our daughter's nursery walls," Kate replied. "Maybe later, though." They kissed, and then Kate retrieved her laptop from the office and her purse from her and Rick's bedroom, shouted a farewell, and left.

Once they heard the front door close behind Kate, Rick pried the lids off the cans of paint and hunkered down to begin stirring one, while Alexis stirred the other. "This is a pretty shade of pink," Alexis said. "Not too light and not too dark. Right in the middle. Kind of like an Easter egg. I think she will love it. The baby, I mean. Have you and Kate started thinking seriously about names yet?"

"Yes," Rick replied. Despite the plastic drop cloths all over the floor, he carefully poured the paint into a pan, then handed Alexis a roller. "Pick a wall, any wall," he said, gesturing to the bare white walls.

Alexis smiled as she watched her father pick up a small paintbrush and the can of paint whose major contents he had just poured into the paint pan for her to use. "Is that your way of saying you're not revealing the name until she's born?" she asked as she coated the roller with She Loves Pink paint and then began applying it to the wall opposite the one her dad was working on.

"We wanted to wait until she's here to tell everybody at the same time like we did telling you she's on the way," Rick said as he dipped his paintbrush into the can. He paused, then looked over his shoulder and across the room at Alexis. "Does that bother you?"

Alexis met her father's gaze. "Why would it bother me?" she asked. "You and Kate are her parents. It's your decision. Besides, if I don't know the name, then I can't possibly slip up and accidentally reveal it to anyone else."

"Lanie?" Rick asked knowingly.

"And Gram," Alexis replied. "Jenny too, for that matter. I, personally, don't think a newborn baby needs personalized clothes and toy boxes, but that is apparently an opinion only I hold."

"Not just you," Rick said. He and Alexis began painting as they continued talking. "Kate and I don't want anything with her name on it, actually, at least not that she'll be wearing in public."

Alexis nodded sagely. "Stranger danger is even more dangerous now than it was when I was growing up," she reflected. "That's a wise decision on your parts...but then, I wouldn't expect anything less from you and Kate. She sure is lucky. She won the parent lottery."

"Does it bother you? That you're not going to be my only child, my only daughter, anymore?" Rick blurted out.

Alexis smoothed the roller over the section of wall she'd been working on, then stopped painting entirely and turned to face her father, who had also stopped painting entirely. "No," she said honestly. She walked across the room and put a hand on her father's shoulder. "She's going to get to grow up with the two greatest parents in the world. And at the risk of sounding selfish, I had something she'll never have. I had you all to myself. I didn't have to share you with her, or with Kate, or with anyone. But I love it for her that she gets to have you **and** Kate right from the start. I know that I wasn't always very gracious about sharing you with Kate, but I think I'm better now. At least, I hope I'm better now."

"You are," Rick assured her. "You definitely are. Sharing isn't something that comes naturally to either one of us. But I'm learning...you know, how to share you, with Esposito. At least, I'm **really** trying."

"I know you are," Alexis assured him. "And I remember how difficult it was for me at first when Kate came into our lives, and I first realized exactly how important she was to you and how much you loved her, which was way before you got together. I get what you're going through, because I've been there myself, Dad."

"I could use some of your grace in adjusting to this," Rick admitted.

"Sharing me with Javier, or the fact that it's Javier you're sharing me with?" Alexis asked.

"Both," Rick said with a rueful smile. "I want you to be happy, pumpkin. And I want you to have what I have with Kate."

"I **am** happy, and Javier and I **do** have what you and Kate have," Alexis said. "But we're not in any rush. We're not moving in together like Lanie and Alan, and we're not running out and getting married tomorrow."

"But someday?" Rick asked.

"I sure hope so," Alexis replied honestly.

"I guess I thought it would take you longer to find it," Rick mused. "I don't know why I thought that, though. You've always been smarter than me."

Alexis smiled at her dad. "I am definitely my father's daughter, because I know the best thing that ever happened to me, and I'm going to hold onto him for the rest of my life," Alexis said. "Now, we'd better get back to painting, or else this room won't be done and aired out by the end of the day, and we can't have that, for my little sister or for Kate."

"You know, Sweetpea's very blessed and lucky in another way," Rick said.

"What way is that?" Alexis asked.

"She's also going to have the best big sister in the world," Rick replied with a proud smile.

Alexis went and set her roller back in the paint pan, then crossed the room again to hug her father. Rick hugged her with one arm while he set his paintbrush back in the can before wrapping Alexis in his embrace. "I love you, Dad," Alexis said.

"I love you too, Alexis," Rick replied.

Alexis released her dad and stepped back. "Now, we have a room to paint, so let's get to it," she said.

They worked steadily, and finished in about three hours. Rick insisted on another three hours to get the fumes out of the loft before he called Kate with the all clear.

After they finished cleaning up the last of the drop cloths and rinsing out the paintbrushes and pan, they heard Kate's key in the front door. "I'm home!" she announced.

Rick greeted her with a kiss, then bent to kiss her baby bump. "Sweetpea behave herself?" he asked.

"She's a future kickboxer, I swear," Kate said, and motherly wonder and pride already suffused her voice. "But I did manage to get a complete first draft done. Will you look it over later?"

"Of course," Rick replied. "And now..." He put his hand over her eyes.

"Really?" she asked, but she was amused. "You do realize I know what the color looks like, since I was there when we bought the paint?"

"But you haven't seen it on the walls yet. It's different when it's on a paint sample chip or a computer screen," Rick said. "And you'll get to take in the whole room this way." With his hand over her eyes, he carefully put his other hand on her elbow and steered her toward the nursery.

Alexis was waiting in the nursery, by the windows. Rick steered Kate into the room. "Here it is," he announced, taking his hand away from her eyes.

Kate opened her eyes and took in the room, and her hand flew to her mouth. The walls were the ideal medium shade of pink—not so light as to be almost white, but not so dark as to be almost red. Alexis had turned the ceiling light on since it was dark outside now, and since she and Rick had already picked out nursery furniture online, Kate was mentally picturing where the crib would go, on the wall furthest away from the window, and the dresser, and the changing table, and this giant cube-shaped toy box that they were going to have painted in pink and white to look like an alphabet block.

For an instant, Kate thought about how many versions of this room there would be in the years and decades ahead, remembering her own changing bedroom growing up, as Lily grew and changed, and the stacking rings and bouncy seat would give way to dolls and stuffed animals, or toys and stuffed animals, to posters of _Teen Beat_ pinup boys and rock stars on these same walls in another fourteen or fifteen years.

Lily...her and Rick's daughter...would live and play and sleep in this room. From the first night they brought her home from the hospital, this space would be hers.

There would be tea parties and bedtime stories and maybe even a heavy bag that Lily would kickbox until it was flat in this room.

And at the beginning, when she wasn't so new that she needed to sleep in her bassinet in Kate and Rick's bedroom so they could tend to her needs immediately, Lily would be in this room. Lily would enter the world tiny and totally dependent on Kate and Rick for everything she needed and wanted, and they would be there to provide all of those needs and wants, from the first breath Lily took outside the womb.

But the day would come when Lily would move to this room. And the day would also come that the crib would eventually give way to a toddler bed, which would then give way to a twin bed, and maybe eventually to a four-poster or a canopy bed, depending on Lily's tastes in furniture. This room would reflect Lily's personality, and as she got older, it would be her private space, and her safe haven from the world outside.

Kate had only ever felt this overwhelmed twice before: when she was waiting for Rick to answer the front door the night she came to him, after four years and almost dying twice, and telling him she just wanted him; and when she was standing with her arm through her father's, nosegay of roses in her other hand, looking at Rick waiting at the end of the makeshift aisle for her.

Both of those times, she knew that her whole life would be irrevocably changed in the next moment.

Looking at this room, with Alexis smiling from beside the window, Rick with his arm around her waist, looking anxious now because she hadn't said anything yet, and Lily kicking her from the inside as if she sensed Kate's feelings and that she, Lily, approved of the paint on her new bedroom walls, and almost assuring Kate that everything would be just as wonderful as it was those first two times Kate had taken that leap of faith, Kate knew that everything about this, all of it, was right, it was meant to be. She was meant to be married to Rick, she was meant to have children with Rick, and their first child, their daughter, was meant to live in this room.

"Kate, if you don't like it, we'll go right back to the paint store first thing in the morning and get whatever shade of pink you want," Rick said then. "Or if you've changed your mind about pink, we'll get whatever color you think-" He was cut off when Kate framed his face in her hands and kissed him soundly but chastely, since Alexis was standing at the other end of the room.

"It's exactly right," Kate said softly when she broke the kiss, resting her forehead against Rick's for a moment. "Exactly right. This is our daughter's room, Rick."

"Now all you have to do is get all the furniture in here and then clothes and diapers and toys and, oh, where are you guys on the pacifier thing again? Yay or nay?" Alexis asked.

"And who are you asking for, Lanie again?" Kate inquired, her eyes twinkling merrily. "I promise, we will fill out a registry online tomorrow for the baby shower. In fact, I will text Lanie, and Jenny, and Martha, and Victoria myself and let them know, so they stop bothering you with it."

"Kate, you're the best," Alexis replied.

"You have more important things to worry about right now than pacifiers," Kate said. "And for the record, we're willing to try pacifiers, but if the baby doesn't go for them, we're certainly not going to force them on her. So we don't need a whole lot of them."

"I'll let you tell Lanie and the others that," Alexis said.

"They won't mess with pregnant Beckett," Kate said.

"Well, how about some dinner?" Rick suggested. "What do you feel like?"

"Chinese?" Kate suggested.

"Fine by me," Alexis said.

"You don't have plans with Javi tonight?" Kate asked.

"They have a case," Alexis replied. "I have my last final next week anyway, so I'm going to start studying for that after dinner."

Rick smiled as he watched the easy rapport between Alexis and Kate as they discussed exactly what they wanted for dinner, Alexis's last undergrad final, and her graduation. "They aren't going to have a separate portion where they give out the honors at my graduation since it's happening in February," she said, "but it'll be on my diploma and my transcript, and I'll be listed in the graduation program in May."

"How many honors are we talking about here?" Rick asked.

Alexis paused. "One that's definite, one that's highly probable, and one that's strongly possible," she said. "And that's all I'm saying until graduation on February 8."

"Dean's List! That's gotta be one of them," Rick said.

"Daaadd," Alexis said warningly.

Lily started kickboxing Kate's insides again. "Okay, let's go order a whole lot of Chinese food, because Sweetpea and I are both famished, and then we'll talk about non-graduation-related topics," Kate said.

"All right," Rick grumbled. "I am completely outnumbered here by all you women."

"And you love it," Kate said knowingly.

"You bet I do," Rick said with a smile.

"I'll go call in our order!" Alexis exclaimed, and she left the nursery to make the call.

After Alexis had left the room, Kate said, "Does it seem at all strange to you to be starting all over again? Your firstborn is about to graduate from college and she's going to law school in the fall, and by the time Alexis starts law school, Sweetpea will be three months old."

"Strange? No," Rick said. "Incredible, because not only do I get to be a dad again, I get to be a dad with you as the mom of my kid right from the start." He paused before continuing, "Although I don't want a 24-year age difference between Sweetpea and her little brother or sister."

"Neither do I," Kate said. "I'm not looking to make the _Guinness Book of World Records_ , or _R_ _ipley's Believe It or Not!_ I think three years is a good age difference, hypothetically. She'll be potty trained, she'll be in her first year of preschool, she'll be able to understand and maybe help out a little bit with simple things. Of course, I'm sure she'll also be jealous. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"You're already thinking about the next kid?" Rick asked, amazed.

"You did promise me a mini-Castle," Kate reminded him.

"I'll do my best," Rick promised seriously.

"I keep picturing her," Kate said, smoothing her sweater over her baby bump. "Her in this room...her with you...with both of us… She's going to be amazing."

"Of course she will," Rick replied. "She's going to take after her mother."

Alexis interrupted them kissing in the middle of the nursery several minutes later to tell them that dinner had arrived. Before leaving the nursery, Rick and Kate both looked around at the room. "She's going to live here and sleep here and grow up here," Kate said, her voice filled with awe.

"Yeah, she is," Rick said, the same awe in his voice. He pressed a kiss to Kate's temple before they went to join Alexis for dinner.

* * *

"Do you see her yet?" Javi asked everyone, "everyone" consisting of Martha, Castle, and Beckett. Jim was sitting in the faculty section but would be meeting them after the graduation ceremony was over, and Alexis hadn't been able to get tickets for the others, much to her regret, even though undergrads were limited to a total of four tickets, and the rest of their family of friends had all assured her that they understood, and Kevin and Lanie were working anyway.

Rick had the video camera going and he panned across the crowd. "Not yet, but I see movement on stage, so I think they're getting ready to march onto the stage," he said.

Kate had the binoculars that Alexis had bought Rick after he was sidelined with a bum knee when he tried to show off too much on their first ski trip together, which were part of the best birthday gift of Rick's life, and she too was scanning the crowd.

Martha had Alexis's binoculars and was also crowd-scanning.

Finally, the small band struck up "Pomp and Circumstance," and the graduates, decked out in their sky blue caps and gowns, slowly marched across the stage to take their seats.

"There she is!" Javi exclaimed.

Rick, Kate, and Martha were all looking through their various devices. "Where?" they asked almost in unison.

"The seventh student in the front row," Javi said. "See her?"

"I see her!" Rick exclaimed, aiming the camera right at her.

"Me too!" Kate added.

"Look at her," Martha said proudly.

Rick, Kate, Martha, and Javi were seated in the middle of the third row—Alexis had camped out overnight with a couple of her classmate friends to get tickets as soon as they were available to the undergrads—so Alexis knew where to look for them. She spotted her dad first, video camera to his eye, and she could see his smile from her seat. Kate was seated next to him, the binoculars now in her rapidly shrinking lap, and she gave Alexis a proud smile and a thumbs up. Alexis smiled back at Kate and waved. Gram was next to Kate, and Alexis could see Gram's misty eyes from here. She met her grandmother's gaze and beamed at her.

And seated next to Martha, dressed in a suit and tie and beaming proudly, was Javier. Alexis caught his eye and smiled the smile she reserved for him alone. He smiled back at her and exaggeratedly mouthed, "I'm so proud of you!" which made Alexis's smile grow wider.

Alexis then scanned the faculty section and she spotted Jim Beckett right before he spotted her. He gave her a small wave, and she nodded at him in acknowledgement, smiling at him as he smiled at her.

They sat through the speeches, and then all of the graduates from Alexis's particular school were called up to shake hands with their dean and receive their diplomas. When her name was called, Alexis crossed the stage, and after shaking hands with the dean and accepting her diploma, she flipped the tassel on her cap to the other side to signify that she had graduated, and she looked to the quartet in the third row, all of whom were on their feet. Martha was crying, Kate was applauding and cheering with a big smile on her face, Rick was filming, also with a big smile on his face, and Javier was applauding until he saw Alexis looking, and then he let out a piercing whistle before giving her a wink and a big grin. Alexis held her diploma aloft in triumph before returning to her seat.

When the caps had been tossed and the graduation ceremony was over, they all moved through the crush of people until they finally found each other. "Dad! Kate! Gram! Javier!" Alexis shouted through the buzz of conversations.

Clutching her diploma tightly, Alexis flew at her father, who had already handed the video camera off to Kate. Father and daughter embraced, and then Alexis hugged Kate, then Martha, and then Javier, who literally picked her up off her feet and whirled her around.

"All right, let's see that diploma!" Rick exclaimed.

Alexis flipped the cover open and held her diploma so that everyone could read it.

"Dean's List! I knew it!" Rick crowed. But then he was floored. "Alexis..." He looked at his daughter. " _Summa cum laude_?"

"Dean's List was the definite one," Alexis replied. " _Summa cum laude_ was the probable."

"Which would make Phi Beta Kappa the possible," Kate said.

"A hat trick!" Javier exclaimed excitedly. Alexis looked at him blankly. "Hockey term. Means you score three goals in a game," he explained.

"Oh, Alexis, Phi Beta Kappa! That's wonderful!" Martha exclaimed.

"And a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a spot in Columbia University Law School this fall," Kate said.

"Way to go, Lex. I am so proud of you," Javier said, leaning in to kiss her cheek.

"We're all proud of you, Alexis," Rick said. "So very proud."

Jim Beckett finally joined them then, having been detained by a few of his colleagues and students. "Congratulations, Alexis," he said.

Alexis hugged Jim. "Thank you, Jim," she replied.

After almost every possible combination of pictures had been taken—Alexis with just Rick, just Kate, just Martha, just Jim, and just Javier; Alexis with Rick and Kate; Alexis with Rick, Kate, and Martha; Alexis with Kate and Martha; Alexis with Rick, Kate, Martha, and Jim—they adjourned to the loft for cake and Alexis's graduation gifts.

Rick and Kate's gift was a new laptop. Jim's gift was a set of the Examples and Explanations study supplements to several first-year law school classes, including Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Law, and Torts. Martha gave Alexis four gift cards, insisting that three were for "lawyer-type" clothes and one was for fun. And Javier gave Alexis a professional leather portfolio for storing papers.

Alexis received congratulatory phone calls from Victoria Gates, Jenny and Sarah Grace, who also said hello for Nick, and Alan, and quick congratulatory texts from Lanie and Kevin, both of whom promised to follow up with her later about graduation. They would have more gifts for her—a gift card to Starbucks from the Ryans, a nice pen from Gates, and a gavel from Lanie and Alan—and more good wishes.

Later on, Jim and Martha were in the living room chairs and Alexis and Javier were sitting on the couch as they all talked quietly, while Rick and Kate were finishing up in the kitchen. Kate had just turned on the dishwasher after Rick covered what was left of the cake, and Rick watched Alexis laugh at something Javier said before he sneaked a kiss from her. Rick sighed.

Kate was about to go to Rick when she saw her dad get up, ostensibly to get another cup of coffee, since he was carrying his coffee mug. But he detoured past the coffee pot directly to Rick. "It helps when you know your daughter is in love with a good man," Jim said. "At least, it helped me. Of course, Katie and I had a more difficult path than you and Alexis. But when you love your daughter as much as I do, and as much as you do, it's not easy to realize that you're not the number-one man in her life anymore."

"How did you do it, Jim?" Rick asked, turning to face his father-in-law.

"I have to say, you made it easy for me, Rick," Jim replied.

"I did?" Rick asked, surprised.

"Oh, I didn't meet you for three years, but I heard chapter and verse about you from Katie in those three years before you and I met," Jim replied. "Katie talked about you all the time. And when the look in her eyes when she talked about you changed from annoyed and exasperated to something softer, something more emotional, I knew that it was going to be you that my daughter would love for the rest of her life. That's why it was so important to me to know where you stood. Do you remember the first time we met, Rick? What I asked you?"

"That if I cared about Kate, I wouldn't let her lose another twelve years of her life to her mother's murder," Rick replied.

"I had just formally, officially met you five minutes before. Did you ever wonder why I asked that of you immediately after officially meeting you? Did it occur to you that it wasn't just about the inherent danger involved in the investigation?" Jim asked. The look on Rick's face said that it hadn't occurred to him until this moment. "I asked that of you because I **knew** , Rick. I knew my daughter, even with all the time that we lost, and I knew you were it for her. And in those five minutes, you proved to me that you felt the same way about Katie that I knew she felt about you. I phrased it as an 'if' so as not to scare you off in case I turned out to be wrong about you, but deep down, I knew I wasn't wrong about you. I knew that you would go to the ends of the earth for my daughter. And no father can wish or ask for any more than that for his daughter."

Rick looked at Alexis and Javier, their heads bent together, as Martha smiled at them from her chair.

"It gets easier, right?" Rick asked Jim.

"It does get easier," Jim promised, clapping Rick on the back.

"Thank you, Jim," Rick said, "for trusting me with your daughter's heart, and her happiness, and for helping me through my own process of trusting Esposito with **my** daughter's heart, and her happiness."

Jim smiled. "You're welcome," he said before heading to get his coffee.

Kate came up behind Rick then and wrapped her arms around his torso, resting her cheek against his. "Alexis **is** really happy," she said.

"It's been a great day," Rick replied.

"Yes, it has," Kate agreed. "One of the best days."

"But Alexis is not just happy because she got her bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies today," Rick said as he turned into Kate's waiting arms. "That's a big part of it, for today, but being with Esposito makes Alexis happy."

"And being with Alexis makes Javi happy, happier than I've ever seen him, and I've known him longer than you have," Kate replied.

"When we were painting Sweetpea's nursery, Alexis said that they have what you and I have, but they're not in any rush. They're not going to be moving in together like Lanie and Alan, and they're not going to run out and get married tomorrow."

"Which would imply that they're going to get married someday," Kate mused. She watched Rick carefully, intently, waiting for some kind of tic, jaw twitch, some sort of negative reaction. But there was none, and she silently thanked her father, who had rejoined Martha, Alexis, and Javi in the living room.

"I just want Alexis to be happy, and she is," he said. "And Esposito **is** a good man. I'm still adjusting to their relationship, but I just want her to be happy." Standing there, holding each other, Kate was close enough to Rick that he could feel the baby kick his belly through hers then. "Can we keep her from dating until she's 30?" he asked hopefully as they both looked down at Kate's baby bump.

"Probably not," Kate said. "But we can keep her from dating until she's sixteen."

"Promise?" Rick asked hopefully.

"I promise," Kate replied, smoothing a hand through his hair.


	45. Chapter 44

_**A short and sweet chapter this week. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for all the enthusiasm and support, and a special shoutout to my Guest reviewers, especially Cruise1213 and ChaCha, whom I cannot answer individually. I'm glad you're all as in love with this story as I am.**_

* * *

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Tuesday, it was a low-key night for everyone. Lanie and Alan hadn't yet officially moved in to their new apartment, but they took a picnic supper with a bottle of wine to their new apartment and dined by candlelight on a blanket in their living room.

Although they had originally agreed that their green Honda Odyssey minivan would be their Valentine's Day gift to each other, Kevin brought home a bouquet of Jenny's favorite flowers, and Jenny surprised Kevin with his favorite dinner, a homemade Valentine's card that she made while Sarah Grace was making one for Kevin (she made one for Jenny at school), and some new lingerie in his favorite color, blue.

Rick and Kate got all dressed up and went out for dinner. They were debating where to go for the upcoming weekend babymoon they wanted to take, a weekend being all they could spare between working on the nursery, Kate's City Council campaign heating up, and the final edits and revisions for Rick's latest Nikki Heat book.

Shortly after arriving at the restaurant, after Kate returned from the ladies' room, she found a black velvet jewelry case tied with a red bow sitting on her plate, since the waiter hadn't been by with their menus yet. Smiling, she resumed her seat, untied the ribbon, and gasped when she saw the necklace inside: a crescent moon covered in diamonds hanging from a delicate silver chain which held four platinum stars. Kate looked from the necklace to Rick. "When I was thinking of what to get you for Valentine's Day, the first thing I thought of was that I wanted to give you the moon and stars. This is as close as I could get, and a lot less dangerous and heavy, since I figured you wouldn't want to wear a chunk of moon rock and a flaming hot gas particle around your neck." He reached across the table to lift the necklace from its black velvet bed. "May I?"

"Yes," Kate replied. She held up her hair as Rick rounded the table and then put the necklace on her, carefully fastening the chain.

When he returned to his seat, Kate had pulled a small black velvet box from her clutch purse. Holding it out to him, she said, "I thought a lot about what to get you for Valentine's Day too. What do you get for the man who has everything? And this is what I came up with. Happy Valentine's Day, Rick."

Rick eagerly pulled the box from Kate's hand and opened the lid. His eyes widened when he looked at the contents. He stared at them hard for a long moment, then looked back up at Kate, who was beaming at him. "What do you get for the man who has everything?" she repeated. "The two things you know he doesn't have, and that you feel with all your heart he deserves: the moon and stars. Or star, in this case."

Kate's gift to Rick was a set of cufflinks, one of which was a crescent moon, the other of which was a star.

"You..." Rick began. He coughed, then swallowed hard. "You amaze me, Kate. Every day."

She smiled at him then, her entire being radiating happiness. "I don't think anyone ever said I amazed them until you. I'm glad that's the case."

Rick leaned across the table, and Kate leaned in as well, their mouths meeting in the middle in a sweet, tender kiss. They stopped kissing when the waiter discreetly cleared his throat. "My name is Edward. I'll be your waiter this evening," he said as he handed menus to both Rick and Kate.

"Could you give us a few minutes?" Rick asked as he and Kate accepted the menus.

"Of course, sir," the waiter replied, leaving just as quietly and discreetly as he had arrived.

Kate opened her menu, and Rick was just opening his when he felt Kate's stocking-clad foot rubbing slowly up and down the length of his calf under the table. "If you keep that up, dinner is going to be very short," he told her.

"And the problem with that would be?" Kate inquired, but when Rick looked up from his menu the innocent tone of Kate's match in no way matched the smoldering look in her eyes.

"No problem at all," Rick replied as he signaled their waiter. After they had ordered dinner-salmon steak with roasted new potatoes and asparagus for Kate, and a porterhouse steak with a baked potato and roasted green beans for Rick—Rick asked, "Is this that second trimester thing?"

Kate and Rick had both been reading _What to Expect When You're Expecting,_ and then comparing notes on what they read, so she knew what he meant by "that second trimester thing": with the morning sickness and fatigue gone, most moms-to-be see a significant increase in their libido in the second trimester. They had both wondered if they would experience "that second trimester thing," and the way things had been going for the past couple of weeks, it looked like they were indeed in what Rick referred to as "that lucky...or rather, that _getting_ lucky percentage."

"I think so," Kate replied. "You know what else I think?"

"What?" Rick asked raptly.

"I think a bubble bath for two would be incredible when we get home," Kate replied.

Further conversation was halted when their dinners arrived. They kept flirting with each other, Rick slipping off his own shoes under the table and surprising Kate by playing footsie with her and then giving her the sly grin and raised eyebrow look she remembered from the day Montgomery told her she had a fan and she turned around to see Rick standing there in Montgomery's office door.

After they had finished eating, Rick couldn't get their car from the valet fast enough. They made it home in record time, and it was a race to the bedroom and into the bathroom, he and Kate laughing and teasing and kissing in between shedding their clothes and filling the tub.

They made love in the tub until the water turned cold, and then they filled the tub again and enjoyed a leisurely soak.

When they were in their pajamas in bed, Kate suddenly pulled a face. "Kate? What's the matter?" Rick asked anxiously.

Kate splayed both her hands over her growing baby bump. "This is definitely your daughter, Rick," she said. She looked at him with a combination of amusement and disgust. "I have this intense craving for Potato Chip Fudge ice cream that just hit me."

Wearing a pair of flannel pants, Rick hastily pulled a t-shirt over his head and said, "I'll get it!" before rushing out of the room. Kate had just finished towel drying her hair when Rick returned carrying a tray with two bowls, two spoons, a fresh pint of Potato Chip Fudge ice cream, and the ice cream scoop.

Kate settled herself in bed, and Rick placed the tray on her lap before climbing in beside her. "You did just want the ice cream, right?" he asked, putting one of his bare feet back on the floor. "You didn't mention anything else, but do you want toppings? Whipped cream, cherries, extra chocolate sauce, jalapeno peppers, anything?"

"Yeah, just the ice cream," Kate replied.

Rick settled himself beside Kate and dished them both up double scoops, and as Kate scooped up a big spoonful and ate it without choking this time, Rick grinned and addressed the baby: "That's my girl!"

Kate took a spoonful of ice cream from his bowl. "Less talking, more eating," she suggested through a mouthful of ice cream.

Rick responded by dropping a fresh scoop of Potato Chip Fudge into Kate's bowl. "Happy Valentine's Day," he said.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Kate replied before they shared a lingering Potato Chip Fudge-flavored kiss.

* * *

Javier and Alexis exited the movie theater hand in hand. "I love _The Princess Bride_!" Alexis exclaimed happily.

Javier grinned at her. "That's why I picked it," he replied.

"Wait, you knew I love it?" she asked, stopping on the sidewalk.

"I may have asked your grandmother what some of your favorite movies are," he admitted. "Other than _Airplane!_ and _Spaceballs_. I thought it would still be a little awkward, going to your dad or Beckett with a question like that, although at least Castle doesn't look like he wants to punch my lights out whenever he sees you and me together anymore."

"He's adjusting," Alexis said. "Really, he's been better behaved with you than with any of my other boyfriends." She paused, mentally slapping herself upside the head for mentioning her other boyfriends. "Thank you for giving me the chance to see it on the big screen," she replied. "And the dinner was wonderful."

They had gone to a movie theater Javier found that showed classic movies and that served a full menu of fast food drive-in fare, so in addition to popcorn, soda, and candy, Alexis had had a burger and fries, while Javier had hot dogs and nachos, and they had split a giant soft pretzel.

"We'll have to come back here again," Javier said as they headed out into the cold February night.

Unable to wait any longer, Alexis dug into her bag and removed a red envelope. "I really can't wait any longer to give you your Valentine's present," she said. She handed him the envelope. "Happy first Valentine's Day, Javier."

Under the neon and marquee lights, Javier broke the seal on the envelope, removing a Hallmark card. A heart made of pink butterflies was on the white cover. He opened the card and two tickets fell into his palm. He read the message inside the card first: _"Because of you, the butterflies are here to stay."_ Underneath that, Alexis had written, "All my love, Alexis."

Then Javier turned his attention to the two tickets in his hand. "Knicks tickets?" he exclaimed, surprised, looking up at Alexis, who was beaming at him.

"I thought you and Kevin could go," she said. "I really don't know much about basketball. Fencing, yes. Basketball, no. The game's a month from today, and the seats are at center court. I asked for the best seats they had, and that's what they gave me. Those are good seats, right?"

"They're incredible seats," Javier said. "Thank you so much, Lex." He leaned in and kissed her. "You're sure you're okay if I go with Ryan?"

"If you want to take me, I'll be happy to go, but I thought you'd enjoy it more if you went with Kevin because he knows basketball and I don't," Alexis replied.

"He'll flip!" Javier exclaimed. "We haven't been to a Knicks game all season. At least, not in person."

After he carefully put the Knicks tickets in his wallet, and Alexis's Valentine's card in one of his coat pockets, Alexis slipped her arm through his, and they made the short trek to Javier's car.

When they got in the car, Javier pulled a long rectangular box of black velvet out of his inner coat pocket, and held it out to Alexis. "I couldn't find a card that said what I most wanted to say," he confessed. "So I didn't get you a card. But I got you this. Happy Valentine's Day."

Alexis carefully opened the box and gasped at what she saw. "Javier," she breathed.

Inside the box was a delicate silver bracelet with two tiny silver charms dangling from it. "The heart represents me, and my love for you," Javier said, touching the tiny silver heart charm with the tip of his index finger. "And the Scales of Justice are for you starting law school and becoming a lawyer. And on all the big occasions of your life, and our life together, I'm gonna add a charm to this bracelet until it's so full and so heavy that you'll need another bracelet so we can keep going." Alexis looked from the bracelet to Javier, love glowing in her eyes. "There's nothing in the world like being with you, Alexis," Javier continued as he looked deeply in her eyes. "Every look, every kiss, every touch, every new discovery that we make about each other...and the best part is knowing this is headed someplace really great. That is the best and most incredible and most exciting thing to me. I love you, Lex. That's what I couldn't find on any card."

Alexis leaned across the console and kissed Javier passionately, overwhelmed with emotion at his gift and at what he had said. Breaking the kiss when the need for oxygen became too great to ignore any longer, she rested her forehead against his as they both caught their breath. "I love you too," Alexis said emotionally. "I keep falling more in love with you every day. And you're my best friend, which makes it all even better and more exciting." She pulled back to look at him, and gently stroked his cheek with her fingertips. "Whenever something happens during the day, I always think, 'I can't wait to tell Javier.' You're in my head and my heart every moment of every day, and you will be for the rest of my life. I can't wait to see what the future brings, because I get to share it with you."

Javier carefully removed the charm bracelet from its velvet case. "May I?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Alexis replied. She pulled up her parka and sweater sleeves and held out her wrist, and Javier carefully fastened the bracelet around her wrist, kissing her hand after the bracelet was securely in place.

"Since it's not too late yet, do you want to get a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity?" Alexis asked.

"As you wish," Javier said, referencing _The Princess Bride,_ before starting the car and carefully pulling out into traffic, his smile matching Alexis's smile.


	46. Chapter 45

_**Thank you for all of the continuing support and enthusiasm for this story. This is a very significant chapter for Alexis and Javier; accordingly, it's rated a firm T, I would say. If they are not your cup of tea, however, feel free to stop reading after "'I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.'" You won't be missing anything important to Kate and Rick if you do skip it.**_

* * *

With the primary election in April, Kate, as she herself put it, dove into the deep end with her campaign, starting to get her message out via email and her meet-and-greet with the press, which took place in late February. She worked very hard on her core content—her talking points and her goals, why she was running for City Council, and what she hoped to accomplish—and she had no shortage of support from Rick on through the rest of their family and friends. Ryan helped Kate build a simple website, and traffic to the site began to steadily increase after the meet-and-greet. A lot of people sat up and took notice when Kate Beckett spoke, and they recognized her passion and drive to make New York City even greater and even safer. Although she hadn't had a campaign slogan or tagline when she began, the _Ledger_ and the _New York Times_ both seized upon a particular quote of Kate's: "I have lived in New York City all my life, and I have served New York City for most of my adult life. To me it is the greatest city in the world, and I seek now to serve the city in a different capacity and do my part to make it greater and safer than it already is."

Which is how "KATE BECKETT: FOR A GREATER, SAFER NEW YORK CITY" became Kate's campaign slogan.

There was no hiding her pregnancy from the press, though, but the City Hall beat reporters who were also covering the upcoming primaries didn't make Kate's pregnancy the main focus of their stories, articles, and op-ed pieces, much to both her and Rick's relief. The one thing Kate hadn't wanted, and the one thing Rick had feared he wouldn't be able to give her no matter how hard he tried or how good his intentions were, was for their baby news to be splashed all over Page Six, and the parents-to-be were thrilled that they managed to pull that off. Page Six ran a blurb on the pregnancy with a few-years-old photo of Kate and Rick together, but only after Kate's pregnancy was alluded to in several articles about her City Council campaign.

In addition to the official launch of Kate's campaign for City Council, she and Rick made their final decisions on nursery furniture and ordered it to be delivered to the loft. They chose a crib, dresser, and changing table in white wood, to go with the white-and-pink alphabet block toy box. When Kate mentioned needing a rocking chair, Rick casually said that it was being taken care of, which prompted Kate to ask, "Taken care of by whom?"

"I'm not sure I'm supposed to tell you," Rick admitted.

To Kate, that was an answer in itself. "My dad," she said.

"Well, since you guessed, yes," Rick replied.

Kate nodded. "He's up to something," she said. "I wonder what it is?"

"Because he's giving us a rocking chair, he's up to something?" Rick asked.

"Because he's giving us a rocking chair and he told you but not me, and you weren't sure you were supposed to tell me, yes, that means my dad is up to something," Kate replied. "The question is, what, exactly is he up to?"

But a phone call to Jim Beckett proved fruitless, not because he didn't answer the call, but because he wouldn't answer his daughter's repeated question. "You'll know soon, Katie," is all her dad would say, and Kate found it annoying.

"You do remember how much I hated it when you and Mom would do that to me in the weeks leading up to my birthday and Christmas when I was growing up, don't you?" Kate asked.

"Of course I remember," Jim said. "Your turn will come, Katie. Sooner than you think. And if my granddaughter is anything like her mother and her grandmother, which I'm hoping she is, she'll hate it just as much as you did, and just as much as your mom did. Where do you think you got it from?"

"You really want to withhold information like this from your pregnant daughter?" Kate asked.

"Ah, you forget: I lived through pregnant Johanna Beckett. I can handle whatever you throw at me and then some...literally, if need be," Jim said with a smile in his voice.

"You are way too amused by this," Kate grumbled.

"It's so rare to be able to surprise you, Katie," Jim said earnestly. "Just let me have this one surprise, okay?"

"Do I have a choice?" Kate asked.

Jim laughed warmly. "No, you don't," he said. "I think you're gonna love it, though. At least, I'm hoping you're gonna love it."

"You don't fight fair," Kate said.

"You want fair, you can find it in the dictionary between 'fabulous' and 'flattery,'" Jim replied, quoting one of Johanna's favorite admonishments to teenage Kate when she complained something or one of her parents was not fair.

"Great, now I feel like I'm 17 again and you and Mom are lecturing on me on my grunge rocker wannabe boyfriend," Kate said.

"You have that to look forward to, too," Jim said cheerfully.

"So I'm not even getting a hint?" Kate asked, refusing to even go down that road one second before she had to.

"I don't think so, no," Jim mused. "But you'll have the actual rocking chair soon."

"How soon?" Kate pressed.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Jim teased, pulling out another chestnut Kate hadn't heard in forever, only this one was part of Jim's repertoire.

After Kate ended the call, she said, "My dad is enjoying this way too much."

"Is there such a thing?" Rick asked, looking up from the webpage of sleepers he'd been perusing while Kate was on the phone with Jim trying to get information on the rocking chair.

Kate sat down beside Rick, setting her phone on the coffee table. "No," she said. "Not after everything that's happened." She gestured toward the screen of his tablet. "Find anything good?"

"Did I ever!" Rick exclaimed. He handed Kate the tablet, and she looked at the onesie whose design was that of a Laser Tag vest. Then she looked at her husband's excited, hopeful expression and said, "Add it to the cart."

"I'm getting newborn to 3 months **and** 6 to 9 months both," Rick replied as he touched the screen.

Kate draped her arm around his shoulders. "That doesn't surprise me at all," she replied.

* * *

After Valentine's Day, Alexis and Javier began discussing taking their relationship to the next level...as in, consummating their relationship.

"This is a big step," Javier said.

"Very big," Alexis agreed, "but I think we're ready." She hesitated. "Unless you don't want to."

"I want to," Javier said, reaching across the table for her hands. "But it has to be absolutely right for you, Alexis. For both of us."

Alexis saw the look in Javier's eyes, a look that mingled shyness, love, and determination all at the same time. "It will be," she said firmly. "I'll be with you."

"Everything is going to be absolutely perfect," Javier vowed. "I need a little time. I need to take care of a few things."

"That works out well, since there are a few things I need to take care of too," Alexis said. She paused then. "So are we picking a date off the calendar?"

Javier thought for a moment. "Not a specific date, but a weekend. How about a long weekend? I have some vacation time on the books. I'll let Captain Karpowski know and I'll take a Friday and a Monday, and we'll go away somewhere, just the two of us. How would that be?" he suggested.

"That would be wonderful," Alexis replied.

So Alexis and Javier each attended to their respective business in preparing to go away together for the weekend. Alexis, deciding that reinforcements were necessary, broke the news to Rick at Sunday brunch by casually mentioning that she wouldn't be at Sunday brunch in another two weeks because she and Javier were going away for the weekend. Other than Rick's fingers tightening around the handle of his fork, he took the news well in front of Alexis. "Where are you going?" Rick asked.

"We're going to an inn a little ways outside the city," Alexis replied. "I still have to get the name of the place, actually, since Javier is making the reservations. But you'll know where I am the whole time if you need me to come home for any reason, Dad."

It wasn't knowing where Alexis was that concerned Rick; it was having a pretty good idea of what she would be doing at least part of the time she was there that he was having some trouble with. "Pi," Kate muttered so only Rick could hear. That made him visibly relax. Alexis had actually moved in with Pi, and none of them had much cared for him, including, ultimately, Alexis. The biggest part of Rick's difficulty, which he hadn't yet voiced to anyone but which Kate strongly suspected, knowing him as well as she did, was that he liked Esposito, and had for years. Rick had never pictured Esposito as the man Rick's oldest daughter ended up with, but that was exactly what was happening.

Alexis watched Rick anxiously, but aside from the telltale tightening of his hand around his fork, she didn't notice anything else that betrayed outright disapproval or an impending freakout. He really was adjusting, she thought, and that made her feel better. Alexis understood why her relationship with Javier was so difficult for her father—because Javier was The One. But her dad was doing better than she had originally expected him to do. Alexis knew that her dad knew what a weekend with Javier was really going to mean.

Indeed, the day before she and Javier were going to leave on their long weekend, Rick took Alexis aside and said, "You're going to be safe this weekend." He said it as a statement of fact, not a question.

"Of course I am," Alexis replied. "We both are." She paused, considering, then continued, "We've talked about this, Dad. We're not taking this lightly at all. That's one reason we've waited as long as we have."

Rick nodded. "Good. I'm glad you've talked about...things." For a man as good with words as Richard Castle prided himself on being, this was one time that finding the right words was difficult, because this was about Alexis and Esposito, and there were just certain things a father didn't want to think about regarding his daughter.

"We have," Alexis assured her father. "We talk about everything."

"At least that's not a skill you had to acquire," Rick said.

"We had the best teachers," Alexis told him. "You and Kate."

"What did your dad and I teach you?" Kate asked, having just entered the loft from spending some time at her campaign office. She hung up her coat, then walked over to the couch and greeted Rick with a kiss and Alexis with a hug.

"The importance of talking about everything in a relationship, among other things," Alexis said.

"It was an acquired skill for your dad and me," Kate said.

"He just said something along those same lines," Alexis said. She hugged Kate. "Thank you. For everything. And I do mean everything." Then she bent over, pushing her hair behind her ears, to address the baby. "Be good, little sister."

After Alexis had gone upstairs to finish packing for the weekend and to call Javier, Kate sank down on the couch next to Rick, kicking off her boots and plopping her feet in Rick's lap. Without a word, he began to massage her right foot. She sighed happily. "Thanks, babe," she said. "So how are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Rick replied.

"Really?" Kate asked.

"Really," Rick said. "She's almost 24. She's all grown up. And they love each other. And, as you keep pointing out, he's not Pi."

"Javi is a big improvement over Pi," Kate said.

"Yeah, he is," Rick agreed with a sigh. Now he leaned over, Kate's foot still in his hands, and addressed the baby. "Don't grow up too fast, Sweetpea, okay? I feel like I blinked a couple of times and Alexis grew up. Could you go a little slower, do you think? Who am I kidding? You're half Beckett and half Castle. You're gonna have the world by the tail by the time you start preschool." He looked up at Kate. "And this time, I don't have to do it by myself."

"Never again," Kate said, sealing the promise with a kiss.

* * *

The one thing beyond everyone's control was the weather, so Javier and Alexis's plans for a romantic weekend away at an inn (bed and breakfast, actually) a little ways upstate went up in smoke...or, more accurately, their plans were covered in snow. Winter Storm Stella slammed the Northeast, and although ultimately only seven inches of snow fell on the city, a state of emergency was still declared in New York City, because the snow changed over to sleet, and the combination of high winds and sleety, icy conditions caused no less an authority than the Mayor himself to close all the schools and insist that all citizens stay off the streets and sidewalks, as the salt trucks and snow plows were out in full force. As for the inn, considering Alexis and Javier didn't even make it out of the city, the fact that Binghamton, New York, where the inn was located, got over 20 inches of snow meant that they weren't going anywhere for the weekend.

They hadn't gone far from Javier's apartment when they fishtailed and almost ended up on the sidewalk. "We're going to have to turn back," Javier said tightly.

"Yeah," Alexis, who was white-knuckling the door handle, replied.

They were silent on the drive back to Javier's apartment. He had just parked the car when Alexis's phone rang. She pulled it out of her parka pocket and saw her dad's face on the screen. She answered, "We're not going anywhere, Dad. The weather's too bad. We were barely on the road before we turned back. We just got back to Javier's, and the way it's coming down, we'll be spending our weekend right here." When Javier realized Alexis was talking to Castle, he got out of the car and into the snow and sleet and wind, partly to give her privacy to talk to her father and partly to silently rail at the weather for ruining the plans he had made for the weekend to be absolutely perfect for Alexis, and for both of them. He hadn't really made any contingency plans, although, as he got their bags out of the trunk of his car, he was grateful for one fact, at least, one of the only things that made being stuck at his place for the whole long weekend a good thing.

Alexis emerged from the car then, her phone still pressed to her ear. "Okay, Dad. I love you. Give my love to Kate and the baby. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye." Javier had a light dusting of snow covering him, and he wasn't wearing a hat like Alexis. "Let's get upstairs!" Alexis exclaimed. "It's freezing out here, and we're getting drenched in sleet and snow!"

Alexis started to reach for her suitcase, but Javier said, "I got it," and they hustled into the lobby of his building. The double blast of light and warmth was a relief to them both, and the snowflakes on both of them immediately began to melt.

Javier unlocked his apartment door, motioning with his head for Alexis to enter ahead of him, and once she was inside, he followed her, setting their suitcases down just inside the door while Alexis turned on lights in the living room and kitchen and shed her parka, hat, and gloves. Javier removed his own gloves, stuffed them in his coat pocket, and hung the coat on the rack beside the front door, which he then locked up. Sighing, he pulled the folded envelope out of his sweater pocket as he sank down on the couch and turned it over and over in his hands.

Alexis emerged from the back of the apartment, carrying a folded bath towel in one hand and an envelope the same size as the one Javier held in his own hands in her other hand. She draped the towel around his shoulders. "I thought you could use this," she said. She passed a hand through his hair, which was still very wet from the melted snow and the sleet that had fallen on him outside.

"Thanks," he said, taking the towel and rubbing his hair dry before patting his face dry and then draping the towel over one shoulder.

"Whatcha got there?" Alexis asked, gesturing to the envelope in his hands.

Wordlessly, he handed the envelope to her. It had been opened already, and Alexis pulled out the papers inside and scanned them. "Blood test results," she said, looking from the papers up to Javier.

"I haven't been with anybody in over a year," he said seriously, "but I had the tests done as an act of faith and honesty to you, Lex. Not that I wouldn't use protection, because I absolutely will. But I just wanted you to know that...well, that I'm...healthy."

Alexis smiled. "You'd better read this now," she said, handing him the envelope she'd been holding.

Javier saw that the envelope had already been opened, and he was amazed when he pulled out a set of papers identical to his. "I had blood tests too," Alexis said. "For the same reason you did, Javier. An act of faith and honesty to you. And I know you would use protection. I am too. I've been on the Pill since I started at Columbia, to help with cramps, which it does. But two forms of birth control are better than one."

Javier looked from the test results to Alexis sitting beside him. "I wanted this weekend to be perfect for you," he said, "for us."

"You had no control over the weather, Javier," Alexis replied. "And being snowed in is romantic."

Javier set the papers on the coffee table in front of him, reached out, gently removed the papers from Alexis's hands, set those on the coffee table, and took her hands in his. "You deserve perfect," he insisted. "You deserve the candles and the flowers and everything I had planned at the inn."

Alexis moved closer, draping her arms over his shoulders. "Okay, we're at your apartment instead of at the inn, but even without the inn, and without candles and flowers, there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be right now, because I'm with you, and I'm very much in love with you."

"I'm very much in love with you too," Javier said, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear, "and I want this to be special for you, for both of us, because this is the last first time I'm ever gonna have." He paused, then said, "Promise me you won't ever tell Ryan I said that, because it sounds like such a girly thing to say and he'll give me grief about it, but it's true. That's how I feel."

"Your secret is safe with me," Alexis promised. She gave him a quick kiss, then said, "I have a secret to tell you. This is going to be **my** last first time too." She smiled at him then, the smile that made his heart beat faster, but then her smile faded to a look of nervousness. "I hope I don't...well...disappoint you, for lack of a better term. I don't have a lot of experience."

Javier framed her face in his hands. "There's no way you could ever disappoint me," he said firmly. Then he confessed, "I'm a little nervous myself. I don't want to disappoint you either."

"That's not even a remote possibility," Alexis replied. She moved closer, and he pulled her onto his lap, and they held tightly to each other and kissed tenderly but with increasing passion. As Javier trailed kisses down the column of Alexis's throat, she pulled him closer as she shifted on his lap, feeling the proof of how much he wanted her, and suggested, "Why don't..." She breathlessly stuttered to a stop when Javier lingered at the pulse point at the base of her throat. "Why don't we move this to the bedroom?" she suggested faintly.

Javier rested his head against her shoulder for several seconds before looking up at her. "Okay," he said softly. Alexis stood up, and Javier swept her up in his arms and carried her to his bedroom. He stopped at the foot of the bed, and he and Alexis both looked at the bed. Then they looked at each other, and he said, "I bought this bed two months ago. New sheets too. And comforter, pillows, everything. You're the only woman who is ever going to be in this bed. I just want you to know that."

She smiled again before she shifted in his arms, sliding down his body to stand in his embrace. "Where are our bags?"

Javier groaned. "In the living room," he said. He hung his head for a minute before looking back up at her. "I'm such an idiot."

"You're really not," Alexis replied. She stretched up to give him a quick kiss, then headed to the living room for her suitcase. Javier followed her, and they carried their bags back to his bedroom. "I'll be right back," Alexis said, heading into the bathroom with her suitcase and closing the door softly behind her.

While Alexis was in the bathroom, Javier dug into his own suitcase, removing the box of condoms he had purchased earlier that day. He sank down on the edge of the bed, fumbling to open the box when he heard the bathroom door open. He looked up, and his breath was stolen at the sight of Alexis standing in the bathroom doorway wearing a deep emerald green silk nightgown that stopped midthigh, with a matching robe open over it. He swallowed hard, for his throat was suddenly dry, and when he stood up, he dropped the box of condoms, spilling them all over the floor.

He silently cursed as he dropped to the floor and started picking up the individual condoms and putting them back in the box. It wasn't but a few seconds and Alexis was on the floor with Javier, helping him pick up the condoms. He smiled at her sheepishly. "You look beautiful," he said. She smiled at him shyly, then stood up, so he did too, the once-again-full box of condoms in his hands.

Alexis had brought her suitcase out of the bathroom and left it in the corner, next to the open bathroom door. She went over to it now and rummaged through it, coming up with her iPod, which she plugged into Javier's docking station, and a moment later a slow song filled the air. Alexis returned to Javier's side, took the box of condoms out of his hands, put them on the nightstand, then said, "Dance with me," as she put her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist, feeling the warmth of her body under the silk of her robe and nightgown, and they slowly swayed back and forth, looking into each other's eyes as the words of the song reached them.

" _I heard it said romance was dead and gone_

 _And I almost believed it was true 'til the moment you came along_

 _I know it's so hard to find romance when the world moves so fast_

 _But when I look at you, I get the feeling these feelings will last_

" _Let's make our own romance_

 _We've got time, we've got love_

 _That's always been enough_

 _Why don't we take a chance?_

 _Pull me in close and dance_

 _Can you bring me your heart?_

 _Bring on the start_

 _Bring back romance"_

Nervousness and awkwardness and shyness faded as they slow danced. Lips met, hands roamed, tongues dueled, and fingers tangled in hair and then began to remove the barriers of clothing. They found their way to the bed, Javier did not fumble as he donned protection, and then he and Alexis found each other. "I love you, Alexis," Javier said.

She pulled him closer. "I love you too, Javier," Alexis replied.

And as the snow and sleet raged outside, Javier and Alexis made love for the first time, tenderly and passionately.

In the afterglow, they lay in each other's arms, wrapped up in the sheets and comforter, and in their love. Alexis peppered kisses along Javier's jawline, and he kissed her temple before shifting to look into her eyes. "That never happened to me before," Alexis said softly.

Javier looked at her. "You mean..." he began.

"Yes," she replied. She looked at him intently then.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm waiting for you to do the guy thing."

"The guy thing?" Javier asked, raising an eyebrow, even as he was inwardly celebrating.

"Yeah, you know, punching the air in triumph or getting a smug smile on your face," Alexis replied. There was a hint of teasing in her words, but Javier knew she was seriously expecting that to be his reaction.

"That would be ungentlemanly," he replied seriously. "And I am a gentleman."

"Yes, you are," she agreed. "A gentleman who is very happy to know that he's the first and only man who-" She was cut off when Javier leaned down and kissed her. She sank into the kiss, and when the need for oxygen forced them to stop kissing, Javier rested his forehead against hers for a moment before pulling back to look into her eyes.

"Yes, I'm very happy," he said earnestly. "But that's only one reason. I felt things I never in my life felt before...because it's you." He tangled his fingers in her hair. "I love you so much."

Alexis's hands wandered under the covers, and she moved even closer. "I love you so much too," she said before moving to kiss him again and cover his body with her own to begin again the ancient and timeless dance of love.

* * *

 _ **The song is called "Romance" and it's sung by Paul Carrack and Terri Nunn, in case you were wondering.** _


	47. Chapter 46

_**Thank you, everyone, for your continued support of this story. Just as a heads up, with next Sunday being Easter, I won't be posting next weekend, but I will be back the weekend after with the next chapter. In the meantime, on to this chapter.**_

* * *

"Explain to me again how all of us got roped into this," Esposito said, looking at the thing with distaste.

"How do you think?" Ryan asked half rhetorically. "It was Castle."

"I made a perfectly innocent remark, which, I might add, I meant with all of my heart," Rick tried to defend himself. "Kate has been incredible throughout this whole pregnancy. Very few complaints, very few mood swings, saying over and over again how worth it all of this is. She's heading into her eighth month in another week, the fatigue is what's really bugging her more than anything else because she's so used to being so active all the time..."

"So you just **had** to go and say that if you could carry the baby for her, you would," Esposito said, shaking his head. "And then she just had to tell Alexis and Martha and Jenny and Lanie what a sweet, wonderful husband you were for saying that and so obviously meaning it, and now here we are, at the baby shower-not that I mind that part, 'cause I don't-but we are gonna look totally ridiculous, and you know at least one of them is going to be taking pictures! You're the father-to-be here, Castle! You do it! Why do the rest of us have to do it too?"

"Because my wife's been through this twice, and I apparently never made the same offer to Jenny that Castle made to Beckett," Ryan replied.

"Because it was Lanie's idea, she's my girlfriend, and I live with her," Alan said.

"Because I would do anything in the world for Kate, and all of you know that," Rick said.

Esposito sighed. "Because I'm part of the family, and because we all know you don't tick off Beckett, especially an extremely pregnant and extremely tired Beckett." He glowered at Castle. "But I want it on the record that if any pictures of us looking like this show up at the 12th, on Page Six, or anywhere on the Internet-"

"What's taking you guys so long?" Lanie shouted from the living room. They were having the baby shower for Kate and Rick, and thanks to Rick offering to carry the baby for Kate if he could after she had said that the one frustration she had was being so tired all the time now that she was almost in her eighth month, Rick, Ryan, Esposito, and Alan were in Rick's office, putting on 33-pound empathy bellies that Lanie had managed to get.

Looking down at his own torso, Ryan frustratedly said, " **WHY** won't the boobs stay straight on this thing?"

Esposito pulled a face. "Bro, I don't need that image in my head!" he exclaimed. "Does this really only weigh 33 pounds? It feels like more. I don't think all my gear combined was this heavy when I was in Special Forces."

"Boys, we're waiting!" Lanie called from the living room. "The clock is ticking."

"You said you weren't going to start the clock yet!" Rick called back.

"I haven't," Lanie replied. "Now get your butts out here so I can start it."

"Yeah, come on guys, we're waiting!" Jenny added.

"I already told them you'd look the cutest, Castle!" Kate exclaimed. "Get out here and prove me right!"

"They totally bet on this," Rick said.

"If they bet on who the cutest is, then you'll win," Esposito said. "Nobody's gonna argue with Beckett, especially not extremely pregnant Beckett."

"That's not the only thing they're betting on," Alan mused. When the others looked at him, he sheepishly ducked his head and said, "But I can't tell you what else they bet on."

"Why not?" Esposito demanded.

"Because I promised Lanie I wouldn't," Alan replied, slipping his own smock over his head and smoothing it down.

"So you sucked up to Lanie," Ryan said.

"I live with her, remember?" Alan retorted.

"So basically, we're doing this because we live in fear of our women," Ryan summed up.

Esposito handed Ryan his maternity smock. "Cover those things up already," he said, gesturing to the lopsided simulated breasts on Ryan's chest. "I'm gonna have nightmares for a month if you don't."

Rick pulled his smock over his head, and Esposito and Ryan followed suit. "Ready or not, here we come!" Rick called.

Rick, Alan, Ryan, and Esposito filed out of Rick's office one by one, each man wearing a 33-pound empathy belly, complete with breasts, a rib belt, a vinyl bladder filled with water, and a simulated heavy pregnancy belly, and all of them wearing a maternity smock over their empathy bellies.

Martha took one look at the quartet and started laughing so hard, tears were streaming down her cheeks, and had she not already been seated, she would have fallen on the floor.

"Not one word, Mother," Rick warned her.

Martha collected herself, then said, "Oh, no, Richard. One word wouldn't do it justice."

"I think they look cute," Jenny said.

"'Cute' isn't the word I had in mind," Victoria Gates said. She wasn't laughing outright, but there was no mistaking the very amused look on her face.

"Everybody smile!" Lanie exclaimed as she held up her phone to snap a picture of the guys.

"This better not wind up on Page Six," Rick said seriously.

"This is more the _National Enquirer_ 's speed, I think," Ryan said.

"Lanie, I'm not gonna get an irate phone call from Paula about a picture of me looking pregnant in the _National Enquirer_ , am I?" Rick asked.

"No Page Six, no _National Enquirer_ ," Kate assured the men. "Lanie promised." She got to her feet, with a boost on each side by Alexis and Martha, respectively, and walked over to stand beside Rick. "And I'm afraid this is mostly my fault. Lanie insisted on there being some kind of entertainment at this baby shower, and I didn't want any of those ridiculous games like tasting baby food or Pin the Baby in the Uterus, so this is what Lanie came up with."

"Unless you specifically told Lanie to make us wear these things, then it's not your fault," Rick said.

"I think 'fault' is too strong a word," Alexis said loyally.

"It's definitely a creative thought, and it gives you men an idea of what pregnancy is like for women. They can't unstrap all that extra weight when they get tired of carrying it around like you can," Jenny added.

"I agree with Alexis and Jenny," Victoria said. "Besides, four pregnant-looking men is not something you see every day, the _National Enquirer_ notwithstanding."

Jenny got up and walked over to Kevin. "I still think you look cute," she said.

"I have a whole new appreciation for what you went through when you were carrying Sarah Grace and Nick," Kevin replied honestly. "How did you not hit me over the head with a mallet, or kick me in the crotch ten thousand times? I haven't even been wearing this thing for half an hour, and my center of gravity is completely thrown off, my back's starting to hurt, and I cannot get the boobs on this thing to hang straight."

"That last part is a sentence you don't hear often," Alan mused.

"Speak for yourself, Alan," Martha said. "This is not the first time I've heard that from a man."

Esposito groaned. "I am begging you to stop talking about your boobs, Ryan!" he exclaimed. Alexis unsuccessfully tried to stifle a laugh.

"Okay, no more talking about breasts, and that goes for everyone!" Kate decreed. "This is a party, kind of, right? There's a stack of presents in the living room, so everybody sit down, grab something to eat and drink if you want because there's a ton of food and drinks in the kitchen, and Rick and I are going to dive into those presents."

A knock at the front door temporarily diverted everyone's attention. "I'll get it," Rick said. He waddled across the room to the door, silently acknowledging Ryan's point about his center of gravity being completely thrown off, and opened the door to his father-in-law.

Jim Beckett just stared at Rick. "What's that?" Jim asked, looking Rick up and down and gesturing with one hand at Rick's body.

"An empathy belly," Rick replied as he stood aside to let Jim in. Jim didn't come in, though. He just stood there, staring at his son-in-law. "They were Lanie's idea."

"I've heard of them," Jim replied. "If they had been around when Johanna was pregnant with Katie, I would have been wearing one from the fourth month until we brought Katie home from the hospital." He paused. "I wasn't expecting this, though. I needed you and the others to help bring in my gift to you and Katie."

"We don't have to take these off to do that," Ryan said.

"Speak for yourself, Ryan," Esposito said, eagerly removing his smock and empathy belly.

"And I'm out," Alexis murmured.

Rick looked over his shoulder at the others. "That's the bet!" he exclaimed. "You bet on which one of us would wear this thing the longest, didn't you?"

The look on Alexis's face gave it away.

"Well, I'm in it to win it," Rick said.

"Me too," Ryan said.

"And me," Alan added.

Jim looked at the trio doubtfully. "I really don't think those extra pounds are going to be conducive to moving what I brought from the hall into here," he said. He looked at Javier, considering. "I guess I really only need one of you. Javier, are you up for it?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Beckett," Esposito replied, making a big show of flexing his muscles.

"You just want to show off for Alexis," Ryan muttered.

"You mean like you and Castle are showing off for Jenny and Beckett, and Alan's showing off for Lanie?" Esposito retorted.

"Enough with the testosterone!" Lanie said, rolling her eyes. "Or I'll send these pictures in emails to everyone at the 12th!"

That got the guys to stop the posturing, and Esposito helped Jim haul a giant something stacked on a pallet and covered by a gift-wrapped refrigerator carton-sized box.

Kate knew this had to be the rocking chair, since it was from her father. But she had no idea why her dad's eyes were gleaming in a way she hadn't seen since before her mother died.

"All right, let's get things started!" Lanie exclaimed, since she was throwing the shower, even though everyone had gathered at the loft.

"Gifts first!" Kate exclaimed.

"Do I get to help you open any of them?" Rick asked. He tried to ease himself down on the couch next to Kate, but he ended up very ungracefully flopping down and then sinking into the cushions. "I don't think I'm getting up anytime soon," he said, looking at Kate.

"Not without help, you're not," she agreed.

Unable to wait any longer, Lanie started bringing over the wrapped gifts. Everyone but Kate and Rick helped themselves to the brunch buffet while the parents-to-be opened their presents. Alexis's present was a stuffed dog. "Continuing the tradition," she said. "I had Monkey Bunkey, and hopefully she'll have this little...guy? Girl? This little cutie here."

Jenny and Ryan gave Kate and Rick a big box filled with several bibs and a few dresses, including a fancy, frilly pink and white dress, and some adorable onesies and tiny little leggings.

Esposito's gift was a teddy bear dressed like a police officer, complete with hat, and sewn-on badge and replicas of all of Kate's ribbons and decorations.

Martha gave them a Diaper Genie, and Victoria's gift was one of those soft infant carriers that Kate or Rick could wear front or back to carry the baby with them.

Lanie and Alan had been unable to agree on a gift, so theirs was "a two-parter," as Alan put it. Lanie's part was a nursery monitor. Alan's part was a long-sleeved white onesie that said "Zombie Hunter" in black block letters over a giant red splotch, and a picture book titled _Star Wars ABC-3PO: Galactic Basic Edition._

Finally, the only gift that remained was Jim Beckett's. Alan had shed his empathy belly in the middle of Kate and Rick opening all of their gifts, but Rick and Ryan were still wearing theirs.

Alexis and Martha once again helped Kate to her feet, and once Kate was standing, she held out both her hands for Rick to grab. With Gates giving a good push between Rick's shoulder blades, he was able to get to his feet.

Kate and Rick approached the giant box. Jim stood beside it, his hands tucked into his pockets, looking both happy and hopeful. Kate was looking at the box, wondering how to open it, when Jim said, "Just pull the rope, Katie." He gestured, and sure enough, although the carton covering the gift was wrapped in white paper with pink and silver polka dots, the side of the carton that had already been slit open was only loosely covered with wrapping paper, and had a cord of rope attached that had been tied into a loose knot.

Kate stepped up to the box, gave the rope one good yank, and the sides of the carton fell away to reveal a rocking chair.

But it was not just any rocking chair.

It was the rocking chair that Johanna Beckett had rocked baby Katie in, and that Jim had lovingly restored. The dark wood arms, frame, and runners had all been freshly stained and polished, and the padded seat and back had been recovered in a neutral ivory fabric that wouldn't clash with the pink-and-white nursery Kate and Rick had designed for their daughter.

Kate's hands flew to her mouth as her eyes widened. She looked from the rocking chair to her father. She slowly lowered her hands from her mouth, but before she could ask the question, Jim smiled and said, "Yes, Katie. This was the rocking chair your mom and I bought when we were expecting you...the rocking chair that Johanna rocked you to sleep in when you were a baby. She said even back then that someday she wanted to hand this down to you, so you could rock your own baby in it. When you told us all at Christmas that you're pregnant, I remembered this."

Kate moved slowly, her default setting these days, until she was standing in front of her father. "Thank you, Dad," she said thickly. "I love it." She hugged him, and he hugged her back.

"I was really just the messenger, and the handyman," Jim replied, "but I'm glad you love it so much."

"Are you putting it in the nursery, or the master bedroom?" Alexis asked after everyone had oohed and aahed over the chair, and complimented Jim when they learned he had done all of the restorations himself.

Kate and Rick exchanged a look. "Good question," Kate said, biting her lip. "She'll be in with us for the first few months, so I guess it doesn't really make sense to haul it upstairs yet, right?" she asked Rick.

"I think there's room for it in our bedroom, yeah," Rick agreed.

Jim carried the chair into Kate and Rick's bedroom and put it in the corner of the room that Kate designated for it.

After everyone pitched in to help clean up, and Ryan removed his empathy belly, making Rick, and therefore Kate, the winners since Rick kept his on the longest, they all said their goodbyes and left, Alexis leaving with Javier because they were going out for dinner, so Rick and Kate were alone together.

Rick followed Kate to their bedroom, where she sat down in the rocking chair and began to slowly rock back and forth. Rick, still wearing that big belly, went to her side and, with considerable difficulty, knelt on the floor beside Kate's chair. "You're my hero," he told her. "You've been my hero for a long time, but this..." He gestured to his belly. "For seven-and-a-half months, you've been carrying our little girl, keeping her safe and healthy, and not letting the more uncomfortable aspects of being pregnant get you down. You amaze me every day, Kate...and you're going to be the best mom in the world."

Kate extended her hand and Rick caught hold of it. "I never thought I'd be a mom," she said as she stopped rocking and looked deeply into Rick's eyes. "I'm kind of nervous about how good I'll be at it."

"Lily and I will always be there to let you know how well you're doing," Rick said.

"Up until she's...oh god, if she takes after me, about seven," Kate replied, grimacing a bit at the thought.

"It'll come and go," Rick hastened to assure her. "We'll have good days and bad days right from the start, because we're all only human, Kate. But the good days will far outweigh the bad. We're both going to make mistakes, but they won't be anything catastrophic. Our daughter is going to know that she's loved...well, I hope she already knows it. And I hope Lily takes after you."

"I hope she has the best parts of both of us, but I want her to be her own person too," Kate said.

"She will be," Rick assured Kate, squeezing her hand. "And when she's a teenager, if any boy tries to get out of line with her, you'll have long since taught her to break his nose."

Kate laughed, but Rick didn't, so she knew he was serious. "Well, of course I'll teach her to defend herself. Don't worry so much about her dating, though. We're a long way away from that, babe."

"Yes, we are," Rick said, relieved. "And she's going to be amazing, just like you."

"I can't wait to meet her," Kate said, stroking her belly. "This is going to be the greatest adventure of our lives: being Lily's parents. I wouldn't have done this with anybody else but you, Rick."

Rick tried to stand up then, but he couldn't get his feet under him with the huge pregnancy belly. "You can take it off now," Kate told him with a smile. "It was very sweet of you to wear it for as long as you did, but now it's getting a little weird."

Rick pulled off the smock covering the empathy belly, and Kate burst out laughing seeing the breasts on it. He fumbled with the straps, and Kate got to her feet, walked around behind him, and undid the straps for him. "Thank you," he said as he removed the belly apparatus and laid it aside. Standing up, he pulled Kate into his arms. Her own pregnant belly was resting against his abdomen, and Lily kicked then, so they both felt it. "Wow," Rick whispered.

"It won't be much longer now," Kate reflected. "Although your birthday is coming up in a few days, so we have that before her birthday."

"And the Lamaze class," Rick said. "That's in a few weeks."

Kate leaned forward, resting her cheek against Rick's chest and wrapping her arms more tightly around him, resting in his hug. "I'm not sure which I want more right now, a nap or a back rub," she said.

Rick gently rested his chin on the crown of her head. "Your lower back again?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kate replied.

"But no Braxton-Hicks, right?" he asked.

"Nope, no contractions, Braxton-Hicks or otherwise," Kate replied. She kicked off her shoes and headed for their bed. When she was curled up with the pregnancy pillow she had bought several weeks ago to support her belly, Rick massaged her lower back until she fell asleep, and then he kicked off his own shoes and spooned her, one hand protectively splayed across the baby bump where Lily continued to grow, and it wasn't long before he fell asleep too.


	48. Chapter 47

_**Thank you all for your continued support of and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

Kate poured the coffee into Rick's favorite mug, then frowned to herself. "Your dad knows how to make hearts in the coffee, and I don't," she said, addressing Lily. "I wish I did. It's his birthday."

Lily somersaulted within Kate's womb, almost as if she was saying, _It's okay, Mom._

"Yeah, I guess it is okay, isn't it, baby girl?" Kate mused, smoothing one hand over her belly, which was covered in one of Rick's t-shirts. She hadn't invested much in the way of maternity sleepwear, since she hadn't found anything she really liked, so she now, with Lily less than two months from being born, had taken to sleeping in Rick's t-shirts. "He knows how much I love him."

Kate set the coffee mug on the tray next to the glass of orange juice and the single long-stemmed red rose, and then she turned her attention to the breakfast, her first attempt at making a Smorelette. "I really hope I'm doing this right," she murmured as she broke a Hershey bar into rectangles before adding it to the egg mixture, then following the chocolate with graham cracker crumbs and mini-marshmallows. It still didn't look or smell appealing to her in the least, and apparently Lily shared that opinion, at least for the time being, because Kate wasn't craving even the smallest taste of the Smorelette, which was just as well. "I guess you've inherited at least a few of my taste buds," she said to Lily as she finished the Smorelette and scooped it onto a plate.

As Kate's pregnancy became more advanced, she was up frequently during the night, either using the bathroom, trying to get into a comfortable position so she could get back to sleep, throwing the covers off if she was too hot, or pulling the covers up and moving closer to Rick if she was cold. She really tried not to disturb Rick too much, not to wake him up every single time she woke up (her record at the moment was waking up eleven times in an eight-hour night), but he was right next to her, if not holding her, and he was so attuned to her, he ended up waking up with her most of the time, so he wasn't getting much sleep either, but he insisted it was fine, and that they'd better get used to a lack of sleep since Lily would be waking them up in the middle of the night before too much longer.

Kate got silverware and added it to the folded linen napkin on the tray, and, carefully balancing the tray, carried it to their bedroom.

She stood next to Rick's side of the bed for a long moment and watched him sleeping. He lay on his side, turned toward her side of the bed, his hair practically standing on end, the covers tangled at his knees, his arm stretched across her side of the bed, keeping it warm for her. Not for the first time, she felt that sense of amazement deep in her heart, that for all the pain and struggle and loneliness life had dealt her, life had dealt her an even greater measure of joy and fulfillment and reward in bringing Rick into her life, so that, step by stuttering step forward and backward and forward again, they could build the relationship that was the greatest thing that ever happened to her, so that she could spend the rest of her life as his wife, and as the mother of his children.

Kate set the tray on Rick's bedside table, then crept quietly around the bed and climbed back in on her side, gently lifting Rick's arm from the mattress and maneuvering herself until she was lying beside him. She draped his arm across her abdomen, over her sizable baby bump, and then she gently pressed her lips to his, applying just enough pressure with her kiss to awaken him.

Rick growled throatily before deepening the kiss, skimming his hand from Kate's baby bump up her body to cup her cheek. Kate broke the kiss and rested her forehead against his. "Happy birthday," she said breathlessly.

"It's off to a great start," Rick replied just as breathlessly. He kissed Kate again, a quick, hard kiss, then skimmed his hand back down her body so it rested on the ever-growing swell of Kate's abdomen that housed Lily. "Hey, Sweetpea," he greeted the baby. "Do you have anything to add to what your mom just said?"

For the rest of their lives, when telling this story, Rick would insist that Lily was answering him, that this was their first actual conversation, because after Rick asked Lily if she had anything to add to what her mom had just said, with his hand splayed wide over Kate's belly, Lily gave a resounding, firm kick against his palm. "She answered me!" Rick exclaimed excitedly, his no-longer-sleepy gaze meeting Kate's as he beamed at her. "She just wished me a happy birthday, Kate!"

Kate just smiled and passed her other hand through Rick's messy bedhead of hair. "Well, I did tell her it's your birthday," she replied.

"Birthdays are the best!" he exclaimed. "Just wait until you start having them, Lily. The sky's the limit. Whatever you want."

"Within reason," Kate added hastily.

"Kate, come on, birthdays are for indulging," Rick said.

"I completely agree," Kate replied. "But she might ask for something impossible, like a unicorn."

"Okay, so unicorns are out," Rick amended. "Did you hear that, Lily? No unicorns. I'm sorry. But anything else you want, you've got it."

"Considering she hasn't even picked her birthday yet," Kate said, "how about we concentrate on yours for the time being?" She nodded at his bedside table. "I made you breakfast in bed."

Rick turned, picked up the tray, and carefully settled it on his lap. His face lit up even more brightly. "A Smorelette?" he exclaimed. He looked at Kate in wonder. "You made me a Smorelette!"

"I hope it turned out all right," Kate replied somewhat nervously.

Rick grabbed his knife and fork and eagerly dug in. Kate watched him anxiously, but after he had chewed and swallowed his first bite, he looked at Kate and said, "Delicious."

"Really?" Kate asked.

"Really," he replied. "The marshmallow-to-chocolate ratio is important, and you nailed it." With his mouth full of his second bite, he said, "You didn't make one for yourself?"

"Lily may love Potato Chip Fudge ice cream, but she at least takes after me in leaving the Smorelettes to you," Kate replied as Rick took a sip of his coffee.

"But you did eat something?" Rick asked after setting his coffee mug back on the tray.

"Yes, I had plain scrambled eggs and some strawberries and a slice of melon," she replied. "I wanted to give you a chance to catch up on your sleep. I know I haven't made it easy these past couple of months."

"It's part and parcel of new parenthood," he reiterated. "It's better that we're getting used to it now, before Lily gets here."

"How old was Alexis before she slept through the night?" Kate asked, settling herself beside Rick as he ate his breakfast.

Rick swallowed his mouthful of coffee as he thought back and said, "Almost three."

"Three years old!" Kate exclaimed. She looked down at her swollen belly. "I think I've been training for motherhood half my life. All the insomnia-filled nights I passed..."

"Most of which were before we became us," Rick finished.

"Yes," Kate said.

"Lily might be an early bird instead of a night owl," Rick mused. "That's not so say she won't still wake us up in the middle of the night, because all babies do that. But if she doesn't have colic, which Alexis didn't, and she only wakes up when she wants to eat or needs a diaper change, and the day/night mixups until she adjusts to the difference between daytime and nighttime, that'll be better than most new parents have it."

Rick was just finishing up his breakfast when he and Kate both heard a noise coming from the living room. "Did you hear that?" Rick asked, frowning.

"I did," Kate replied.

"Stay here. I'm gonna go check it out," Rick said, setting his tray aside and getting out of bed.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Seriously? I'm pregnant, Rick, not an invalid." Of course, Kate knew the exact source of the noise, and she carefully schooled her features so as not to give it away. But she didn't want to miss Rick's reaction, so she trundled out to the living room, making sure to get into a position where she could see Rick's expression.

He was standing behind the back of the couch when the sound of a laser gun filled the air.

Alexis, as she had done once years earlier, came rappelling down from the ceiling, dressed for Laser Tag and pointing her Laser Tag gun at the ceiling. "Happy birthday, Dad!" she exclaimed. "I'm giving you fifteen minutes to shower, get dressed, and get into your gear. We're playing Laser Tag. It's been too long."

Rick whirled to look at Kate. "It was all Alexis's idea," Kate said. "I just suggested that she surprise you with it in the morning, and I told her approximately when you'd be having breakfast."

"I got you a present to open for later," Alexis added. "But this is the other part of your present. Come on, Dad. The clock is ticking." She aimed her Laser Tag gun at him.

"Okay!" Rick exclaimed. "I'll be right back!" As he scurried past Kate, he shouted, "This is **so awesome**!"

"Don't think I'm gonna let you win just because it's your birthday!" Alexis called after him.

Rick paused in the doorway to his and Kate's bedroom to spin around and meet Alexis's gaze. "That would be sacrilege!" he exclaimed. "Ten minutes at the most. Time me!" Then he disappeared into the bedroom and, a moment later, Alexis and Kate heard the bathroom door slam.

"Thanks for helping me pull this off, Kate," Alexis said as she adjusted her vest to make sure it was secure and climbed down from the coffee table where she'd been standing.

"It's my pleasure," Kate replied. "If anyone deserves an excellent birthday, it's your dad."

"You deserve excellent birthdays too, Kate," Alexis said earnestly.

"My last birthday was excellent," Kate assured her. "And knowing your dad as well as I do, I'm sure my next birthday will also be excellent."

"It'll be your first birthday with the baby," Alexis pointed out.

"That's right, it will," Kate realized. She hadn't thought of that herself.

"I haven't spent a lot of time around babies," Alexis said, and Kate could see and feel the anxiety in Alexis.

"Neither have I," Kate admitted. "But I'm not really worried about that." She rested both her palms on her belly. "She's going to belong to all of us. We love her so much already. I can't wait to actually meet her, see her, hold her."

"It won't be much longer now," Alexis said. "Are you tired of being pregnant yet?"

"I miss seeing my feet," Kate admitted, "and getting up eleven times in the middle of the night is something I can do without. Hopefully she'll go easy on us and not wake us up eleven times a night every night. But other than that, no, I wouldn't say I'm tired of being pregnant. Getting excited to meet her, worrying about what kind of mom I'll be..."

"You're gonna be great," Alexis assured Kate.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence from you, Alexis, but it was different with you. You were a teenager when we met. Your dad and Martha had done all of the heavy lifting," Kate said.

"Not all of it," Alexis disagreed. "You've always given me great advice, Kate. And there were things I could talk to you about that I would have felt awkward talking to Dad, or even to Gram, about, but it isn't awkward with you. When I was too stubborn and too proud to come home after I moved in with Pi, you were the one who made me see the light. And I believe you're doing a lot to keep Dad calm about my relationship with Javier. You took the news better than he did, and you've been nothing but supportive.

"You're going to love my little sister, and you'll teach her right from wrong, and you'll always be there for her. And you won't be afraid to get tough if and when she needs it. You've got everything you need to be the best mom in the world. And as far as that title goes, you'll always get my vote."

Kate's eyes welled with tears. "Stupid hormones," she sniffled.

Alexis was a bit misty-eyed herself now. "Okay, my timing may have been a bit unfortunate," she said, "but I meant every word, Kate. I know we don't say it a lot, you and I, to each other, but I love you, Kate, and in every way that matters, you're my mom. And my sister is so lucky that she gets to have both you and Dad as she grows up."

"I love you too, Alexis," Kate said, opening her arms. Alexis walked into them and was careful not to squash the baby as they embraced.

Rick came charging out of the bedroom then, dressed for Laser Tag, but pulled up short when he saw Kate and Alexis hugging and crying. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned, as he hurried over to them.

Alexis and Kate broke the hug and turned to face Rick, each with an arm around the other's waist, and now they were laughing and sniffling at the same time. "Nothing's wrong, babe," Kate said. She squeezed Alexis against her side before walking over to Rick. "Everything is right. Now, you have a Laser Tag battle awaiting you. I'm declaring your office neutral territory, though, since I have some emails to return and work to do. Campaign stuff." She paused to kiss Rick's cheek before heading into his office, where she had left her tablet charging the night before.

The epic Laser Tag battle of 2017 raged throughout the loft, except for the office, for the next two hours. Rick legitimately won by getting the drop on Alexis when she wasn't expecting it, in the upstairs hallway, by jumping out from behind the door of what was going to be Lily's room and getting her then.

Kate had left the afternoon free for whatever Rick wanted to do. After making sure she wasn't too tired, he said there was someplace he wanted to go, but he wouldn't tell Kate where it was. "You're the birthday boy," she said by way of agreement.

"Birthday man," he corrected her as he locked the loft's front door.

"Birthday man," Kate parroted.

A short time later, they were at their swings. Kate eyed her swing doubtfully. "I don't want to break it," she said.

"You won't break it," Rick assured her.

Kate sat down on the swing, the same swing she was sitting on when she had told Rick that she wouldn't be able to have the kind of relationship she wanted to have until she put everything regarding her mother's death and her own (first) shooting to rest, and he had replied that they would just have to find the guys and take them down; the same swing she'd been sitting on when Rick had gotten down on one knee in the dirt and, holding up the most beautiful diamond ring in the world, had asked her to marry him.

Rick sat on the swing beside Kate. "The next time we're here," he said, "we'll bring Lily with us."

"She won't be old enough for these swings for a few years," Kate pointed out.

"That's true," Rick said. "But it's on your list. 'Push our kids on our swings with Rick.'"

"You remembered," Kate said, smiling.

"Of course I remembered," Rick replied. "I remember everything you wrote on that list. I've made it my mission to do all that I can to make every one of your plans for the rest of your life happen as close to the way you want them to as possible."

Kate reached for Rick's hand. He threaded his fingers through hers. She smiled at him and said, "So how's your birthday so far? I know there's not a fake dead body for you to try and find..."

"That **was** memorable," Rick agreed. "Or rather, 'epic' was the word I used, if I remember correctly."

"The greatest birthday gift of your life," Kate added.

"It will always be epic," Rick said. He squeezed Kate's hand. "But this tops it. By the time my next birthday rolls around, Sweetpea will be here, starting to walk and starting to talk, and I get to raise her with you. I get to spend the rest of my life with you. And we're gonna have a daughter, and we have such a great family, and so many great friends who are part of our family."

"Does that mean you won't be making a wish before you blow out the candles tonight?" Kate asked.

"You have to make a birthday wish on the candles!" Rick exclaimed. "I know exactly what I'll wish for, though. But I can't tell you what it is."

"Because if you tell, then it won't come true," Kate said.

"Exactly," Rick said.

"Well, you still have presents to open from everyone," Kate reminded him. "And then, at the end of the evening, I thought you might like to unwrap me."

Castle pulled an exaggeratedly shocked face. "Katherine Castle," he said, pretending to be scandalized. "Talking like that in the middle of a park playground."

"There aren't any kids around at the moment," Kate pointed out. She suddenly looked self-conscious. "Unless you don't want to unwrap me later," she finished.

"I always want to unwrap you," he assured her. "Everything about you arouses me. So we definitely have a date for some very grown-up time later on tonight."

The self-consciousness disappeared from her eyes and the set of her shoulders. "We should probably head home now," Kate said. "I could use a nap before everyone arrives." She paused. "You're sure you're okay with pizza for dinner?"

"Absolutely," Rick said. "Pizza, presents, birthday cake and ice cream, and everyone I love most in the world gathered around me."

"Are you going to be telling Victoria that you love her tonight?" Kate asked cheekily as Rick pulled her to her feet.

"Oh, bad Valentine's Day flashback," Rick said, wincing. "No, I will not be telling Victoria "Iron" Gates that I love her. I do have a lot of admiration and respect for her, however."

They headed home then. When they got there, before they went inside, Kate tugged on Rick's hand, and he turned to face her. She stretched up and gave him a kiss filled with aching tenderness and pure love. When she broke the kiss, at the look of reverent adoration on his face, she said, "I just want to say that I'm really glad you were born."

He looked at Kate earnestly, his heart in his eyes. "Of all the incredible moments I've had in my life...and I've probably had more than my fair share," Rick said, " **this** moment, right here, right now, with you, Kate… It's why I'm here. It's what I was put on this planet for: to be your husband, and Alexis and Sweetpea's and future mini-Castle or mini-Beckett to be determined at some later date's dad, and Ryan and Jenny and Esposito and Lanie and Alan's friend, and Jim's son-in-law, and Martha Rodgers' son. I was born so that I could grow up...at least, chronologically speaking...and find you and be by your side and love you and have a family with you and take care of you."

Kate's expression softened, and she was dangerously close to more tears, although they were happy tears. "I was on track to become a cold, narrow, mistrustful shell of a woman. And then you came crashing into my life and shook everything up in the best possible ways. You challenged me and you tried my patience and you made me want things I thought I could never have after losing my mom. You have given me a life so filled with joy and magic and wonder. You have given me a family that means everything to me, and a love that I thank God for every day, because there were so many times I could have screwed it up completely with you, and if you had walked away, none of this would be happening. I was in a black-and-white world for so long, and you came along and brought all the color back, and shined bright, beautiful, neon lights into the darkness where I dwelled for so long. All that time, I was waiting for you, and for all of this, and for everything that's yet to be."

Rick gently pulled Kate into his embrace, and she wrapped her arms around him, her big belly keeping her from getting as close to him as they both would have liked. "Every day is extraordinary, because I get to spend them all with you," he said as they stood there holding each other. "And the important days, like my birthday, are so much better, because you're a part of them." He released her and looked down at her shining face. "I love you, Katherine Beckett Castle. It doesn't seem like a strong enough word for everything I feel, but it's all I have."

"It's enough," Kate said. "It will always be enough. And I love you too, Richard Castle." She kissed him softly, quickly, then said, "Now, let's go inside, or I'll never get that nap in before everyone shows up for dinner."

"Your wish is my command," Rick said with a smile as he turned and unlocked the front door, then ushered Kate inside.


	49. Chapter 48

_**Thank you for all of the continuing support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

And so everyone gathered at the loft to celebrate Rick's birthday. Alexis and Javier brought the pizzas, and Martha brought the cake and ice cream (Potato Chip Fudge for Rick, Neapolitan for everyone else). Wrapped gifts were stacked on the coffee table in the living room. Ryan and Jenny brought Sarah Grace and Nick, whose own first birthday was on April 11, and Nick was walking, with the aid of the furniture or with one of his parents bent low and walking behind him, his hands wrapped around their index fingers for handholds, all over the place.

One second Rick was watching Ryan walk Nick from the foyer back into the living room, and the next second, he said, "Kate, we still have to babyproof this place!"

"I think we have some time yet, babe," she assured him before taking a drink from her water bottle. She, Rick, and Jim were drinking water. Alexis and Javier were having soda, and the others were split pretty evenly between beer and wine, although Victoria had surprised almost everyone by having a Rolling Rock Red with her pizza instead of wine like her husband Gerald, Jenny, Lanie, Alan, and Martha.

Ryan and Nick returned to the living room, and before Nick could make a grab for the pile of presents, Ryan swept him up and blew a big raspberry on his belly before settling him on his shoulders as the baby giggled and squealed. "No, no, Nicky, those are Uncle Rick's presents," Ryan said. "You'll get yours in another ten days."

"You'd better start opening those before the kids can't restrain themselves any longer, Rick," Jenny advised.

Sarah Grace, however, was much more fascinated by her Aunt Kate's belly than by her Uncle Rick's birthday presents. "You have a baby in your tummy, right, Aunt Kate?" Sarah Grace asked. She was sitting on Jenny's lap on the couch next to Kate.

"Yes, I do, Sarah Grace," Kate replied, "but not for much longer."

Sarah Grace's face brightened even more than it already was. "When will the baby come out?"

"When she's ready," Kate replied. "In another six or seven weeks or so."

"'She'?" Sarah Grace repeated. "It's a little girl, like me?"

"Yes, she's a little girl," Kate replied, smoothing a hand over her baby bump.

Sarah Grace jumped off her mother's lap and began dancing around the living room and cheering. "Can I play with her when she gets here?" she asked Kate.

"Well, she'll be a tiny little baby like Nick was when he first came home to live with you and your mommy and daddy," Kate said. "So you can't play with her right away, but when she gets a little older, sure, you can play with her."

"You know, Sarah Grace," Rick said, completely enchanted by Kate and Sarah Grace's entire conversation, "if you talk to Aunt Kate's tummy, the baby can hear you."

The look of amazement on Sarah Grace's face was so complete and so pronounced that Alexis, who was taking pictures with her digital camera, couldn't resist snapping a picture of Sarah Grace. "She can?" she said in a reverent whisper.

"Yeah," Rick said. "I talk to the baby all the time."

Sarah Grace looked to her parents. "Mommy, Daddy, can I talk to the baby?"

"Yes, sweetheart," Jenny said.

"As long as you're careful and not too loud," Ryan added.

Sarah Grace climbed back up on Jenny's lap and leaned over to address the baby in Kate's belly. "Hi!" she exclaimed, then she clapped her hand over her mouth, thinking maybe she had been too loud. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't scare you," she said. "My name is Sarah Grace Ryan, and you and I are going to be friends. I'm glad you're a girl. I have a little brother, Nicky, and I love him, but he's a gross boy. He's a messy eater, and he toots and then laughs about it." This remark made most of the adults in the room fight not to start laughing about it themselves.

"I can't play with you right away, because you're going to be too little, but as soon as you're old enough, we'll definitely play together, okay?" Sarah Grace said.

Lily moved then, responding to Sarah Grace's voice, most likely, and Kate said, "Sarah Grace, would you like to feel the baby?"

"How can I feel her? She's still in your tummy," Sarah Grace said.

Kate gently placed Sarah Grace's palm on her bump. "Okay, you can't feel **her** ," Kate corrected herself, "but you can feel her move and kick." Just a few seconds later, Lily did indeed kick, and Sarah Grace felt it.

Sarah Grace's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. "Wow," she said in a hushed, reverent voice. "I felt her kick! Does she do that a lot?"

"Oh yes," Kate said, looking from Sarah Grace to Rick with a smile.

Sarah Grace remained mesmerized by Kate's baby belly until Rick started opening his presents.

Alan and Lanie's gift was a vintage Dungeons & Dragons t-shirt. The Ryans gave Rick _The Complete Sherlock Holmes_ in hardcover.

Esposito got Castle _Halo Wars 2_ , the latest edition of Halo. "Alexis assured me you didn't already have it," Esposito said.

"I didn't," Rick said. "This is great! I knew it was coming out this year, but I've been so busy lately, I managed to miss the release. Thanks, Esposito!"

Martha's gift was a print of the famed portrait of dogs playing poker. Rick honestly wasn't sure if it was intended as a joke or if she meant it seriously, since he did enjoy playing poker.

Jim surprised everyone but Kate, who knew how much her dad admired, respected, and loved Rick, by giving Rick a Montblanc 1924 Limited Edition 75th Anniversary Diamond Solitaire Fountain Pen. "Jim, this is amazing," Rick said as he carefully lifted the pen from its box.

"Every writer should have a pen like that," Jim said.

"Thank you," Rick replied. "I'll display this on my desk proudly."

The pile of presents was dwindling. "Okay, who's the biggest one from?" Rick asked as he grabbed the largest box. "You, Kate? Or you, Alexis?"

"Actually, that one is from me," Victoria Gates said before taking a sip of her Rolling Rock.

Rick, Kate, Lanie, Kevin, and Javier all exchanged surprised looks. Victoria just smiled as she sat there with her beer in her hand.

Rick tore off the wrapping paper and ribbon and opened the box, lifting out a large wooden sign painted black. In white letters, a mix of calligraphy and block printing, the sign read, "Welcome to Our Loud, Crazy, Fun Home." The "Welcome" was in calligraphy, "to Our" was lined up on the right underneath the word "Welcome" but in regular print, and the words "Loud, Crazy, Fun" were staggered in between "Welcome" and "Home," the final word being in block capital letters.

"This is wonderful," Rick said. "Thank you so much, Si-I mean, Victoria," he hastily corrected himself.

"I thought it was fitting. I'm glad you like it," Victoria said with a smile.

"She painted in the commas herself," Gerald Gates piped up. At Rick's look, Gerald nodded. "She said you're such a grammar and punctuation freak that she **had** to add the commas, or you would have been obsessing over the lack of commas."

"You painted the commas in for me?" Rick asked, astounded.

"It wouldn't have been a suitable gift if you had to obsess over the missing commas, would it?" Victoria countered.

"You're right, I would have obsessed over them," Rick said. He smiled. "Thank you for adding them."

Victoria smiled back. "You're welcome," she replied.

Alexis's gift was a picture frame that contained two pictures of her and her father together, one when she was 5 years old, and the other from last Christmas. In between the two pictures, the frame read "BEST DAD EVER." Above the pictures, the frame said "ALL AROUND GOOD GUY," and underneath that, in cursive writing, it said "Someone to always look up to." Down the left side of the frame were the words "A Mentor and Hero"; down the right side of the frame were the words "A Father and Friend." The lower right corner of the frame read "Devoted," and the lower left corner read, "Dedicated." In between "Dedicated" and "Devoted," were the words, "I love you, Dad! Alexis, 4/1/17."

Rick gave Alexis a big hug. "I love this!" he said. "Thank you, pumpkin."

Kate's gift was last. "Comic-Con tickets!" Rick exclaimed, looking up at Kate with mingled surprise and awe.

"After all these years, you think I don't know your guy?" Kate asked with a grin. "They aren't even available for the general public for another few weeks. And look in the box again."

"Tickets to the Joss Whedon panel!" Rick said, even more awed as he looked from the tickets to Kate.

"Four tickets to the Joss Whedon panel," Kate pointed out.

Rick looked at her, his heart pounding. "You mean-" he began.

"You, me, Lanie, and Alan," Kate said. "But I get to pick my own costume, if you insist on going in costume."

"Kate Beckett, how could you do this to me?" Lanie asked, only half-jokingly as she poured herself more wine.

Alan's eyes lit up. "Does that mean what I think it means?" he asked hopefully.

Lanie sighed but then smiled. "Yes, it means we're going to Comic-Con in costume. But no weird aliens!"

"Oh, I know exactly who we're going to be," Alan said confidently, "and you don't have to worry about any weird alien stuff, honey. You are going to look completely bad...uh, I better not finish that sentence." He had belatedly realized that Sarah Grace and Nick were looking at him expectantly.

"Would you be willing to negotiate on the costume?" Rick asked Kate.

"Would you be willing to negotiate on **your** costume?" Kate countered.

"Yes, I would," Rick said. He looked at Alan then. "Front-row tickets to the Joss Whedon panel **and** going to Comic-Con without there being a murder. My wife is so much cooler than your girlfriend!"

"Castle, you do know I'm sitting right here," Lanie said.

"Don't make Lanie mad," Ryan advised Castle earnestly. "She'll come after you with a fire extinguisher."

"A fire extinguisher?" Kate asked. "I think Rick and I missed a story somehow."

"Well, Kate went through your guy. Of course she got prime tickets, and I am incredibly grateful for those, by the way, Kate, thank you," Alan added.

"Who's ready for cake and ice cream?" Martha interjected then.

"I'll help you, Gram," Alexis said.

"Me too," Esposito added.

"And me," Jim chimed in, standing up and following the trio to the kitchen.

"Cake!" Nick exclaimed.

"Not yet, little guy," Ryan said, brushing Nick's blond locks off his forehead. "Ten more days. Then you get a smash cake **and** a birthday cake and get to blow out your candle. Tonight you get to watch Uncle Rick blow out his candles."

Everyone headed for the dining room, Ryan with Nick on his hip, and Jenny holding Sarah Grace's hand, leaving Kate and Rick alone in the living room.

Rick carefully put the Comic-Con tickets in his shirt pocket. "Thank you," he told Kate, leaning in to kiss her.

"I had to do some fast talking to convince your guy to give me those tickets for your birthday. He said he was already holding onto them for you," Kate said, her wrists resting loosely atop his shoulders.

"I don't mean just for the Comic-Con tickets, and the Joss Whedon panel, and agreeing to go with me," Rick said. "Thank you for my life."

"I'm the one who should be thanking **you** for **my** life," Kate said. "Before you, I didn't have much of one. Now, I have everything I was afraid to dream of for so long."

"We make the best team ever," Rick said.

"We really do," Kate agreed.

"Dad! Hurry up before your candles melt into the cake!" Alexis called.

Rick stood up and helped Kate up from the couch. "And you still have one more present to unwrap later," she said in his ear, so only he could hear her.

"Best birthday ever," he said with a grin and a raised eyebrow look just for her.

"Good to know where the bar is for next year," Kate said as she linked her arm through his and they walked to the dining room table, where their family and friends were illuminated by the candles on Rick's cake.

After everyone sang "Happy Birthday," Rick closed his eyes, made his wish, and then blew out all the candles on the first try. Alexis and Martha cut the cake, while Jim and Esposito doled out the ice cream.

And later that night, after Rick had unwrapped Kate, and they were lying in bed, wrapped up in each other and the sheets and the afterglow, he nuzzled her temple as he felt her yawn against his shoulder. "Happy birthday," she said sleepily.

"It sure was," he replied. Kate was already asleep, though. Rick kissed the crown of her head and with Kate in his arms, he was asleep just a couple of minutes later.


	50. Chapter 49

_**Thank you all for your continuing support and enthusiasm for this story. It means a lot to me to know that this story means a lot to you. It means a lot to me too.**_

* * *

The rest of the month of April flew by. Rick finished the final revisions on his latest book and turned them over to Black Pawn, which freed up his next several months, since he wouldn't be doing publicity for the book until publication. Kate continued with her campaign, okaying her first mass mailings and getting those sent out. Rick and Kate, and Alexis and Esposito, attended Nick Ryan's first birthday party. Kate began experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions, and had to calm Rick down when he was ready to call Dr. Elliott. "They're practice contractions," she said. "They're more uncomfortable than anything else. It's just this...tightening in my abdomen that comes and goes. The real thing is going to be more constant, steadier, and get more intense and closer together. And they'll involve my back, my whole body, really. At least, that's what Jenny said it was like for her, and she's been through this twice, so between that, and everything I've read, plus Lily's not due for another couple of weeks, this isn't the real thing."

"She could come early," Rick said.

"She could," Kate agreed. "She's pretty much running the show here." Kate paused, then said, "I don't want to bring up bad memories, and God knows I don't need any more reasons to think that woman is a complete waste of space, but you didn't go through this with Meredith, did you?"

"She had a scheduled C-section the first moment it was safe enough for Alexis to be delivered," he said. "So no, I haven't actually been through this part before." He took her hands in his. "But I promise you I'm not gonna turn into some goofy sitcom husband. When the moment comes, I'll be the best husband and dad-to-be and labor coach. You can call me all kinds of horrible names and throw ice chips at my head and squeeze my hand until you break it and threaten to castrate me and never have sex with me again."

Kate laughed out loud. "Yeah, I'm not gonna be doing any of that," she said.

Rick looked surprised. "You're gonna be in a lot of pain," he said.

"It can't possibly be worse than the pain from getting shot," she countered. "And at the end of it, we'll have our daughter. She's worth it. And why would I blame you for getting me pregnant when it was something we **both** wanted and we **both** participated in very willingly and very happily? The same goes for threatening to castrate you or never have sex again. That will never happen."

"If you change your mind during transition-" Rick began.

"I'm pretty sure I won't, babe, but if I do, know that I won't really mean it," Kate said earnestly. She was completely serious.

"So you're not worried about the pain at all?" Rick asked.

"I'm really not," Kate said, and it was true; she truly wasn't concerned with the pain of laboring to bring Lily into the world. "Like I said, the end result is going to be worth it. And I **know** pain—the worst kind of physical and emotional pain humanly possible, at least in my experience. I have been blessed in that the pain I've gone through has ultimately turned out to be worth the time spent feeling that pain. But this time….this time it's going to be a whole new level of worthwhile." Kate had been thinking a lot lately about those dark days when Alexis had been kidnapped, missing in Paris, and how, before going after her himself, Rick had told Kate about when Alexis was born, the first time he held her, he was struck by that lightning that is that instant, inexplicable love you can only feel for your child, and how in that moment, his whole life changed forever. She wanted to feel that the first time she held their daughter.

Kate had her final appointment with Dr. Elliott. Lily "dropped" into the birth canal, and everyone noticed that Kate was carrying her lower than she had been. Dr. Elliott assured both Kate and Rick that this was totally normal, that Lily was right where she was supposed to be, getting ready to be born, and that everything looked great, and she would see them in the delivery room.

The final finishing touches were put on the nursery, and everyone emphasized that they expected to be notified once Kate and Rick were headed to the hospital, if not the moment the first real contraction hit. Kate went into a nesting frenzy, and Alexis and Javier walked in on her and Rick squabbling over who was going to scrub the bathroom floor. "Jenny went through this same thing before Sarah Grace was born," Javier whispered to Alexis. "Ryan ended up cleaning the whole bathroom twice, and then cleaning the grout with an old toothbrush."

Kate didn't go quite that far—either cleaning the bathroom tile grout with a toothbrush or asking Rick to do it—but the living room, their bedroom, and the nursery were all cleaned thoroughly, and organized completely. Alexis and Javier were there to help with the last thing that needed to be done: assembling the bassinet. Kate and Rick had had most of the nursery furniture assembled before it was delivered, so it had merely been a matter of directing the delivery men to Lily's future room and pointing to where they wanted the dresser, changing table, and crib (though they did add the mattress and crib wedge themselves, even though she wouldn't be using the crib right away).

"We're here," Alexis announced. She walked over and hugged Kate carefully. "Hey, little sis, are you getting ready to come out of there? There's a lot more room out here, and a whole bunch of really amazing people that can't wait to meet you." Alexis gently placed her palm on Kate's baby bump. After several seconds of silence, Alexis said, "No response."

"I think she's sleeping," Kate replied. "But since that means she's not kickboxing my bladder for the time being, I'll take it." Spying the small shopping bag that Alexis wasn't doing a very good job of concealing, Kate asked, with great amusement, "What did you buy her now?"

"I'm her big sister. It's my right to spoil her," Alexis said, going to greet her dad with a hug.

"She's going to be the most spoiled baby in the Tri-State area between you, Martha, my dad, and all of her aunts and uncles," Kate said.

"We won't let that happen," Rick piped up then. He noticed that Javier was still hanging back, standing behind the chair, not intruding on the family moment.

"Actually, this is more a gift for you and the baby," Alexis said, handing the gift bag to Kate.

Kate pulled the bright pink onesie out from the mountain of pink tissue paper, read it to herself, then laughed out loud. Holding it up for Rick and Javi to see, she quoted the onesie: "If You Mess With Me, You Mess With My MOM (and You Don't Want to Mess With Her)."

"That is an absolutely true statement," Rick said seriously.

"We thought so," Alexis replied, looking back at Javier encouragingly.

"Well, why don't we go and put this with the dozens of other onesies and outfits she has, now that everything is pretty well organized, and you guys can put the bassinet together?" Kate asked, looking from Rick to Javi.

Javi shrugged out of his jacket and went to hang it on the coat rack. "Babe, give him a break," Kate said so only Rick could hear her. "I know it's an adjustment, but he's here to stay."

Rick nodded. Kate squeezed his shoulder, and Alexis gave her father a hopeful look, and then they went upstairs, moving more slowly than usual in deference to Kate's hugely pregnant belly and her center of gravity being affected as a result.

Esposito approached the couch, unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his shirtsleeves as he did so. "Anything else we need to put together today?" he asked.

"No," Castle replied, going to the corner and hefting the box containing the bassinet. "The rest of it's done." The tools were already laid out on the coffee table, and Esposito sat down on the edge of the couch and mentally checked them over.

Castle carried the box containing the bassinet over and after getting it open, began removing the pieces, handing Esposito the instructions. "I don't hate you, you know," Castle said as he pulled the pieces, and the accompanying hardware, all the little screws and things, out of the box.

"Not even a little, Castle?" Esposito asked.

"I never pictured you and Alexis as a couple," Castle said, looking up from the bassinet pieces. Esposito was burning a hole through the instruction booklet in his hand with his gaze. "I know, you didn't either. It took you by surprise. It took all of us by surprise." Rick paused, then went on. "But I've watched you two together these last several months, and I have never seen Alexis happier with any boyfriend she ever had than I've seen her with you. And I know that you're a good man. It's hard for me to believe that she's almost 24. She's all grown up. And she loves you very much."

Esposito finally looked up at Castle. "I love her very much too," he said firmly. "She's the best thing in my life, the best thing that ever happened to me. I want to make her happy...and when she's upset or worried or scared or stressed out, I want to make her feel better. I want to be there for all of it, Castle. No matter what life throws our way, I'm going to be there for Alexis. She's the real thing. What we have...it's real. And it's only gonna get stronger and deeper the longer we're together, because that's already happening."

"I know," Castle said.

Esposito looked surprised. "You know?" he asked.

"I see the way you two look at each other," he said. "You look at each other the way Kate and I look at each other. And before you say anything about how long it took us to get together, we both had issues, and we weren't so great at communication for a long time, but the important thing is, we got there. You and Alexis don't have those kinds of issues." He paused, then said, "Jim would probably explain this better than I would, although he and Kate had their own issues for a long time too. But any father who loves his daughter is never going to think that any man is good enough for her. It's a dad thing. I honestly can't explain it any better than that. And for most of her life—at this point, anyway—Alexis was all I had. She was the center of the universe to me. When I met Kate, my universe expanded. Alexis will always be my daughter. In some ways, to me, she'll always be my little girl.

"But she's a grown woman now. And she has her own life to live, and her own decisions to make, and her own dreams and heart to follow. And she has chosen you as the man she loves, the man she's going to spend her life with."

"Hey, we're a long way away from any wedding bells or anything like that," Esposito said.

"Did you or did you not say that you're going to be with her through whatever life throws at you?" Castle asked.

"I did," Esposito replied.

"I took that to mean you'll be there for her through whatever life throws at you for the rest of your lives?" Castle asked.

Esposito frowned at him. "You know I did, Castle. She's it for me."

Castle nodded. "You've been a part of my family for nine years already, Javi. And when the day comes that you and Alexis get married, whenever that is, I'll be there, and I'll walk her down the aisle, and you two can have whatever kind of wedding you want." He looked at Esposito and said seriously, "Just promise me that you will never call me 'Dad.'"

Esposito chuckled. "I promise," he said. He held out his right hand to Castle. "So, we're good, then?"

"Treat my daughter right, and yes, we're good," Castle said, and they shook hands before applying themselves to putting together the bassinet.

* * *

The alarm clock's digital readout said 3:47 AM when Kate was awakened by a rolling wave of pain in her lower back and abdomen and radiating down her thighs. She took a couple of slow, deep breaths and managed to get herself into a sitting position. Stroking her belly, which felt very hard, she instinctively knew that this was it: the beginning of her actual labor. For one thing, the pain was more intense than any of her Braxton-Hicks contractions had been. For another, it was the early morning of May 7, so she was within the window Dr. Elliott had given her and Rick for Lily's birth.

She looked at Rick beside her, sound asleep, drooling into his pillow and even lightly snoring. He had been amazing throughout her pregnancy, but then, Kate had known he would be. And having gone through a pregnancy before didn't have anything to do with it, since, from what little Rick had said, Meredith had pretty much shut him out of nearly all of the little moments and milestones when she was pregnant with Alexis. He and Esposito had also reached some sort of _detente_ yesterday when they were putting the bassinet together. Kate had been really tired after dinner and had fallen asleep around 9:30 PM. Rick had been reading in bed beside her, so she wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, but she knew he hadn't gone to sleep until after she had.

Kate reached for her watch on the nightstand and put it on, the familiar, comforting feel of it on her wrist anchoring her to the moment as the last of the pain faded. The alarm clock read 3:48 AM. She wasn't sure how many seconds it had been, but the pain had lasted at least a minute. It was low enough that it shouldn't have been heartburn. Kate lay in the dark, calmed by Rick's presence and by the feel of her watch on her wrist, and thinking about her mother and her daughter, and how much she wished her mother could be physically present for the birth of her first grandchild.

Martha and Jenny, having both been through pregnancy themselves, had been godsends to Kate. And Martha, in her typical fashion, had broached the topic of Johanna Beckett immediately. "I know I'm not your mother, and I don't know what her experiences were when she was carrying you, Katherine, but I'm here for you, and I know it was a long time ago and some things were different back then as opposed to now, but some things about pregnancy and childbirth are universal." Jenny, having been through her two pregnancies in recent years, was a wealth of information, and Kate would be forever grateful to both of them for being there for her while she went through this first pregnancy. Next time, she would have a much better idea of what to do.

 _Next time? You haven't even had this one yet, and you're already thinking about the next one? Really?_ , she thought. She looked at Rick again. He snuffled in his sleep and rolled from his side to his back, his snores ceasing when he did so. _Well, you're right, Rick. I_ _ **do**_ _want a mini-Castle someday. And Alexis will always be our first kid, but I don't want Lily to miss out on having a brother or sister who's fairly close in age to her. Three years would be good, I think. But today's the day you get your mini-Beckett. God help you...help us both, really...if she's anything like me as a teenager. My mom would be laughing her butt off if that's true._

Kate didn't think about it often, but she had never forgotten the encounter she and Rick had had with Johanna Beckett in the ether after they'd been shot by Caleb Brown last year and were in the hospital. _I wish you were here, Mom. Physically here, I mean. But Lily is going to know all about you. Dad and I will make sure of it, I promise you._

Another rolling wave of pain, the same as the first, rippled through Kate's body. She looked at her watch. 3:58 AM. Eleven minutes since the first pain. Kate concentrated on the minute and second hands on her watch, and breathed through the pain, thinking idly that the breathing techniques she had learned in physical therapy were actually more useful than the breathing techniques she and Rick had learned in the Lamaze crash course they had taken a few weeks ago. With her eyes glued to her watch, she relaxed back against the headboard when the pain stopped. 3:59 AM. This one had lasted 60 seconds.

In active labor, according to both Jenny and the Lamaze instructor, contractions lasted 45 to 60 seconds. Carefully, gingerly, Kate got out of bed. Rick had done laundry the day before, so she was wearing his faded black t-shirt emblazoned with "MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU" in the yellow _Star Wars_ font. Time for an acid test, she decided. Real contractions, as opposed to Braxton-Hicks, would not stop or go away if she got up and moved around. She slowly walked to the bathroom and turned on the light, looking at herself in the mirror. She pulled her hair back in a messy bun, and looked at herself in the mirror. From this day on, she would officially be somebody's mom. She considered herself Alexis's mom, and knew Alexis considered Kate her mom, but she hadn't been there for this stage of Alexis's life.

"I really wish you were here, Mom," Kate said aloud then.

And in the quiet night, standing there in the bathroom, Kate distinctly heard her mother's voice. _"I_ _ **am**_ _here, Katie. And you're going to be a wonderful mom. Your daughter is going to make you so proud, and she's going to drive you crazy sometimes, and you won't love every minute of being a mom, but overall, you will love being a mom. I love you, Katie."_

"I love you too, Mom," Kate said softly.

Another pain hit her then, and Kate bent at the knees, bracing her hands on the edge of the sink and looking down at her watch as she breathed through it. This pain lasted 51 seconds. "Looks like you picked a birthday, huh, baby girl?" she asked when the contraction had ended. She pressed one palm to her belly, and was rewarded with movement from Lily. "Yeah, it's getting pretty crowded in there, isn't it? There's lots of room out here, though, I promise." She stroked her belly. "The bathroom is kind of a strange place for a mother/daughter moment, but here we are. And I've been talking to you for months, so you know my voice, and you know I'm your mom. It'll probably be nice to put a face with the voice after all this time." She kept stroking her belly. "I've never done this before. Been a mom to a baby, I mean. Your sister was 15 when I met her, and it took us a while to really become close. Your dad, oh, you have the best dad in the whole world. And not just because he's done all this before. Your dad, he's magic. He brought the magic back into my life after I thought it went away forever, and he will make sure that you always have magic in yours, just like he has for Alexis.

"I'm not perfect, and I'm gonna make mistakes. Parents do that. Not that we'll admit that to you in another 13 or 14 years. Don't be in a rush, okay? To grow up, I mean. You'll get there.

"You haven't even been born yet and I love you so much, Lily. We'll kind of grow up together, in a sense, because you're my first baby. We'll learn together. You have so much personality already. You're going to have the most amazing life that your dad and I can give you. I know your dad is going to think of you as his mini-Beckett, but you're half Castle too, and that's a very good thing. A very, very good thing. And we're going to raise you to be your own person. Your aunts and uncles, some of whom are also going to be your godparents, and your grandparents, and Alexis...You have a whole tribe waiting out here for you. And I'm really happy about that, because it took me a long time to find my tribe, to find those people that I know I belong with and that will accept me even at my worst and my weakest. For the first big chunk of my life, it was just me and your Grandpa Jim and Grandma Johanna. And then I was alone for a really long time. And then I met your Aunt Lanie, and your Uncle Kevin, and your Uncle Javi...and then came your dad, and Alexis, and your Gram. And Uncle Kevin brought Aunt Jenny into our lives, and then your Aunt Victoria, which I'm still getting used to calling her, came...and Sarah Grace and Nick, you'll meet them later. And your Aunt Lanie brought your Uncle Alan to us, and your Aunt Victoria is married to your Uncle Gerald.

"There's nothing you can't do or be, Lily. And no matter what, your dad and I are always going to love you and always going to be there for you and support you in your dreams. So we are ready and waiting for you, baby girl. I don't know how it gets decided, but thank you for choosing me to be your mom, and your dad to be your dad."

Another pain hit then. These contractions were ten minutes apart, and lasting between 45 and 61 seconds. There was no doubt in Kate's mind that this was the real deal.

"I'm getting way ahead of myself," she said to Lily after the contraction ended. "All we're going to do today is bring you into the world. Which is a very big deal, but the rest will follow."

Kate returned to the bedroom then. She considered getting back in bed, but she was afraid that if they stayed in bed too long, her water would break and ruin the sheets. So she went to Rick's side of the bed and, bracing one hand on his shoulder, she leaned over him. "Rick? Babe? Wake up. I'm in labor," she said.

"That's nice," Rick murmured.

Then Kate's words registered in his brain, and his eyes flew open, and he sat up so fast, Kate would have fallen on the floor if he hadn't grabbed her hand to keep her on her feet. "You're in labor?" he asked, instantly wide awake. "Are you sure? For how long? Has your water broken? We need to call Dr. Elliott, and then we have to call everybody else, and-"

Kate silenced her husband with a fingertip pressed to his lips. "Yes, I'm sure. My contractions are ten minutes apart, lasting 45 to 56 seconds, and I've had four so far. It's been almost an hour since the first one, and no, my water hasn't broken yet, so we don't need to call Dr. Elliott or anybody else yet. It isn't even light out yet."

Rick nodded. "Okay. Okay, you're right, we don't have to call anybody yet. How are you feeling?"

"A little nervous, a lot excited," Kate replied. "We're gonna have a baby today, Rick."

He beamed at her. "Yeah, we are," he said. He threw off the sheets and stood up, letting go of her hand to frame her face and then kissing her tenderly. She kissed him back, her tongue seeking and gaining entrance to his mouth until the next contraction hit and she pulled back, gripping his arms as her face contorted with the pain.

"Breathe through it," he said soothingly. Kate nodded jerkily twice and held onto Rick as she breathed. He matched his breathing to hers. When the contraction ended, he said, "That felt a lot more like a respiratory therapy exercise than Lamaze."

"Because it was," she replied. "Better breathing techniques, at least for me."

"Well, I'm better at those breathing techniques than Lamaze anyway," Rick said.

"Yeah, the last thing I want is you hyperventilating in the delivery room until you pass out," Kate said.

"Not gonna happen," Rick vowed. "I'm gonna be holding you up when you push Lily out, and at no time will I be unconscious, hyperventilating, or otherwise freaking out."

"Because you have my back," Kate said, brushing an errant strand of hair off his forehead.

"Always," Rick said.

She rested her forehead against his and smiled.

This was going to be one of the greatest days of their lives...the day their daughter was born.


	51. Author's Note 2--NOT A CHAPTER!

_**I've been having trouble with the site today, but I will delete this Author's Note when I know that the next chapter has been seen. I did post it, but the notification hasn't gone through, for some reason, so to read it, just go to Chapter 49. Happy reading!**_


	52. Chapter 50

_**The site was having major problems last week, so if you missed last week's chapter, you'll need to read that before reading this, because the ending of that chapter leads directly into the beginning of this one, and this one is a very important chapter for especially Kate and Rick, but, really, for everyone. So if you haven't read Chapter 49 yet, it's a must before reading this one.  
**_

 _ **Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm for the story. And I would like to extend special thanks to Nkeagle for her help with this chapter. It would not be what it is if not for you. And to my guest reviewers, thank you for taking the time to review.**_

 _ **Okay, now on to what you're really here for: the birth of Kate and Rick's daughter. :-)  
**_

* * *

Kate insisted on showering. "I'm gonna be all sweaty and gross by the end of the day. I'm not going in there smelling badly. Besides, my water hasn't broken yet, so we have time."

"Okay," Rick said. He paused. He was nervous because he hadn't actually gone through this part with Meredith and wasn't sure exactly what to expect. He knew there would be physical pain, and that he would hate seeing Kate in physical pain, despite her assertions that the pain was totally worth it because they would have Lily at the end of it. But he was also determined to be Kate's rock, to keep calm for her so that if her composure slipped, and she started cursing him out or broke his hand or whatever reaction she might have when they got closer to the actual giving birth part of the process, she would have him to lean on no matter what happened, no matter what she might say or do.

Kate took a quick shower, only having one more contraction while she was actually in the shower, to her and Rick's relief. Since her pregnancy had been treated as high-risk because of the gunshot wounds she had sustained almost a year ago, they would be staying overnight at the hospital, just as a precaution, and much to Rick's relief. He would get to stay too. In fact, things had changed a lot since Alexis was born; Lily wouldn't even have to stay in the hospital nursery. She could stay right in the hospital room with him and Kate, which they were both very happy about.

Needing something to do for those ten minutes that Kate was in the shower, Rick retrieved the bag she had packed a few weeks ago for her overnight hospital stay. He put it in the middle of their unmade bed so that Kate could check and make sure she hadn't forgotten anything while he grabbed a quick shower himself. Kate double-checked her overnight bag while Rick was in the shower. When Rick emerged from the bathroom, dressed in jeans and a short-sleeved button-down sky blue shirt, their bed had been made, Kate's overnight bag was sitting at the foot of the bed on her side, and she was standing in front of the bassinet, one hand resting on her lower back, as she stared down into the bassinet. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail now, a few errant strands escaping and curling down the back of her neck. She wore yoga pants, her Nikes with white ankle socks, and a plain gray t-shirt of Rick's.

He came to stand next to her. She was still looking down into the bassinet. "Tomorrow, Lily's going to be sleeping in here," Kate said softly.

"Yes, she is," Rick agreed. "How are you doing?"

"My back hurts, but it's not too bad, at least not yet," Kate replied. "Contractions are still ten minutes apart. I guess it's gonna be slow and steady, at least until my water breaks."

"The sun's coming up," Rick said.

He went over and opened the blinds on the windows, then returned to Kate's side. They stood there together and watched the sunrise. In the middle of the sunrise, Kate said, "Oh, another one," and grabbed a hold of Rick's arm to keep herself upright as the pain surged through her body.

"Breathe," Rick said, rubbing her lower back, where her hand had been a few minutes before, and they breathed through it together.

When the contraction ended, Kate looked at her watch. "Seven minutes since the last one," she said. "They're getting closer together." As hard as he tried to hide it, the briefest flash of panic showed in Rick's eyes. Kate remembered what Rick had said about Meredith having a scheduled C-section, so she had been induced. He hadn't been through this part before any more than she had. Squeezing his hand, she said, "We'd better be getting to the hospital. Why wait until the last minute?"

Rick exhaled heavily, and Kate knew deep down that it was a sigh of relief. "Okay," he said. "Oh! But shouldn't we call Dr. Elliott first?"

Kate looked sheepishly at Rick. "Yeah, we should," she said.

So Kate retrieved her phone from her nightstand and called Dr. Elliott. Dr. Elliott was already at the hospital, having already delivered two babies. "Absolutely, come on in," Dr. Elliott said. "Even though your water hasn't broken yet, that could happen at any time, from what you're describing, and since you've been having contractions for almost three hours, I'd say you're in the early stage of labor. We'll want to get you hooked up to an IV and a monitor, and see how much you've dilated, if at all."

"We're leaving now," Kate replied. "We'll be there in ten minutes."

"I'll be here," Dr. Elliott assured Kate before ringing off.

Rick was holding Kate's overnight bag when she hung up. "Let's go," she said.

Rick nodded. They walked out to the living room together. Rick opened the front door, and Kate stopped and looked back over her shoulder at the loft. She looked for a long moment, then looked at Rick. "The next time we come home, we'll have our baby with us," she said, smiling at him.

"I can't wait," Rick said, his voice hoarse with emotion. He took Kate's hand in his, and then they were off to the hospital.

* * *

And so it was that by 8 AM, Kate and Rick were in the maternity ward of New York Presbyterian Hospital—Lower Manhattan. Kate was in a bed in a hospital gown, hooked up to an IV, a heart monitor, and one of those monitors that kept track of her contractions and Lily's heartbeat fastened to her belly. She was dilated to four centimeters already, and her contractions were getting closer together and more intense, and lasting longer.

"Are you wanting an epidural, Kate?" Dr. Elliott asked. "Because now's the time for it if you do."

"It's safe for the baby?" Kate asked.

"Completely safe," Dr. Elliott promised.

"Then yes, I want an epidural," Kate said.

While Kate's epidural was administered, Rick finally started contacting their family and friends. His first call was Alexis, who was with at breakfast with Esposito. They promised to be right down, though Rick told them that it was still going slowly, so they could take their time. He also called Kate's dad and his mother. He texted Ryan, knowing he and Jenny and the kids would be at Mass, and Lanie, who would be with Alan since they had moved into their apartment a couple of months ago, and lastly he texted Gates.

Jim Beckett was the first to arrive at the hospital. He knocked on the door of Kate's room, which was ajar. "Dad!" Kate exclaimed, greeting him with a big smile.

Jim looked nervous and excited. "How long have you been in labor? And why didn't you call me right away?" he asked as he hurried to his daughter's side and carefully hugged her.

"I went into labor at 3:48 this morning, Dad. We figured you'd rather wait until the sun was up, at least," Kate said.

"Next time, if there **is** a next time, call me right away," Jim scolded gently. "I don't care if it **is** 3:48 in the morning."

"I promise," Kate said.

Jim frowned slightly. "I know it's been a few decades, but your mom wasn't this calm when she was the one in that bed," he said.

"I had an epidural," Kate said. At her dad's blank look, she continued, "A totally-safe-for-the-baby anesthesia to take the edge off the labor pains for me. Had it in my spine, so I'm not having those horrible back pains anymore, at least."

"I wish they'd had those when you were born," Jim mused. "I probably wouldn't have had to duck quite so many ice chips if your mom had had one."

"Did they even have epidurals back then?" Kate wondered. Then both hands flew to her abdomen, though she was careful not to upset the monitor attached that was keeping track of both her contractions and Lily's heartbeat. "Here comes another one," she said as she reached out with her left hand.

Rick was right there, and she grabbed hold of his hand and squeezed as they breathed together. Jim rounded the bed so he was on Kate's other side and watched the machine tick upward through the intensity of the contraction.

This was the scene when Martha, Alexis, Esposito, Lanie, and Alan all came crashing into Kate's hospital room. "Oh lord, she's having a contraction!" Lanie exclaimed. "Breathe, Kate, breathe!"

Martha winced in sympathy, her own labor pains with Richard being remembered now. Esposito and Alan both looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Alexis was wide-eyed with curiosity and even a little bit of worry.

When the contraction ended, and Kate and Rick had both taken a deep breath, they and Jim looked up to find the quintet staring at them like they were an exhibit at the zoo.

"What, did you share cabs?" Kate asked.

"We did," Alexis said, motioning between herself and Javier and Martha. "We ran into Lanie and Alan downstairs."

Lanie charged forward. "How are you doing, Kate?" she asked. She reached for the chart at the end of Kate's bed.

Kate looked at Lanie, amused. "You did a great job delivering Sarah Grace, but you do know you won't have to deliver this little one, right?" she asked.

"I was under the impression that labor was a lot more...well...violent than this," Alan said in an undertone.

"It usually is," Martha said. "Some of the words I used when I was giving birth to Richard...I wasn't even aware I knew words that filthy."

"It must be her police training," Esposito said.

"Really?" Alexis asked, looking at him in surprise. "You think police training is a match for labor and childbirth?"

"Well, it didn't hurt," Kate piped up, having heard their exchange.

Alexis approached Kate's bed and hugged her, then hugged Rick. "How are you guys holding up?" she asked.

"So far so good," Kate said. "The epidural is one of the greatest inventions of all time."

All of the women exchanged looks and said, "Oohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," at the news that Kate had had an epidural. No wonder she was so calm.

"This says the last time they checked you, you were at five centimeters," Lanie said, closing Kate's chart and hanging it on the foot of her bed once more.

"Lanie, you're my best friend, and I love you, and you're going to be a godmother, but I really think it would be oversharing if you checked how far I'm dilated," Kate said seriously. Suddenly her face contorted and she squirmed a bit in the bed. "I think my water just broke!" she exclaimed, meeting Rick's gaze.

"What's your doctor's name?" Esposito asked, instantly going into cop mode.

"Dr. Elliott," Rick replied.

Esposito dashed into the hall, calling for Dr. Elliott and announcing that her patient had "broken water."

"Are you scared?" Alexis asked Kate.

"No, not really," Kate said. "I know it's going to be very painful eventually, but I also know it's going to be completely worth it."

Esposito returned with Dr. Elliott. "Kate, I hear your water broke," she said.

"I'm pretty sure that's what happened, Dr. Elliott, yeah," Kate said.

"Okay, all of you are technically creating a fire hazard," Dr. Elliott said. "And I need to check my patient, so I'm going to ask all of you to step into the hall now, except you, of course, Rick."

Jim kissed the top of Kate's head. "We'll be right outside, Katie," he said.

The others added their well wishes and assured Kate they'd be right outside too. Lanie was the last one out of the room and closed the door behind her.

"The gang's all here, I see," Dr. Elliott said as she pulled on a pair of gloves.

"Actually, they're not," Rick said. "We're still missing a few people."

"Relax your legs for me, Kate," Dr. Elliott said. "That's it." As she checked Kate, she asked, "How many is 'a few'?"

"Three or four, depending on if Ga—Victoria brings her husband," Kate said.

"And if Ryan and Jenny can get a sitter," Rick added.

Dr. Elliott nodded. "Your water definitely broke," she confirmed for Kate. "You're at six centimeters now, and your cervix is thinning out. Your labor is going to pick up in intensity now. And when you get to the magic number of ten centimeters, we'll be adjusting the epidural so you'll be able to feel the pain and your body will do what it's supposed to do during the birthing process." After she had tossed her gloves in the trash, she said, "We'll need to change the sheets on the bed, so you'll have to get up for a few minutes.

"Right," Kate said. "I just, uh...I can take the IV with me, but not the monitors." She gestured to the heart monitor and then the monitor attached to her belly.

Dr. Elliott hit the call button for the nurse and had detached Kate from her monitors by the time the nurse arrived. "Mrs. Castle's water broke in bed. We need fresh sheets, please," Dr. Elliott told the nurse.

"Right away, Dr. Elliott," the nurse, a young raven-haired woman, said.

When Dr. Elliott opened the door to the room to exit into the hall, she almost collided with Lanie. Victoria and Gerald Gates had arrived in the meantime, and had joined the group. "Everything is progressing normally, but it's still going to be a few hours," Dr. Elliott informed them all.

"How many hours, do you think?" Alan asked.

"Babies have their own timetables," Dr. Elliott replied. "The little one is really running the show here. But Kate's doing very well. And as long as all of you don't crowd into the room at the same time, because it **is** a fire hazard when you do that, you can take turns visiting her if you want, and if she's up to it."

Dr. Elliott's beeper went off then, and she excused herself, since she had another patient who needed her. A moment later, Kate and Rick were standing in the doorway, Kate pushing her IV pole, and Rick standing behind and beside her.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Esposito asked, shocked. "The baby could fall out!"

Alexis smothered her smile. Kate didn't bother to smother her smile. "That's not how it works, Javi," she said. "I'm only at five centimeters, anyway."

"Halfway there! That's encouraging!" piped up Kevin Ryan. He and Jenny were rushing down the hall hand in hand. "And that also means we didn't miss it."

"We were just leaving Mass when Kevin got your text, Rick," Jenny said. "We had to drop the kids off with my folks in Queens and then drive all the way back here to Manhattan. Wow, Kate, you're up walking around. I didn't really have that option either time."

"I'm just waiting for the nurse to finish changing the sheets," Kate replied. "I can't walk around because of the epidural, but it's a worthy trade-off."

"How are you holding up, Castle?" Ryan asked.

"I'm doing fine, Ryan, thank you," Castle replied. At the triumphant look he saw Ryan shoot first Esposito and then Lanie, Castle's eyes narrowed. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Ryan asked innocently.

"Those looks you just gave Esposito and Lanie. What's that about?" he asked.

Ryan didn't say anything. But Kate said, "You guys bet on whether or not Rick would be a basket case, didn't you?"

"Well, we also bet on how much of a maniac you would be," Lanie said. She shook her head. "I have _**got**_ to learn to stop betting on you two. I lose a bundle every time!"

Rick opened his mouth and looked at Alexis, but she said, "I had nothing to do with this. They did offer to include me, but I declined. I knew you'd be a rock, Dad."

"Well, thank you, Alexis," Rick said. "It's nice to know you had faith in me."

The nurse informed them that the bed had clean sheets, so Kate and Rick went back into the room then, and Kate was hooked up to the monitors again once she was back in bed.

Alan offered to make a run for coffee and donuts, muffins, scones, whatever people wanted, since it was a little after 10:30 in the morning by now, and after getting everyone's orders, he and Lanie left. The others adjourned to the maternity waiting room, where, under Victoria's direction, they set up a two-at-a-time visitors' rule.

Martha and Jim went in first. "What was that you were saying earlier about you had to duck ice chips when Mom was in labor with me?" Kate greeted her dad.

"Well, you know your mom could have a temper when she got mad," Jim said. "And she was really angry at the pain...and by extension, angry at me for putting her in that position. So yes, there was a point, along about hour fifteen of her labor, when she started throwing ice chips at me while calling me a lot of not-very-nice but nevertheless deserved, at least as far as she was concerned, names."

"As a woman who has given birth, Jim, I assure you that you absolutely deserved those names," Martha said.

"That's what I told Johanna at the time," Jim replied. "She apologized after Katie was born and the pain was over."

"How are your reflexes, darling?" Martha asked, looking at Rick.

"They're fine, Mother, thank you," Rick replied.

Alexis rapped on the door then. "I come bearing ice chips," she said, holding up a large container of ice chips, which she rattled enticingly.

"Bring those over here," Kate called. "Do you think you could sneak some Chinese food up here after your sister is born? Because I've been in labor since 3:48 this morning, so I haven't had anything to eat since last night."

"Of course," Alexis agreed. "Just let me know what you want. I'll sneak it in when you're back in your room. After I've met my baby sister, of course."

"You're the best," Kate said.

Alexis took Kate's hand and squeezed it. "Not today. Today, you are definitely the best."

"She's the best every day," Rick said, smiling at the moment between Alexis and Kate.

"Two visitors at a time, people!" Victoria exclaimed from the doorway in her best "Iron Gates" voice.

Martha gave Rick a hug, then hugged Kate. "I'm so excited and happy for both of you, and very proud of you both," she said before exiting.

"I'm in awe of how calm you are, Kate," Alexis said. She handed the cup of ice chips to Kate. Kate accepted it gratefully.

"This is one of the greatest days of my life," Kate said as she plucked an ice chip from the cup and popped it in her mouth. "Any pain is worth it to bring this baby into the world. I've waited a long time for this." She looked at Rick now. "We both have."

Most of the afternoon passed in this manner, with everyone taking turns visiting Kate and Rick, as Kate's labor steadily progressed. Kate moved through the active labor phase fairly quickly for a first child. She was at eight centimeters a little after 12 PM, and the epidural had worn off. Because "the magic hour," as Dr. Elliott referred to it, was approaching, they couldn't give Kate another epidural, so those last two centimeters were going to be a battle.

Kate was, by this point, becoming "all sweaty and gross" as she had told Rick she would that morning. Rick helped her secure her ponytail after a particularly intense contraction. Once her hair was tamed again, as he lowered his hands, she grabbed hold of them. "It was only ever gonna be you," she said as they looked into each other's eyes. "Even before losing my mom, I never really thought about having kids, other than that's just what most people end up doing. But really **wanting** children...that didn't happen until you, until us. I just, I don't think I ever told you that before, and I wanted you to know that this was only ever gonna happen for me with you."

Rick brushed Kate's sweat-drenched hair off her forehead. "I knew that I was going to marry you long before we got married...or engaged…or even got together."

Another contraction hit then, an intense wave of pain slamming through her whole body; still not as much physical pain as being shot, but close. "When?" she asked with great difficulty, holding his gaze as she squeezed his hand until it turned white. He knew she was asking when he knew that he would marry her.

"When I read the ending of _Storm Fall_ at that bookstore," Rick replied. "I was almost at the end of the final paragraph, and I saw you walk in and drop that red overcoat. You were wearing a sleeveless fuchsia dress and black heels that made your legs look like they went on forever. And then you gave me a hard time about the 'wind gathering her hair' and said you decided to bother me at my work since I was bothering you at yours, and then Mother let it slip that the character based on you would be named Nikki Heat, and you stalked me around the bookstore demanding that I change it because it was a stripper name."

"You said...you had...artistic...integrity," Kate panted, proving that she remembered that night too. Her grip on Rick's gradually loosened as the contraction's intensity lessened.

"You were and are smart and beautiful and dedicated, you gave great banter, and still do, and you called me on everything, and still do," Rick concluded. "That night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I thought to myself, 'If I ever get married again, Kate Beckett's going to be the one, and it's going to last forever.'"

"I wore that dress and those heels to get a reaction out of you," Kate said, the contraction having passed.

"It worked," Rick replied.

"Obviously," Kate deadpanned, gesturing to her belly. Rick burst out laughing, which made Kate laugh too.

"They're laughing in there?" Jenny asked, surprised, since everyone could hear the laughter in the relatively deserted OB wing on this Sunday afternoon. "Okay, I went through that twice, and at **no** point did **I** feel like laughing."

"Castle and Kate have always been somewhat unconventional," Victoria reflected. "I never thought I'd be sitting here, waiting for the birth of their first child, but I wouldn't be anywhere else."

"None of us would be anywhere else, Sir," Esposito said.

"I'm sorry Johanna isn't here," Jim said then, "but I'm grateful I'm here."

"And you really didn't get even a hint about the name?" Martha said, looking at Alexis now.

"I understand why they wouldn't tell me. They didn't think I could keep it to myself, and I admit, they're right. I wouldn't have been able to keep it to myself. But they honestly didn't tell you anything, Alexis? Not so much as an initial?"

"No, Gram. I'm pretty sure they have a name picked out, but I think they decided to wait until she's here to make sure the name fits her, and so they can tell us all at the same time, like they told us about Kate's pregnancy last Christmas Eve," Alexis replied.

Esposito shifted his empty coffee cup from one hand to the other. "I've had so much coffee, I'm gonna slosh when I walk," he said.

"I think we all have," Ryan agreed.

"We should probably start cleaning some of this stuff up," Alan said, gesturing to the coffee and end tables that were littered with empty cardboard drink trays, paper cups, crumpled napkins, and sandwich wrappers.

Alan, Esposito, and Ryan cleared away all the trash. Ryan loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collar. Jim Beckett checked his watch. "How long was Johanna in labor with Katherine, Jim?" Martha asked.

"Seventeen hours," Jim replied.

Alexis looked her own watch. "From what Kate said earlier, she's at just over ten hours," she said.

"I was in labor for twenty-one hours with Richard," Martha said.

"But every woman is different, right?" Alan asked. "I mean, I know that first babies generally take a long time, but 'long' is a relative term, right, Lanie?"

The longer Kate's labor went on, the more preoccupied Lanie became. "Hmm?" she asked. "Oh. Yes, every woman's labor is different," she said. "The first baby usually takes the longest, but 'long' is a relative term."

Alan, having noticed that the longer Kate's labor went on, the more preoccupied Lanie became, made a mental note to talk to her about her preoccupation later.

"And if you have back labor, it's possible for you to be in labor for several hours and not realize it until your water breaks," Jenny said, drawing at least Alan's attention back to the conversation.

"That happened to one of my sisters," Ryan agreed. "I'm still not sure if it's a blessing or a curse."

Alexis's phone binged then. "Who in the world could be texting me? The closest people in my life are all here," she said as she pulled her phone out of her purse. She read the text message, then grinned. "It's Dad!" she exclaimed.

"What does it say?" almost everyone asked, almost in unison.

Alexis read the text aloud to the group: _"Headed to the delivery room! Texting because I don't want to leave Kate's side. It won't be much longer now!"_

Cheers went up from the entire group. Esposito and Ryan fist-bumped. Jim wiped his damp palms on the thighs of his pants. Martha kept exclaiming over and over how wonderful it was. Alexis hugged Javier, her grandmother, and eventually made her way around the waiting room until she had hugged everyone, even Gates and her husband. Alan put his arm around Lanie's shoulders, and Jenny smacked a kiss to Kevin's jaw before resting her head on his shoulder as he wrapped both his arms around her. Gates gave a satisfied smile and when her husband rested his hand on her knee, she covered his hand with hers and they exchanged a bittersweet glance, for they had never had children of their own because they were physically unable to, and Gerald's overbearing mother had threatened to disown Gerald if he and Victoria adopted a child because, in her narrow-minded words, "that child would not be a true Gates!" Victoria was the one who was infertile, but Gerald, knowing his mother's opinion of his wife, had lied to his mother that he was the one unable to have children in an effort to spare his wife more grief from his mother than she already routinely received. They had been married several years before Victoria found this out, when her mother-in-law had let it slip during a tense conversation the two women were having, and the fact that Gerald shouldered that burden for her, lie though it was, made Victoria love her husband all the more.

The moment they were all waiting for was at hand: the newest addition to their family would be making her way into the world very soon, and they chattered excitedly and nervously as they waited to hear that she had arrived safely.

* * *

"All right," Dr. Elliott said from behind her surgical mask in the delivery room, "are you two ready to have this baby?"

"Yes," Kate and Rick said in unison. Rick had unbuttoned his button-down shirt, so the white v-neck tee he was wearing underneath it was now visible. Kate's ponytail was starting to fall out again, and she was more tired than she had ever been in her life, even after her most grueling physical therapy sessions, even after the drugs and anesthesia from her surgeries to remove bullets from her body, and the epidural was no longer in effect, so she was feeling every bit of pain, every contraction that now wracked her entire body. Kate reached back to adjust her ponytail, and Rick was right there beside her.

"You're at ten centimeters and 100% effaced," Dr. Elliott pronounced. "On the next contraction, Kate, I want you to push for ten seconds, then take a breath."

"Okay," Kate said. She turned her head to look at Rick. His heart was in his eyes. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too," Rick said. He brushed a quick, soft kiss across her lips.

"Oh boy," Kate said, breaking the kiss. "Here it comes."

"Rick, support her back," Dr. Elliott directed.

Kate leaned back against Rick, who was now half sitting on the bed behind her. "This is it!" Kate exclaimed as the pain rolled through her body again.

"Push, Kate!" Dr. Elliott exclaimed.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten," Rick counted softly. "And, deep breath." Kate sagged back against Rick and sucked in air. "That was so amazing, Kate," he said. " **You're** so amazing."

Kate breathed in slowly through her nose, and out through her mouth. "You can go again whenever you're ready, Kate," Dr. Elliott said.

"Son of a bitch!" Kate exclaimed as the pain and pressure became almost unbearable. "Count, Castle, count!" she shouted.

Rick counted, Kate pushed as hard as she could, and at the end of the ten seconds, she sagged back against him again. "I'm sorry," she said.

"For that?" Rick asked. "That's nothing to apologize for. I'm pretty sure I was way worse during physical and respiratory therapy last summer."

"Baby's head is coming down," Dr. Elliott announced. "It's not out yet, but you're getting there, Kate."

"I have to push," Kate said. Now that she was actually going through childbirth, she was ready to get it over with.

"Wait for the next contraction," Dr. Elliott instructed. "I know it's hard, but take a few breaths. It should be just a few more seconds."

True to Dr. Elliott's prediction, Kate's next contraction hit a few seconds later. Rick looked all around him for a cloth to wipe the sweat from Kate's face, and, not seeing one, he whipped off his unbuttoned shirt and, quickly crumpling it up, used one of the shirttails to wipe the sweat from Kate's face. "I'm sorry it's not a cool cloth," he said apologetically.

"Now who's apologizing unnecessarily?" Kate asked. She blew out a breath. "Here we go again," she said. She sat up, and Rick braced her as he counted to ten.

"That's it, Kate, that's it!" Dr. Elliott exclaimed.

"Unnnggghhh!" Kate groaned, gritting her teeth, sweat practically exploding from every pore, diving into the pain and making it work for her as motivation, the way she had in physical therapy on two prior occasions.

Kate all but collapsed back against Rick, practically boneless. "The head's out," Dr. Elliott announced. "You're almost there, Kate. Just a few more pushes, and your daughter will be here."

This is when the tears started in earnest for both Kate and Rick. Rick looked down and saw the baby's head, her face scrunched up, eyes closed, brown hair plastered to her head, and the resemblance to Kate was immediately noticeable to him: Lily's furrowed brow exactly matched her mother's when Kate's brow was furrowed. Rick swallowed hard, unable to dislodge the lump in his throat. Overcome, he pressed several tiny kisses to Kate's temple. "She looks like you," he whispered thickly. "She's...God, Kate…"

Kate brought her arm up behind her and cupped the back of Rick's head. She could feel his hot tears wetting her temple and her own hot tears building in her eyes. Anything Kate might have tried to say was cut off when another contraction tore through her. She dimly heard Rick thickly counting to ten as her body instinctively pushed, knowing this was what she needed to do.

"We have shoulders!" Dr. Elliott exclaimed. "One more good push will do it, Kate!"

Rick sniffled, his button-down shirt falling to the floor forgotten in the heat of the moment. Kate pushed with the contraction, Rick counted to ten, and an instant later, a loud wail split the air as Kate sagged back against Rick, laughing and crying at the same time.

"It's a beautiful baby girl!" Dr. Elliott announced. "And she looks great!"

Tears poured down Rick's cheeks unchecked as the baby was wrapped in a blanket and placed on Kate's chest. Kate's arms instantly went around the tiny bundle, and, just as Rick had said happened to him the first time he held Alexis, she felt the lightning strike, that instant, inexplicable love for her and Rick's daughter that Kate would feel for the rest of her life.

"Welcome to the world, Lily Johanna Castle," Kate said softly to the baby through a ten-mile-wide smile and a face streaked with tears. "I'm your mom."

"And I'm your dad," Rick said, marveling at Lily. "And you are ours...always."

"Always," Kate echoed. She turned her head, and Rick met her lips in a tender kiss as Lily cried on Kate's chest. Kate and Rick broke their kiss and both kissed Lily for the first time, Kate kissing the baby's forehead, and Rick kissing the baby's cheek.

Rick cut the umbilical cord where Dr. Elliott specified he should, and the baby was whisked away to be cleaned up and given her Apgar tests while Kate delivered the placenta. Plastic bracelets were fastened around Rick's, Kate's, and Lily's wrists, and Rick and Kate both had to spell their daughter's names more than once for the nurse recording the official information for Lily's birth certificate. "This is not that difficult," Kate finally said. "Her first name is 'Lily' with one 'L—L-I-L-Y,' like the flower. Her middle name is 'Johanna'-J-O-H-A-N-N-A. Her last name is Castle. C-A-S-T-L-E."

And so it was, as her birth certificate would state, that Lily Johanna Castle was born to Richard Edgar Castle and Katherine Beckett Castle at New York Presbyterian Hospital—Lower Manhattan on Sunday, May 7, 2017, at 2:03 PM. She weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and was 18 inches long. She had brown hair (of course), brown eyes like her mother (to her father's delight), and once she was clothed in a diaper, tee shirt, little cap, and wrapped in a blanket, she was returned to her parents.

Holding Lily in her arms, with Lily pressing her cheek into the warmth of Kate's chest, not yet seeking food, merely comfort, Kate stared down at her in awe. She was a mom. Rick was a dad again. This was their daughter.

Rick wiped at his eyes before sitting on the edge of the bed and wrapping his arms around Kate, resting one hand on one of her elbows and gently resting his chin on Kate's shoulder as he gazed down at Lily, resting in Kate's arms. "I love you, Katherine Beckett Castle," Rick said. "And I love you too, Lily Johanna Castle."

"And we love you, Richard Edgar Castle," Kate replied. Lily let out a small sob followed by a hiccup, and then her tiny hand curled around Kate's finger. The look on Kate's face in that instant, as she looked down at Lily, blinking owlishly up at her, her tiny hand gripping Kate's finger like a lifeline, was something Rick would remember for the rest of his life.

Kate couldn't find the words to tell Rick what she was feeling, and Rick couldn't find the words to tell her that he knew and understood exactly how she felt. She gave him a tremulous smile, and he nodded, kissing her forehead before reaching out and stroking Lily's downy soft cheek with one fingertip.

Rick Castle knew better than anyone the full effect of Kate Beckett on a person who loved Kate. In this instance, it was definitely a fact to say that, at just a few minutes old, Lily definitely took after her father in this regard: loving Kate fiercely and without reserve...just as Kate loved Rick, and now Lily.


	53. Chapter 51

_**Thank you so much, everyone, for continuing to make the writing process so inspiring and so much fun for me. And thanks to Nkeagle for answering an important question for me. It was a small thing, but I was determined to get that point right for this chapter. Happy reading!**_

* * *

Everyone in the Maternity Waiting Room was getting fidgety the longer they went with no word. Martha recognized the nurse who had changed the sheets on Kate's bed walking by and flagged her down and asked for an update on the Castle baby, but the nurse could only reply, "They're still in the delivery room."

Finally, Alexis spotted a familiar figure striding down the hall...although as Rick would tell the story himself later, and many times, over the rest of their lives he wasn't striding, he was floating. Kate and Lily had been moved to a regular room after Lily had had her footprints and a small blood sample taken, and been given her Hep-B shot. "Dad!" Alexis called.

Rick turned his head toward the sound of his oldest daughter's voice, and the fact that he could now officially refer to Alexis as "his oldest daughter" made the grin on his face grow even wider. Was it possible for a person to smile so widely and for so long that their cheeks would start to hurt? If it was, Rick was in for an aching face, but he didn't care. Kate was a total rock star in the delivery room, and Lily was here and healthy and beautiful, and he floated on over to where the rest of their family had crowded behind Alexis with such anticipatory looks, if he didn't start talking in the next instant, they might all explode.

He was in his white t-shirt and jeans, having left his short-sleeved sky blue button-down shirt in Kate's room, since he had used it as an improvised cloth to wipe the sweat from her brow during childbirth.

Finally, they could stand it no longer.

"Well?" Martha demanded.

"Spill it, Castle!" Lanie said.

Everyone else made similar murmurings and insistences.

His smile grew impossibly wider, and the look on his face could only be described as rapturous. "She's here!" he exclaimed. He picked Alexis up in a bear hug and whirled her around. "You have a beautiful, healthy baby sister..." He set Alexis back on her feet and waded into the fray as everyone else charged toward him at once. "...and granddaughter," he accepted his mother's tear-filled hug and then found himself engulfed in a hug by an unashamedly emotional Jim Beckett. "...and niece and goddaughter!" he exclaimed to the whole group. "And Kate is fine, and amazing, and beautiful-"

He was cut off when Lanie threw herself at him with an ear-piercing squeal and such force that it was in hugging her that he remained on his feet. When he had regained his footing, Alan was there to give him a one-armed hug and a hearty clap on the back along with his congratulations.

Jenny and Kevin all but elbowed Lanie and Alan aside and they both hugged Rick at the same time.

"Congratulations, Castle!" Esposito exclaimed, and then Rick was grabbing him for a hug, which Espo returned.

Surrounded by family, and feeling as on top of the world as he was feeling, when Rick reached out to hug the next person he felt touching his arm, he found himself face-to-face with a beaming Victoria Gates.

She spoke first. "Congratulations...Rick."

He beamed back at her. "Thank you...Victoria."

Then they hugged. The click of a shutter made them break the hug and turn towards Esposito, who was grinning and holding his phone up, pointed at them. "This was a 'pictures or it didn't happen' moment if there ever was one," he said unrepentantly as he lowered the phone.

"You're gonna have Ryan post that on the 12th Precinct's homepage, aren't you?" Rick asked, his smile not fading in the least.

"No, they're not," Victoria said, giving Esposito a look that promised dire consequences if he and Ryan even considered doing so.

Javier sighed. "I guess not," he said, "but it was still a picture-worthy moment."

"When can we see Katie and the baby?" Jim asked eagerly.

"And what is her name?" Lanie demanded.

"They're settled in their regular room now," Rick replied, "and they unfortunately have rules about the number of visitors. No more than four at a time, and I'm considered one, so..."

Everyone looked around at each other. "Big sister and grandparents should go first," Lanie said, and everyone instantly agreed. "But I better be in the next group!"

"Sure," Ryan said. "She can meet her godfathers last."

"Let's head on back, then," Rick said, clapping his hands together eagerly. "Big sister and grandparents first!"

The others returned to the waiting room while Alexis, Martha, and Jim followed Rick down the hall and around the corner to the second room on the right. The door was ajar, and Rick rapped on the door smartly before sticking his head in the room. "Are you up for some visitors?" he asked Kate.

"Yeah, she's not ready to eat yet, apparently," Kate replied, looking up from Lily in her arms to Rick, her face alight with joy, exhaustion, and wonder all at the same time.

Rick opened the door all the way and went straight to Kate's side. Alexis, Martha, and Jim stood crowded in the doorway for a few seconds, taking in the sight of Kate propped up in her hospital bed, the tiny baby dozing in her arms, and Rick sitting in the chair at her bedside, the picture of happiness.

"Is she asleep?" Alexis asked quietly.

"For the moment," Kate said.

"It's hard work being born," Rick said.

"I think it was harder for me than it was for her," Kate said, looking from Lily's sleeping face to Rick's happy, mischievous one.

"And worth every second, which you handled like the rock star that you are," Rick replied.

Alexis, Martha, and Jim quietly entered the room and then crept up to the bed. Kate looked at the three of them and beamed. "Everyone," she said, "Rick and I want to introduce you to our daughter, Lily Johanna Castle." She then looked down at the baby, who stirred slightly in her arms and cooed for the first time. "Lily," she said softly, "this is your big sister Alexis, your Grandpa Jim, and Martha is your grandma."

Martha moved the fastest, as she said, "Gram. Yes, my darling, just ask Alexis. She'll give me excellent references," as she looked at Kate expectantly. Kate was reluctant to let Lily go, but knew that of course everyone else would want to hold her. She carefully transferred Lily to Martha's waiting arms.

"Well, my goodness," Martha said, "you're so delicate, and so tiny. Hello, Lily. I'm your Gram. I am an actress, and an acting teacher, so I see many, many games of dress-up in our future." Lily squirmed slightly and opened her eyes, and looked up at Martha. "Katherine, she has your eyes!" Martha exclaimed in a hushed tone.

"Yes, she does," Rick said, his tone of voice leaving no doubt that he was thrilled and delighted about that particular genetic trait of Lily's.

"Welcome to our world," Martha said. "You will always be surrounded by love." She gently kissed the baby's forehead, and then carefully carried her the three steps to where Jim Beckett stood. "I believe it's your turn now...Grandpa," she said.

Jim hastily wiped his hands on the thighs of his pants again, and then accepted Lily from Martha, holding her carefully. He hadn't been at all surprised that Katie had named her daughter 'Johanna.' He had been expecting 'Johanna' to be her middle name all along. The only word he could come up with to describe the pangs in his chest as he held Lily for the first time was "bittersweet," because as overjoyed as he was to be a grandfather, and to have a granddaughter, not having Johanna physically here to enjoy this with him was the bitter part.

Jim looked down at his granddaughter and didn't even try to hide the tears in his eyes or his voice as he gazed down at her and said, awed, "Katie, she looks just like you did when you were born."

Kate was having a hard time fighting her tears at the sight of her father holding her daughter. For so long, she never thought this moment would happen. For five years, every time she hauled her dad out of a bar, or went to get him after a bartender had called her after taking his keys and cutting him off...every time she went through the house where she'd grown up and found all the bottles of booze her dad had stashed and poured them out...she had figured this moment wasn't in the cards for her, and wasn't even sure if she could keep her dad alive and get him to want to get sober before death stole him from her the way it stole her mother.

But as much as she hated that her mom wasn't here to dote on and spoil her namesake granddaughter, Kate couldn't be anything but ecstatic that her dad _**was**_ here to dote on and spoil Lily, and to declare it his privilege, and his right, as her grandfather.

"Hello there, my Lily Jo," Jim said, instituting the use of the nickname by which he would forever refer to her, especially when he was feeling particularly affectionate. "I'm your Grandpa Jim. I'm very, very happy you're here, and that I'm here to meet you. We're going to have a lot of fun together, you and me. And you're named after a very special lady...your Grandma Johanna." He swallowed hard. "She can't be here with us...but you'll know everything there is to know about her. Your mommy and I will see to that, I promise you."

Jim then ever so gently shifted Lily so that he was holding her up over his shoulder. Seeking warmth, she snuggled against the side of his neck with a soft sigh. Looking Kate right in the eye, he said, "Yep, just like your mommy. She used to snuggle into the side of my neck when she was a baby too." He held her there for a moment before turning to Alexis. "Now," he said as he carefully brought Lily down from the side of his neck, "there's someone else here who really wants to meet you: your big sister. You're going to love her, Lily Jo. We all do."

Alexis accepted Lily from Jim and stared down at the tiny person in her arms as Lily, awakened when she was transferred from Grandpa Jim's shoulder to big sister Alexis's arms. Jim went over to Kate's hospital bed and leaned down to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you, Katie," he whispered so only she could hear.

"Thanks, Dad," Kate said before she kissed his cheek. "I'm proud of you too. And Lily is absolutely going to know who her Grandma Johanna was."

Alexis and Lily were looking at each with wide-eyed wonder. "I know I'm old enough to be your mom, but I'm your big sister, Alexis. We'll work on the name when you learn to talk, but when it's coming from you, I'll answer to almost anything. And as far as moms go, you got the best one in the whole world. And I should know, because she's become a mom to me too. And dads… We've got the best, most awesome dad in the world too, Lily. Someday you and I will get to gang up on Dad at Laser Tag. He might never win a game again."

"Underestimate me at your own peril," Rick said. "Besides, if Lily's on your team, that means Kate is on my team."

"Well, we have a few years to argue about all that," Alexis said. Lily looked up at her with fuzzy, unfocused eyes and what looked to Alexis like a tiny version of her own nose, both girls having noses that sort of resembled Rick's, and an amazingly tiny little rosebud mouth. "I never thought I'd have a little sister," Alexis said, "but you were worth the wait, Lily. Everything good, everything worth having, is worth waiting for, and fighting for. But you'll learn all about that in time. Right now, all that matters it that you're here with us, and we love you." She dropped a kiss on Lily's forehead before carefully walking her over to the bed.

"Hey, Lex, over here!" Before Alexis could give Lily to Rick or Kate, she heard Javier calling her from the doorway. Everyone looked over to see Javier standing there, holding up his phone, poised to snap a picture.

"This isn't going to be another one of your 'pictures or it didn't happen' things, is it?" Alexis asked, tongue-in-cheek.

"Very funny," Javier replied. "Mother's Day is next weekend, you know."

"Hey, it is!" Rick realized. He looked at Kate. "Your first one as a mom!"

"You just had to remind him, didn't you, Javi?" Kate said, shaking her head with a smile.

"You refused to let me get you a push present," Rick said. "But you're getting a Mother's Day present. Two, actually—one from me, one from Lily."

"Three: one from me," Alexis chimed in.

"Martha, Mr. Beckett, can you get in the picture?" Javier asked. Martha and Jim both went to stand on the side of Kate's hospital bed opposite where Rick was sitting. Alexis carefully handed Lily to Rick, then perched herself on the edge of the bed at Kate's feet. Kate rested her chin lightly on Rick's shoulder and wrapped her arm around his bicep. He was holding Lily and he turned her face toward Esposito. "Looks great," Esposito said. "Big smiles, everybody." He snapped the picture, then another one, just in case.

"I guess you'd better send in the next wave," Kate said after Javi had taken the picture and descended back to the waiting room to show the others, who were still waiting to meet Lily.

"Lily is absolutely beautiful, Katherine, as are you," Martha said, giving Kate a hug and a kiss. "And congratulations to you too, Richard. Of course, I know firsthand what a wonderful father you are. Lily is a very lucky little girl."

"Blessed," Rick corrected.

Alexis gave Lily back to Kate, and then hugged and kissed Rick and Kate, gave Lily another kiss, and promised to bring Chinese food back for both Kate and Rick in a little while. After Martha and Alexis left the room, Jim approached Kate's bed. "You're a mom," he said to Kate, his voice reflecting his awe.

"And you're a grandpa," Kate replied.

Jim's smile would have put the sun to shame. "Yes, I am," he said, grinning. "And I am going to love every second of it." He hugged Kate again, then hugged Rick, then wiggled his fingers in a wave at Lily. "'Bye-bye, Lily Jo," he said. "I'll see you again soon. I love you."

Lily's next set of introductions was to her two godmothers, and two of her uncles, who would be known to her as Aunt Lanie and Uncle Alan, and Aunt Victoria and Uncle Gerald.

When Lanie was holding Lily, and Alan was peering down at the baby over Lanie's shoulder and making funny faces, Lanie said, "She is absolutely beautiful, Kate. And Castle's over there grinning like a fool because she's your mini-me."

"I see Rick in her too," Kate insisted. "Her nose, for one thing."

"Now that you mention it, yes, her nose does look like Castle's," Lanie agreed. She looked at Kate. "I am so happy for you," she said. Then she addressed Lily. "And when you get older, Lily, do I ever have some stories to tell you about your mom and dad."

"Just remember, sweetpea, the only way you'll get the whole story is by talking to your mom and me," Rick said, addressing Lily.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Alan exclaimed suddenly. He pulled a handful of chocolate cigars wrapped in pink cellophane that proclaimed, "IT'S A GIRL!" from his jacket pocket. "While we were waiting to come and meet Lily, Lanie and I wandered down to the gift shop. I saw these, and I thought you might like to hand them out, Rick." He held out the chocolate cigars to Rick.

"Thanks, Alan!" Rick exclaimed. "These are great! I could only find bubble gum cigars when Alexis was born."

"It was my pleasure," Alan replied. "I've never been an uncle before. I'm really excited about it." He grinned, and then looked at Lily in Lanie's arms. "Hi," he said, pulling a funny face. "I'm your Uncle Alan. Yeah. I'll be helping your dad with your sci-fi education. I can actually speak Klingon. I'll teach you to speak it, if you want to learn it someday." Then Alan said, " _qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep."_

"Okay, I know that's Klingon," Rick said, "but I don't know what it means."

"'Live long and prosper,'" Alan replied. He waited for Lanie to say something about him speaking Klingon to Lily, but she didn't say a word, just kept staring at the baby in her arms.

Victoria stepped up then. "May I?" she asked, gesturing to the baby.

"Oh! Of course," Lanie said, returning from her daydream as she carefully handed Lily to Victoria. Lanie then went over and hugged Kate, then Castle. "Kate Beckett, a mom. I never thought I'd see the day," she marveled.

"You weren't the only one," Kate said, looking at Rick. "But then this guy crashed into my life and, well, here we are."

"You sure are," Lanie said. Kate could tell that there was something on Lanie's mind, but this wasn't really the time or place to discuss it.

Lanie and Alan said their goodbyes and left, and Gerald Gates congratulated Kate and Rick and smiled down at Lily while Victoria marveled at the newborn in her arms. "Well, Lily," she said, "I'm going to tell you a secret: your parents are two of my favorite people in the world. Oh, don't get me wrong, there were plenty of times when your dad tried my patience, but all in all, he's a really good person. And it is going to be my privilege to watch you grow up."

"Thank you, Victoria," Rick said.

"You're one of our favorite people too, Victoria," Kate said.

When Javi, Kevin, and Jenny came in, joined by Alexis again, Jenny gushed over Lily. "She looks just like you, Kate!" she exclaimed in a hushed voice.

"She really does," Kevin agreed. "We have a little girl at home who is going to love playing with you when you get a little bigger, Lily. I hope the two of you are going to be good friends. I know Sarah Grace wants that."

"Yeah, those are definitely Beckett's eyes," Javi said when he was holding her. "Your dad can be kinda goofy sometimes, but I guess that's part of his charm. Your mom and your big sister can tell you about that a lot better than I can," he told the baby. "You're going to have an amazing life, Little One. You have a lot of people who are gonna make certain of that, starting with your mom and dad. You got great ones. You really did. And a terrific big sister, too. And Ryan and me, we're gonna be your godfathers. So if anyone is ever giving you a hard time, your Uncle Kevin and me, we'll take care of it for you."

"Well, if your mom and dad don't get there first, because they will **definitely** mow down any schoolyard bullies that are dumb enough to come after you," Ryan added.

Jenny, astutely observing that Kate's energy was rapidly flagging, suggested that they leave parents and baby alone because Kate needed her rest. Alexis reiterated her promise to return with the requested Chinese food in a little while, and she, Javier, Kevin and Jenny all hugged Kate and Rick and told Lily they'd be back to see her soon, and then they took their leave.

When everyone had finally left, Kate and Rick both checked that Lily's full name was spelled correctly on the birth certificate. "I didn't have this much trouble changing my name at the Social Security office and the DMV," Kate muttered.

"Bureaucratic paperwork, one of my least favorite things," Rick agreed. He looked at Lily in Kate's arms. "Just ask Mommy how much paperwork I avoided at the 12th Precinct."

"All of it," Kate said. She looked at Lily. "He avoided all of it, Lily. Don't let him tell you differently." Lily wiggled slightly, opening her eyes to look up at her parents, recognizing their voices. She wasn't crying now, safe in her mother's arms, and with the voices of both her mother and father adding to her feelings of warm security. "Look what we did, Rick," Kate said as they both gazed down at Lily. "Look what we made."

He kissed Kate's temple. "I know," he said.

Lily began rooting then, and Kate exclaimed, "Oh! You're hungry, aren't you, sweetie?" A few seconds later, Lily had latched on like a pro, and Kate and Rick both gazed down at their daughter as she had her first feeding.

"Does it hurt?" Rick asked after a few minutes.

"Not at all," Kate said. She tore her gaze from Lily to look at Rick. "I kept my promise," she said to him. "Here we are again, at the hospital, but this time it's because we have a baby."

Rick's response was a beaming smile, and then he leaned in and gently kissed Kate's lips.

After Lily had finished eating, Rick changed her diaper, and Kate watched attentively. "I've never actually changed a diaper," she reflected.

"You can do it," Rick said, picking Lily up from her hospital bassinet after she was freshly diapered. He looked at Kate. "You are Kate Beckett Castle. You can do anything." Rick sank down in the hospital bed next to Kate, with Lily cradled in his arms. Lily yawned hugely as Rick gently smoothed the fingertips of one hand through her downy soft brown hair. Lily's yawn made Kate yawn too. The adrenaline had worn off, and now Kate was just exhausted.

"She has impeccable timing," Kate said. "She picked the best day in May to be born."

"May 7 is an excellent day," Rick agreed.

Kate settled back against her pillows. "Mmm-hmm, especially for us," she said. Rick looked at Kate and she could see the confusion in his eyes. "Think back," she said, "five years ago tonight..."

"2012," Rick remarked after quickly doing the math in his head. "May 7, 2012."

"Yes. Five years ago tonight, you asked me the second-most important question of our lives," Kate said. Rick looked at her, wondering what she was getting at, as she continued, "Well, you ignored my phone call...with good reason...so I showed up at your door, rain-soaked, ready to be happy, and praying I hadn't completely blown it, and that I wasn't too late. And when you saw that it was me, you asked me that question."

And then it clicked for Rick. "Beckett, what do you want?" he said, repeating his question from that fateful night.

And just as she had five years ago, Kate replied, "You." She paused for a few seconds and said, "I have to add something, though. I just want you, and Lily, and Alexis, and our family and our life."

"You have it," Rick said. "You have us. And you always will."

"That's the best part," Kate replied. "And Lily will always have you and me."

Rick looked down at Lily, who, now fed and with a fresh diaper, and having been nestled in her father's arms, had fallen fast asleep. Rick carefully got up and gently laid Lily in her bassinet, which he then wheeled closer to Kate's bed.

Kate fell asleep after seeing that Rick had wheeled Lily up next to her bed so she didn't hear him when he spoke. "She will, and it really is," he said. He looked down at Lily sleeping and just marveled. "And Lily will..." Rick trailed off when he looked up and saw that Kate was asleep.

He quietly rounded Kate's hospital bed, and stood there for a long moment, looking at his sleeping wife. "She's going to be as extraordinary as her mother," he said softly. "I know she is." He bent and gently kissed Kate's forehead, and then carefully got into the hospital bed beside Kate so he didn't wake her up, and closed his own eyes, because he could do with a nap himself, and the unwritten rule for new parents is to sleep when the baby sleeps.

* * *

Lanie and Alan walked out of the hospital in silence, but they hadn't taken three steps down the sidewalk when Lanie stopped, so Alan stopped beside her.

Lanie turned to look at him. "Alan, I've been doing a lot of thinking about you and me these past few weeks," she began.

"I noticed you've been preoccupied," he replied, turning to face her so they were looking into each other's eyes. "And you've been especially preoccupied today, although I don't think you were just preoccupied today because Kate had the baby."

"That's part of it," Lanie said. "Part of all my preoccupation, really."

Alan looked puzzled now. "Kate having the baby today has been why you've been preoccupied for the past several weeks?" he asked. "I know she's your best friend, but-"

"Not Kate giving birth to Lily, but what it means," Lanie said. She paused. "I'm not saying this right." She took a deep breath, then said, "Things are great with us. You and me, I mean."

"The greatest," Alan agreed. He still wasn't sure exactly where Lanie was going with this, but he at least knew she wasn't breaking up with him, so his stomach stopped jumping in his body.

"I've known Kate for a long time, and if you had known her before Castle came into her life, you wouldn't have known her," Lanie said. "He really changed her life. She never thought she would ever get married or have kids. That was one of the things that bonded us together at first, actually: two career women, working NYPD Homicide, neither one of us even remotely interested in marriage or babies or anything like that. But then Castle came along, and it took them a long time to get their act together, but they did it. And they got married, and now they have a baby. And somewhere along the way, although I've never told her this and I don't plan to, I got...well...kind of jealous of Kate, because for all that she insisted marriage and kids weren't for her, and for all the walls she had built up around herself for so long, when she fell in love with Castle, and finally accepted that she loved him, and that he loved her, and that it was the forever kind of love, they got married, and they have a family...and seeing Kate so happy and so...so settled, in a good way, made me want what she had for myself. And I didn't think I was ever gonna find it.

"And then I had this _**really**_ crazy couple of days at work a little over a year ago. We had this murder victim...well, _**alleged**_ murder victim. It was the most amazing thing. First he was poisoned, and I thought he was dead, but he wasn't. And then he was electrocuted, and I thought he was dead again, but he wasn't. And the craziest part of all, he got shot in the middle of the forehead, and he survived that too! And somewhere in the course of that certifiably insane 48 hours, after having mistakenly pronounced this man dead _**twice**_ **,** I got involved in the search for the person who wanted this man dead in a way that I never got involved in any of the murder cases I worked with Kate and Castle and the boys over all the years we worked together.

"And when it was all over, and the wannabe killer was arrested, and the guy was okay, and resting comfortably at the hospital, he said that he was grateful, especially for the new friend he made, and that he hoped we could stay in touch. And when he...when _**you**_ said that...I got butterflies in my stomach like I had never had before in my whole life. I knew that day that you were gonna be very special and very important to me, Alan Masters...and it didn't take me very long to tumble head over heels in love with you."

"I was half in love with you by the time we had that mind meld moment in your morgue," Alan said. "And I'm still falling, Lanie. I don't think I'm ever gonna stop falling in love with you. You're it for me."

"And you're it for me," Lanie replied, "which is why I've been so preoccupied for these past several weeks." She looked at him earnestly now. "I've been trying to find a way to ask you something very important, but I wasn't sure what you'd say. I'm still not completely certain what your answer will be, but I don't want to wait another second to ask you."

"To ask me..." Alan prompted.

"To ask you if...that is..." Finally, with another deep breath for fortification, Lanie just went for it. Looking up into his gorgeous brown eyes, she asked the question that had been going around and around in her head for weeks. "Alan, will you marry me?"

Alan's face registered a range of emotions in rapid succession: complete surprise, followed by sheer awe, utter, unconditional love, and then his entire face lit up with pure joy as he said, "Yes, Lanie. Yes, I will marry you."

Following Alan's reply, Lanie's expression matched his, pure joy and love as she launched herself at him for a long, passionate kiss, right there in the middle of the sidewalk in front of New York Presbyterian Hospital—Lower Manhattan, both of them completely ignoring the people on the sidewalk rushing past them.

When the need for oxygen forced them to break the kiss, they stood there, wrapped in each other's embrace, breathing heavily. When they had recovered themselves somewhat, before Lanie could say anything, Alan reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened the wallet, then opened the secret compartment in the wallet and removed a diamond solitaire engagement ring with the diamond set in a platinum band.

Lanie was shocked. "You...you have a ring?" she asked.

"Since a week before Valentine's Day," Alan replied. "I've been carrying it with me all this time, waiting for the right moment to give it to you. That moment is now. If you like the ring, that is," he added hastily. "If you don't, we can take it back and you can pick out whichever ring you want."

"I want that ring," Lanie said, gesturing to the ring Alan was holding between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand.

Alan reached for Lanie's left hand and slid the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit. "I sort of snooped through your jewelry box until I unearthed your college class ring, and then I took it with me to the jeweler to make sure I got the size right."

Lanie looked from the ring to Alan. "I love you so much," she said.

"I love you too," he replied. Then they kissed again, still oblivious to the people passing them on the sidewalk, and too happy and too much in love to care if anyone had told them to get a room or interrupted this magic moment for them.


	54. Chapter 52

_**Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing. Your interest and enthusiasm help inspire me to strive to make this the best story I possibly can.**_

* * *

Lily had heard them talking since the day she was first able to hear, but the two most familiar, and most welcome, voices were the ones belonging to Mommy and Daddy—who were also known as Mom and Dad; Kate and Rick; and occasionally, when it was really dark outside and Lily was shrieking her displeasure at being hungry, wet, dirty, or all of the above, Beckett and Castle.

Of course, she herself was Lily, Sweetpea (but only to Daddy), Lily Jo (but only to the one called Grandpa Jim), Sweetie (usually to Mommy), kiddo (but only to the one called Gram), and there were various aunts and uncles, and some of those aunts and uncles were also something called godparents, and she was still figuring out who everyone was. Alexis was something called "Big Sister," and Uncle Javi, who Lily **thought** she heard a couple of people mention was also one of her godfathers, whatever godfathers were, was with Alexis a lot. Not every time Alexis was home—which is what the big place with all the different rooms where they lived and ate and slept and took baths was called, "home," which was a nice-sounding word—but a lot. Grandpa Jim came by every day, and Gram did too, but Grandpa Jim usually came by in the afternoons, and Gram had come by in the mornings for a few days, until an unfortunate incident involving what Daddy referred to as a diaper blowout. After that, Gram started coming by in the evenings.

The two main people in Lily's world were Mommy and Daddy. And they were wonderful. They made her feel safe and loved and happy, and she loved them very much. She recognized their voices, and now she could see them instead of just hear them.

There was also a lot more room at home for Lily to move around. Her previous home had been really cramped and kind of dark, and there wasn't much to see in there. She liked it at this home much better.

Lily was surrounded by love, and she was a very happy baby. She loved her swing, bath time, and being with Mommy and Daddy. Of course, she had quite the set of lungs on her too, and was always quick to let Mommy and Daddy know when she needed something. Her only means of communication was crying, so she would cry as loudly as she could. Her crying brought Mommy and Daddy both rushing, usually, unless only one of them was home. Sometimes Daddy went out for more diapers and wipes, so Mommy was the one who came running to Lily's side; other times Daddy came rushing, telling Lily as he tended to her that Mommy was so exhausted she was sound asleep and he didn't want to wake her up. But Lily knew, from the moment she arrived in the world, that she was loved very much, and that someone would always be there for her when she needed them.

Mommy would rock Lily in the rocking chair in the space called "the nursery," which they said would be all Lily's someday, but for now, she slept in the same room with Mommy and Daddy. Daddy wondered if they should move the rocking chair into their bedroom, but Mommy told him it was fine where it was. And as Mommy rocked Lily, whether she was feeding Lily at the time, or Lily just wasn't tired enough to sleep, Mommy would talk to her. Lily liked their talks. "It's only been five days, and I wonder how we waited so long for you, Lily," Mommy said as she rocked Lily while Lily ate. "I love you so much, sweet girl."

Lily knew Mommy loved her; she loved Mommy too. "This is what I lived for," Mommy said. "Through all the lonely years...the hard times...the pain...I lived for your wonderful daddy and for you. And with every breath in my body, and everything in my power, I promise you that I will make sure you never know the exact kind of pain that I did." She stroked Lily's downy soft hair, as Lily looked up at her drowsily but adoringly. "I wish that I could shield you from all pain, but I know that's not possible. And I know the day will come when I drive you crazy, because the day came when your Grandma Johanna drove me crazy, but if you're anything like me...oh boy, if you're anything like me, you'll give it right back to me, won't you? Just like I did to my mom. But we'll get through it, Lily. We're doing okay so far, aren't we? Better than okay. It turns out my insomniac tendencies and ability to get by on very little sleep are good skills when you have a newborn." Kate chuckled then, not because she was punchy or overtired, just because she was brimming over with so much happiness, she just **had** to laugh at that moment.

Rick stood in the doorway of the nursery, leaning against the door frame, watching Kate rock and talk to Lily. When Lily unlatched, Kate carefully lifted Lily to her shoulder and began rubbing and patting her back to get her to burp. He had known that Kate would be an amazing mother, but actually seeing her and Lily together showed him that he had had no idea just **how** amazing a mother Kate would be until Lily was born. She had taken to motherhood like a duck takes to water, diving into the deep end without hesitation, and with minimal fear.

Rick heard the burp Lily emitted. For such a tiny girl, she could belch like a teenage boy. "That's better, isn't it?" Kate said rhetorically. She brought Lily down from her shoulder and, overcome with love, rubbed her nose gently against their baby daughter's nose. Lily squirmed slightly in Kate's arms, yawning hugely before popping her thumb into her mouth. In the last five days, Kate and Rick had discovered that Lily was not a fan of pacifiers, but did like to suck her thumb when she was especially tired. Once Lily was soundly asleep, though, her thumb always fell out of her mouth.

Rick quietly entered the nursery and crossed the room to the rocking chair, hunkering down beside it, he and Kate both ignoring the popping of the knee he had broken skiing a few years back, the lasting souvenir from that particular accident. (Someday Lily would find Daddy's popping knee endlessly amusing, and ask him to make his knee pop over and over again.) "We knew you were back there," Kate said softly as Lily drifted to sleep in her arms. "You could have come in."

"I didn't want to interrupt mother/daughter time," Rick said just as softly. Lily was clad in a lightweight white sleeper printed with little castles and crowns that had been a gift from Victoria Gates, who had brought it with her in a gift bag when she dropped by on her way home from One PP shortly after Rick and Kate brought Lily home from the hospital the day after she was born. The castles were pink and white, the crowns gold, and the little feet were styled to look like pink ballet slippers. Victoria's explanation was that she had seen it and couldn't resist it, given that Lily was a Castle.

Rick gently brushed his fingertips over Lily's left foot. She didn't stir, letting out a soft sigh. Kate was looking down at the sleeping Lily, totally besotted, and with a level of concentration that had once been reserved for murder boards.

"Considering her gene pool, I'm a little surprised she's such an easy baby. Alexis wasn't this easy. Of course, she had colic. Lily, knock wood, doesn't seem to be exhibiting any symptoms of that, thank God," Rick said. He addressed Lily now. "But if you did, I would gladly do 75 laps around the coffee table at three in the morning, just like I did for your big sister. Yes, I would, because that's what dads do."

"It's what the best dads do," Kate said softly. "Your dad side has always been one of the most attractive things about you to me, but seeing you with Lily… Whenever I watch you two together, I feel like my heart is growing _."_

"I get the same feeling when I watch you with Lily," Rick replied. The new parents smiled at each other.

The moment was broken when Kate's phone, which was on the floor by the rocking chair, binged with an incoming text message. "Could you hand me my phone, please, babe?" she asked Rick.

He dutifully picked up the phone and handed it to Kate, who cradled the sleeping Lily in one arm and opened the text with the other. "It's from Lanie," she said a moment later. "She wants to know if she and Alan can come over right away."

"It's okay with me if it's okay with you," Rick replied.

Kate tapped out a quick reply, then looked back at Lily. "She's asleep," she whispered. "Let's try putting her to bed." Lily was a pretty good sleeper, all things considered, only waking up when she was hungry or needed a clean diaper. (Thunder and lightning would startle her for the first few months of her life, but eventually she would be able to sleep through the heaviest of thunderstorms, something her father would chalk up to some cosmic connection with her date of birth.) Kate had already said more than once that Lily must have inherited her good sleeping habits from Rick.

Kate rose from the rocking chair, cradling Lily in her arms, close to her heart. Rick stuck Kate's phone in her hip pocket, then followed her out of the nursery and down the stairs, across the living room to their bedroom.

In their bedroom, Kate gently laid Lily in the bassinet. Her thumb dropped out of her mouth, and Kate and Rick just stood there for a long moment, watching Lily sleep. "Sweet dreams, sweetpea," Rick whispered, leaning down to brush a kiss across her forehead.

"We love you so much, Lily," Kate whispered before she bent and kissed Lily's cheek.

Rick grabbed the nursery monitor from his bedside table, and followed Kate out of their bedroom to the living room. A moment later, there was a knock at the front door, and Kate went to answer it.

Lanie, not one to stand on ceremony, pushed past Kate into the loft, with Alan trailing after her, both of them looking harried, but Lanie much more so than Alan. As she entered, Lanie exclaimed, "I know you're not drinking right now, Kate, but **please** tell me you have wine, and a lot of it!"

Kate closed the front door, and looked at Alan. "We just came from dinner with the parents. The first one with all four parents, at which we announced our engagement to them," he said.

Lanie was in the kitchen by now, holding a wineglass and rummaging through a drawer looking for something to open a bottle of wine with. "Remember the first time we had dinner with your dad and my mother?" Rick asked Kate.

"Oh yes," Kate said. "And we didn't know the evening was going to get worse from there. But everything ended up okay, and I'm sure it will for you guys, Lanie, Alan."

Lanie, holding a full wineglass in one hand and the bottle of wine in the other, plopped down on the couch. "You can say that. You weren't there," she said bitterly because drinking heartily from her wineglass.

Alan, seeing that it would fall to him to explain things, declined Rick's offer of a drink and sat down next to Lanie. "The progression of our relationship does seem fast to our parents, because we've only known each other a little over a year," he said. "But it's not like they're against our getting married."

"My mother actually asked if we had to get married!" Lanie exclaimed.

"Um, Lily's asleep in our bedroom, so could you..." Kate began, looking and sounding apologetic for asking.

Lanie mentally cursed himself. "I'm sorry," she said more quietly. Then her temper got going again, albeit _sotto voce_. "She thought the only reason Alan and I would get married quote 'so soon' unquote is because I'm pregnant!" she hissed indignantly.

Kate winced in sympathy. "You told her that's not the case," she said.

"Of course we did," Lanie said. "But then that launched her into Mother of the Bridezilla mode! She wants this to be...I don't know...some weird combination of Prince William's wedding and this big fancy wedding Marian Brightfield's daughter had."

"Who is Marian Brightfield?" Rick asked.

"From what I gathered, she is a frenemy of Mrs. Parish from her church," Alan supplied. "Mrs. Parish doesn't want Lydia Brightfield's wedding outdoing ours. She didn't listen to a word Lanie tried to say after making that pronouncement."

"She picked a fight with Alan's mother about place cards, for crying out loud! Place cards, Kate!" Lanie quietly exclaimed. "We don't even want a big wedding!"

"At least you're not arguing with each other. And you're not going to get separated by people connected to the Mob and one of you won't be thinking for even a few seconds that the other is dead," Rick offered.

"And see, we survived that, and a lot more," Kate said. "So you'll get through this, Lanie. You will." Lanie drained her wineglass and poured herself another.

"I've been through this wedding insanity before with my mother, when my sister got married. She can hold her own. And she'll accept any decisions we make. My dad is on our side," Alan said, running a hand through his disheveled hair.

"You can talk to your mother, make her understand what you want," Kate said to Lanie.

But Lanie swallowed her wine and vehemently shook her head. "All she heard was 'I'm getting married,' and she instantly started trying to one-up Marian Brightfield as a mother of the bride."

"But it's **your** wedding," Kate said. "Yours and Alan's. The final decisions are up to the two of you. It's about you, it's not about your mother."

"Maybe my mother would listen to you," Lanie mused. "Especially if you went into Detective Beckett mode." She paused for a moment, considering, then said, "Oh, who am I kidding? My mother is going to steamroll right over us and make our wedding about her!"

Alan leaned forward then. "I have an idea," he said. He looked to Rick and Kate. "I know that you guys are insanely busy with Lily, and Kate's campaign is going to start revving up here pretty soon, but we really don't want anyone else but you two for our best man and matron of honor."

"And we already accepted," Kate reminded him.

Lanie looked at Alan. "What's your idea?" she asked him. "And why is this the first I'm hearing about it?"

"I was giving you time to calm down," he replied. He looked back at Rick and Kate. "Lanie's right: a big wedding really isn't our style. My brother-in-law's college roommate is one of the people who runs The Glasshouses. I put out some feelers to him last week, and they actually had a cancellation in August. They can do a big wedding, but they can also do a small wedding." He looked at Lanie. "If I make an appointment for us to go and look at it next week, would you go?"

"You mean we put together our own wedding before my mother can book something for us?" Lanie asked.

"Yeah. Are you game?" Alan asked.

"Absolutely!" Lanie exclaimed. She set her wineglass down and threw her arms around Alan.

"And if you don't like The Glasshouses," Alan said as he wrapped his arms around her, "then we'll find a place you **do** like."

"You really wanna get married in three months?" Lanie asked, pulling back to look into his eyes.

"Is there really any reason to wait?" Alan countered. "We love each other, and we're committed to each other, so why should we wait any longer than we have to?" He looked to Rick and Kate. "New parents, Councilwoman Candidate Beckett, best friends, do you have any objections to helping us plan our wedding this summer? Anything you can do will be greatly appreciated."

"And Castle, listen to me very closely," Lanie said firmly. "There will be **no** bachelor party."

Rick put a hand over his heart and pulled a mock wounded face. "What on earth do you think I would do for Alan's bachelor party, Lanie?" he asked innocently.

"I don't even want to know," she said. "I heard all about the impromptu bachelor party you and Esposito had for Ryan in Atlantic City." She looked at Alan. "Do not, under any circumstances, go to Atlantic City with him, Alan. I mean it. I don't care if he claims Stan Lee is over there waiting to meet you one-on-one."

Kate got a gleam in her eye then. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that, Lanie," she said. "I think I can solve that problem quite nicely." Rick looked at Kate, instantly knowing where she was going with this.

"What does that mean?" Alan asked.

"Joint parties," Rick and Kate said in unison. Kate grinned at Rick when he smiled at her.

"Can we have karaoke?" Alan asked eagerly.

"And you thought he'd go to Atlantic City," Kate said in an undertone to Lanie.

"What _**was**_ I thinking?" Lanie asked, then she smiled fondly at Alan before looking at Kate.

"Well, it's your party," Rick said, "so yes, I think karaoke should be on the list if that's what you want."

"Yes!" Alan cheered. He looked at Lanie. "See, this is all going to work out. I promise you, you're going to have the wedding you want."

"But I want you to have the wedding you want too, Alan. It's not all about me, any more than it's all about my mother," Lanie said.

Alan brushed Lanie's hair off her face. "You're going to be the bride and I'm going to be the groom," Alan said. "That's all I want. I'd marry you in a parking lot. As long as at the end of the night, you and I are husband and wife, that's all that matters to me."

"Awwww," Lanie said, then leaned in and kissed Alan.

"We're still cuter than they are," Rick said, leaning over to whisper in Kate's ear.

"It's not a competition," Kate whispered back, "but yeah, we are."

"Hey, canoodle on your own time," Lanie said, pulling Kate and Rick's attention to her and Alan again.

"We have a newborn. Any time we can canoodle **is** our own time," Kate retorted. Then she and Lanie both laughed. Kate reached out for Lanie's hands. "We'll help as much as we can. You've waited a long time for this, and you deserve your perfect wedding, whatever that is."

Lanie then hugged Kate. "I didn't think it would ever happen for me," she confessed. "But it is happening, and Kate..." She trailed off as she pulled back to look at Kate.

"I know," Kate said, nodding. "I know exactly what you mean." Rick and Alan were talking now, laughing, something about some new sci-fi show from Seth MacFarlane that would be debuting on TV in the fall that they both wanted to check out.

Lanie picked up her wineglass. "Here's to not being married to our jobs anymore," Lanie said.

"Hear, hear," Kate agreed as she caught Rick looking over at her to wink at her and grinned at him in reply.

* * *

"I know it's not the same, Lily, but it's Mother's Day, and if anyone deserves to sleep late, it's your mommy," Rick said as he tried to coax Lily into taking a bottle of breast milk Kate had expressed. It was 5:30 in the morning, and they were sitting on the couch in the living room. Although Kate bounded out of bed at the first whimper from Lily no matter what time of night or day it was, and Rick was sure she would wake up any second despite his best efforts to keep that from happening, since this was Kate's first Mother's Day, Rick wanted her to be able to sleep as long as possible.

"That's my girl," Rick quietly cheered when Lily latched on to the bottle and began drinking from it. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes, Kate's eyes, and he smiled down at her. "Hopefully we're a good twelve or thirteen years away from you rolling those beautiful eyes at me the way your mom used to do to me all the time when we first met," he said. "I know your mommy and I stare at you a lot, but it's only because we love you so much, Lily. I thought about you for a long time. I dreamed about you long before you came to be. And having you and raising you with your mom… I was meant to be your dad, yes, I was. And your mom was meant to be your mom."

Rick was making sure Lily didn't swallow too much air when the front door opened and Alexis walked in, fully dressed, carrying her purse, and looking somewhat chagrined. "Dad, Lily," she said. "I wasn't expecting you to be up so early."

Rick was slightly sleep-deprived (he got up with Kate whenever she got up with Lily, and now that Lily was a week old, Kate realized that Rick was going to keep on getting up with her and Lily no matter how many times she told him it wasn't absolutely necessary every time), but not so sleep-deprived that he couldn't figure out what was going on: Alexis had obviously spent the night at Esposito's and had come home before dawn because it was Mother's Day.

Alexis set her purse on the coffee table and sat down on the couch next to her father and sister. "I'm trying to let Kate sleep as long as possible, since it's Mother's Day," Rick replied quietly.

Alexis looked down at Lily. "You're very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning, Lily," she greeted her baby sister. Lily was hungrily sucking down her bottle.

"I think we have a morning person on our hands," Rick said. "Of course, you were the same way."

"I still am," Alexis said wryly, remembering how she had had to wake Javier up to tell him she was heading home and kiss him goodbye, and that he had then immediately fallen back to sleep before she was even out of the bedroom. "Look, Dad, I know that we haven't really talked about it, but I also know that you know that there are some nights that I'm not here."

"I know where you are when you're not here," Rick said. "And you're an adult."

"I've never had Javier spend the night here. It would be too awkward for everyone, I think, but especially for him," Alexis said.

"Yeah, I agree with that," Rick said. He set the bottle aside and put Lily up over his shoulder, spit-up rag at the ready, as he began to burp her.

"We're not in any rush," Alexis assured her father.

"That's good to know," Rick replied. "One wedding on the horizon is more than enough for right now, with everything else we've got going on." Things were moving full steam ahead for Lanie and Alan's August wedding; Lanie had loved The Glasshouses the second she and Alan had set foot in the place, and the date had been set for August 12.

Lily let out a hearty burp, and Rick brought her down from his shoulder and wiped some milk from one corner of her mouth.

"You look tired, Dad," Alexis said.

Rick just smiled. "Occupational hazard of parenthood," he replied.

"Our brunch reservations aren't until 11, and Gram and Jim are meeting us at the restaurant," Alexis said. "I can take care of Lily so you can get some sleep too."

Rick looked at Alexis, and then at Lily. "I swear, you were this size just a few years ago," he said. He looked at Alexis again. "And now you're all grown up...off to law school this fall...you have a serious boyfriend that you're probably gonna marry someday."

"A long, long time from now," Alexis said, even as she mentally amended her dad's 'probably' to her own 'definitely.' Her dad was really trying with Javier, in a way he had never tried with any of her other boyfriends. Some of that, she was certain, was because of Kate's influence, and Gram being on board with their relationship from the start. But Rick's acceptance of Alexis and Javier's relationship meant the world to Alexis, since Alexis knew she would be with Javier for the rest of their lives.

"Just promise me you won't elbow anyone to catch the bouquet at Lanie and Alan's wedding," Rick said seriously.

"I promise," Alexis said earnestly. Then she reached out and laid her hand on her dad's shoulder. "In a way, this is your day too, because you were really my dad **and** my mom, until Kate came into our lives. Besides, I haven't had much one-on-one time with my baby sister yet."

"What do you say, Lily? You wanna spend some time with Alexis?" Rick asked the baby. She regarded her father solemnly and then cooed. "I'll take that as a yes," he said. "Oh, wait, I should change her."

"Dad, relax, I've got it," Alexis assured him. "Go cuddle up with Kate and get some more sleep."

"Okay," Rick agreed. He kissed Lily's forehead before carefully handing her off to Alexis. "Have fun, sweetpea, pumpkin," he said, and then he grinned at the sight of his two daughters together before he turned and walked back to the bedroom.

When he slid into bed next to Kate, she moved closer to him, laying her cheek on his chest, right over his heart. "Lily okay?" she asked sleepily.

"I fed her, and Alexis is going to change her and take care of her so we can get some more sleep," Rick replied quietly. He kissed the top of Kate's head. "Happy Mother's Day, Kate."

"Tell me again when I'm really awake, okay?" she asked before she drifted back to sleep.

"I will," Rick said, wrapping his arms around to hold her before he too went back to sleep.


	55. Chapter 53

_**Thank you all for your continuing enthusiasm and support.**_

* * *

Kate was awakened by the sounds of Lily fussing, and Alexis trying to soothe her. A glance at the alarm clock showed that it was a few minutes past 7 AM. Rick was asleep beside her, his arm draped over her abdomen, spooning her, her back to his front. She carefully moved his arm and slipped out of bed, then headed into the living room, where she found Alexis talking softly to Lily and bouncing Lily gently in her arms.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" Kate asked, pushing her hair behind her ears as she walked to Alexis's side. She took Lily from Alexis and held her close, gently shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she swayed the baby. Lily's cries began to quiet almost immediately.

"I'm sorry, Alexis, we should have told you, we have discovered that Lily doesn't like to be bounced. She likes to be swayed back and forth instead," Kate fretted.

"Oh, hey, that's okay. It's been a very busy week," Alexis hastened to assure Kate. "I've got it now. Next time it's just you and me, Tiger Lily, I will sway you instead of bounce you, okay?"

"Tiger Lily?" Kate asked with a smile.

"Well, Dad already claimed 'Sweetpea,' you call her 'Sweetie' when you don't call her by name, and your dad calls her 'Lily Jo,'" Alexis said. "If you'd rather I didn't-"

"She's your sister, Alexis. Of course you can give her a nickname. And given her gene pool, I'm sure the day will come when she is a tiger, won't it, Lily?" Kate asked, addressing the baby now.

Lily cooed at her mother, and Alexis looked at Kate and Lily and said, "The swaying worked, but I think what she really wanted, what she really needed, was her mom."

"Was that it, Lily? Did you miss me?" Kate asked. She shifted Lily in her arms, still swaying gently back and forth, so that she and Lily could look into each other's faces. "I'm right here, baby girl." She kissed Lily's forehead, and gently wiped her wet cheeks with her fingertips. "That's better, huh?"

Alexis watched Kate and Lily together, the way Lily moved her limbs and responded to Kate's voice, the unconditional love in Kate's eyes, voice, and body language, and she said, "Happy Mother's Day, Kate."

Kate shifted her gaze from Lily to Alexis and beamed at Alexis. "Thank you, Alexis," she said. "This is the first time I've even acknowledged this day since 1998. And I think it's gonna be a great one."

Kate noticed the shift in Alexis's eyes, the nervousness and anxiety in them. Before Kate could ask what it was about, Alexis blurted, "I've, um, I've been thinking...and I need to ask you something."

"All right," Kate agreed.

"You know Meredith," Alexis began, "and my relationship with her...or more accurately, my lack thereof… Well, I never really missed having a mother when I was growing up because you can't miss what you never had, right? The other kids had moms who lived with them and did things with them and took care of them when they were sick and came to school for Parents' Day and violin recitals and stuff, and I didn't. But that was okay, because I had Dad to do all that stuff for me and with me, and I wouldn't change that, and I had Gram.

"You've never pushed me to define the relationship between you and me, Kate. You've been there for the past eight years, and you've given me advice and helped me out with problems, and you make my dad happier than I've ever seen him. I haven't actually spoken to Meredith since the day you and Dad..." She trailed off, not wanting to go back to that horrible day even in conversation. "I sent her a Mother's Day email a few days ago, and it bounced back. She apparently changed her email address, and didn't bother to tell me. And so I tried calling her...six times...and it went to voicemail every time. I finally stopped calling. And she never called me back. She didn't even acknowledge my graduation a few months ago.

"I know we've never defined our relationship, and you've given me all the space and all the breathing room you thought I would need. More than I needed, really."

Her heart pounding nervously, Alexis looked directly into Kate's eyes before continuing. "And all of this is my incredibly long-winded way of saying that in my heart, as far as I'm concerned, you're my mom, Kate. And so I've been wondering for the past few days...well...Would it be okay with you if I started calling you 'Mom'?"

Kate looked at Alexis in amazement. Alexis mistook Kate's immediate lack of response and surprised look and said, "You know what, it's okay. Never mind. Forget I said anything. I-"

"Alexis, I would be honored if you called me 'Mom,'" Kate interrupted.

"You would?" Alexis asked hopefully.

"I told your dad a while back that he raised an amazing person in you, and he did. I didn't meet you until you were fifteen, but I've always liked you. And it didn't take long for that like to turn to love. I love you like a daughter, and I have for a long time. So if you want to call me 'Mom,' that's more than okay with me."

Alexis blinked back tears before rushing forward and throwing her arms around Kate, carefully hugging both her and Lily. Kate held Lily tightly to her and then hugged Alexis with her other arm. Kate felt a few tears welling up in her own eyes as she hugged her daughters, because Alexis was no less her daughter than Lily.

Rick had awakened almost immediately after Kate had upon hearing Lily crying, and he had gotten out of bed too, intending to follow Kate and help her deal with Lily. But he had stopped in their bedroom doorway when he had seen Kate with Alexis and Lily, and there he had stayed, hearing the conversation between Alexis and Kate.

After meeting Kate, after they had begun to become _ **them**_ , Rick had changed his will, after talking to Kate about it, so that if anything had happened to him, Kate would be Alexis's legal guardian. Unbidden, he realized he needed to update his will now that Lily had arrived. Well, he and Kate needed to make a joint will, which they hadn't done after getting married, he amended, before his train of thought returned to its previous track, about Alexis and Kate.

He had hoped for a long time—while following Kate's lead, knowing she didn't want to push Alexis, and since all of them, including his mother, gave Meredith a wide berth and never really expected too much from her because she never really gave anything unless she herself was getting something out of the experience—that Kate and Alexis would grow closer eventually.

He had never considered that Alexis might want to claim Kate as her mother, and call her 'Mom,' but he was misty-eyed himself at seeing and hearing how much this moment obviously meant to both Alexis and Kate. He had known years ago, when he had asked Kate to take care of Alexis for him if anything happened to him, that Kate would be an amazing mother. Now, all these years later, both of his daughters would have Kate for their mother.

Sometimes, he reflected, the universe works things out exactly the way they are meant to be.

With her unerring instincts, and the prickle coursing up the back of her neck, Kate knew that Rick was there, watching from the doorway of their bedroom, that he had probably heard everything she and Alexis had said, but was not intruding on the moment because it was theirs.

Alexis moved back slightly, one arm still around Kate's back, the other wiping at her eyes. "Dad," she said, catching sight of Rick standing in the doorway of his and Kate's bedroom. "I'm sorry we woke you."

"I'm not," he replied as he walked across the room to join them. He kissed the top of Alexis's head, then the top of Lily's head, and then he kissed Kate gently on the lips, keeping it PG because of Alexis and Lily. "I don't get to spend too many mornings with all of my girls."

Kate pinned Rick with a look. "Your girls?" she repeated.

"Um, well, I meant...that is, ah..." Rick stammered.

Kate burst out laughing. "Sometimes you're too easy," she told her husband.

"Is that a complaint?" he asked.

She shook her head. "An observation," she replied.

"Happy Mother's Day, Kate," he said.

She beamed at him, her eyes still alight with mischief and mirth from a moment earlier, when he had thought he was about to get in trouble for referring to her as one of his girls. "Thank you," she said. "Now, I'd better feed Lily again, and then she needs a bath, and I need a shower, and what time are we meeting Dad and Martha for brunch again?"

"Eleven," Alexis and Rick replied in unison.

"Well, good, then we have plenty of time, don't we, Lily?" Kate asked as she walked Lily over to the couch and sat down with her to nurse her, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch as a shield, since she didn't want to make Alexis uncomfortable.

"I'll make some coffee," Rick said.

"I'll cut up some fruit," Alexis added, following her father to the kitchen. As they worked in the kitchen, Alexis said, "So, I guess you heard that, huh?"

"I did," Rick said, sliding the coffeepot into place as the dark liquid began to drip through the filter and into the pot.

Alexis looked up from the cantaloupe she was slicing. "Is it okay with you? If I call Kate 'Mom'?"

"It's okay with Kate," Rick replied, "and that's what really matters. But yeah, it's absolutely okay with me."

"I'm doing this partly because I didn't want to make things too confusing for Lily as she grows up," Alexis said. Then she laid down the knife she was using and wiped her hands on a kitchen towel. "But I'm doing it mostly because Kate is the only real mother I've ever known, and I want to acknowledge that. So it's mostly selfish, I guess."

"How is it selfish?" Rick asked. "I know you've always wanted a mom, Alexis. And Meredith was never going to be the kind of mom you wanted or needed. My one regret is that I was never able to give you the mom you wanted and needed, the mom you deserved."

"But Dad, you did," Alexis said. She looked over at Kate, and Rick followed her gaze. They both looked at Kate, talking to Lily as Lily nursed, and then they looked at each other again. "You gave me the best mom in the whole world. And I even got an adorable baby sister too. It just took time, but she was totally worth the wait. And so was Lily."

"Yes, they were," Rick agreed, as he and Alexis hugged.

A few hours later, the quartet strolled into the restaurant for Mother's Day brunch to find Jim and Martha already waiting. Rick had a bouquet of flowers for Martha, and he had booked a spa weekend for her as his gift from him and Kate. Martha's gift from Lily was a coffee mug that proclaimed "I've Been Called a Lot of Names in My Lifetime, But Gram Is My Favorite." Alexis had gotten Martha tickets to the revival of _Hello, Dolly_ for them to attend together.

Lily slept through brunch in her car seat carrier, but was still the big hit of the meal. "I swear she's gotten bigger," Jim said in a hushed voice as he watched her sleeping.

"Dad, you just saw her yesterday," Kate said. "Babies grow fast, but not **that** fast."

Jim reached down under his chair in reply, coming up with a package wrapped in floral-print wrapping paper and tied with a pink ribbon and bow. Kate looked from the box to her father in surprise. He just smiled. Kate opened the gift right there at the table.

The box contained two baby books, one new and blank, for Lily...the other thick and starting to yellow with age: Kate's own baby book that Johanna Beckett had kept. "Dad," Kate said in amazement as she looked up at him.

"I noticed you didn't get a baby book at your shower," he said, "and I found yours earlier this year. I thought it was appropriate to give you your baby book, and give you one to start for Lily."

Kate got up and rounded the table to give her father a hug. "Thank you," she said. "I love them both."

Jim hugged her back, then when they were looking into each other's eyes, he said, "Happy Mother's Day, Katie."

"Thanks, Dad," she replied.

Martha handed Kate an envelope as she said, "This is actually for both you and Richard." It was a confirmed dinner reservation for the two of them at One if by Land, Two if by Sea for the night of June 10. "That's six weeks from Lily's birth," Martha said. "I'll baby-sit, of course."

Rick stifled a groan at this. He appreciated his mother's gift, as did Kate, but leave it to his mother to matter-of-factly bring up the six-week period of abstinence required of him and Kate after Lily's birth. Kate gently nudged his ankle with her foot under the table as she said, "This is so thoughtful, Martha. Thank you so much."

"Anything for you, my dears," Martha replied. "After all, you know how special that six-week mark is."

"Yes, we do, Mother," Rick hurriedly said before Martha could elaborate any further. "Thank you."

Rick and Alexis were giving Kate her gifts at home, after brunch. After Rick paid the check, as they were all preparing to leave the restaurant, Lily woke up, but was soothed by the presence of her mommy and daddy and Alexis. She noticed Gram and Grandpa Jim were there too, and was content to just wave her arms around. "I can carry Lily out to the car, Mom, Dad," Alexis said.

The look on Kate's face in that moment was one all of the adults present would remember for the rest of their lives. Yes, Kate had told Alexis that Alexis could call her 'Mom' earlier, but this was the first time Alexis had actually done it...and she had done it not only naturally and matter-of-factly, but also in front of Martha and Jim

Martha clasped her hands over her heart and looked from Kate to Richard with a teary smile. Jim looked surprised but then he beamed at Kate, not at all surprised to hear Alexis refer to Kate as her mom. Rick threaded his fingers through Kate's and winked at Alexis before smiling at Kate.

"If you don't mind, sure, that would be great, Alexis," Kate said. This would take some getting used to, she reflected, but it would be great to get used to it.

Back at the loft, Alexis presented Kate with a card that said, "Mom, Thanks for Everything" on the front, and the message inside the card read, "Today is a good day to say how much it means to have the gift of you in my life. It means a lot. And I love you for it. Happy Mother's Day," and she had added in her handwriting, "All my love, Alexis," and a framed photo of the two of them that Javier had taken at Alexis's graduation a few months earlier, their heads touching, both of them beaming for the camera, and Kate visibly pregnant with Lily.

Jim was holding Lily, and the two of them were fascinated with each other as Jim gave her his finger to hold, and she wrapped her tiny hand around her grandfather's finger. "You know, Jim," Martha said, leaning over to him while they waited for Rick to return with his gifts for Kate, "it's not nice to be a baby hog."

"Me, a baby hog? Do you believe she said that, Lily Jo?" Jim asked, looking down at the baby in his arms.

"You've been holding her since we got here," Martha pointed out. "I would like some time with her. She's my granddaughter too, you know."

"If you two can't play nicely, I'll have to take Lily," Alexis said cheekily as Kate looked on, amused.

Jim gently kissed Lily's forehead before carefully handing her to Martha. "There," he said, when Martha was holding Lily. "But I want her back when you're done."

Martha looked down at Lily. "You're the main attraction, kiddo," she told the baby. "I get the feeling your christening is going to be very interesting, because everyone is going to want to hold you. I have a feeling I know who will win that particular honor, though."

"Deputy Chief Gates?" Alexis said to Kate in an undertone.

"Javi and Kevin still can't tell her no," Kate replied in the same undertone. "Lanie might put up a fight, but if I had to choose between the two of them...yeah, I gotta go with Victoria in that case."

Rick returned then, carrying a pink envelope, a large box wrapped in silver foil with a matching bow, a bulge in the breast pocket of his jacket, and a cube-shaped box wrapped in pink-and-white-striped paper. He sat down and handed Kate the box wrapped in pink-and-white-striped paper. "This is from Lily," he said. "We thought long and hard, and discussed this, and it seemed like an ideal present for you." He then handed Kate the sealed pink envelope.

Kate accepted both, opening the card first. A cartoon mama bear lay on her back in the grass, holding her baby bear cub aloft underneath a brightly shining sun on the cover. The baby bear was reaching its hands toward the mommy. Beneath the picture, in the Comic Sans MS font, the card read, "Know What, Mommy?" and the "Mommy?" was in pink, while the "Know What," was in white.

Kate opened the card to find the baby bear holding a bouquet of flowers, with this message: "From the tips of my toes, to the tip of my nose, to the top of my head, and from the bottom of my heart, I LOVE YOU! Happy Mother's Day." Rick had printed "Love, Lily" in block letters under the message.

Inside the cube-shaped box was a coffee mug that said "Best Mom in the Universe," with the planet Saturn beneath the legend. Kate grinned, because "Best Mom in the Universe" was just so like Rick. "World's Best Mom"? Why stop there? No, Rick believed her to be the Best Mom in the Universe...and so did Alexis, and so would Lily, she hoped.

"Lily chose well. I can always use a coffee mug," Kate said.

"Oh, we've already had the conversation about Mommy and her coffee," Rick said seriously. "Now, as for your gift from me, I narrowed it down to two, and I couldn't decide between them, so I got both. One is...well, practical, I guess you could say," Rick replied.

" **You** bought a practical gift?" Kate asked, surprised and only half teasing.

"I believe it qualifies as practical, yes," Rick said. "The other one, I would say is...well, if I tell you, you'll guess what it is."

"I'm guessing the giant box there is the practical gift," Kate said.

"Yes," Rick replied.

Kate tore off the foil and bow to reveal a jogging stroller. "I know we have a regular stroller," he said, "but in case you want to take Lily jogging with you, now you can."

"I hadn't even thought about this, but this is terrific!" Kate exclaimed. She gave Rick a hug and a chaste kiss.

He smiled. "And now for your other gift." He pulled a black velvet jewelry case out of his breast pocket, with a red bow on top. "Happy Mother's Day, Kate."

Inside the case was a gorgeous pear-shaped emerald pendant necklace in 14-karat white gold. "Oh, Rick," Kate whispered.

"The emerald is Lily's birthstone," he said softly. He looked at Alexis apologetically. "If I had known you were going to pick today to start calling Kate 'Mom,' I would have had them put your birthstone on here too, Alexis." He shifted his gaze back to Kate. "I'll take it back to the jeweler and have him add an opal for Alexis."

Kate just looked at her husband. "This is amazing," she said.

Rick shook his head. " **You're** amazing, Kate."

That night, after Jim and Martha had gone home, and Alexis was in her room, on the phone with Javier, Rick had finished cleaning the kitchen, and, seeing the soft glow of one lamp in his and Kate's bedroom, he headed in there.

Kate was lying on her side on their bed, her head propped one hand, Lily stretched out next to her, her thumb in her mouth and her tiny eyelids fluttering, almost asleep. Kate was gently stroking Lily's face and humming softly, and then she began to sing to Lily. Rick stood just inside the bedroom, mesmerized at the sight and sound before him.

" _And ah ah ah ah ah, you're my favorite thing_

 _Ah ah ah ah ah, all the happiness you bring_

 _Well it feels_ _like I've opened my eyes again_

 _And the colors are golden and bright again_

 _And the sun paints the skies_

 _And the wind sings her song_

 _It's a better place since you came along_

 _It's a better place since you came along"_

Lily's thumb dropped out of her mouth, and Kate went back to humming softly. She knew Rick was there, so she looked up from Lily's sleeping face to his awed one and smiled shyly.

Rick approached the bed and gently sank down on his side, looking from Kate to the sleeping Lily and back again. "I love it when you sing," he said softly. "You have such a beautiful voice, Kate."

Kate smiled, then gently scooped Lily up. Rick stood too, and leaned down to brush a kiss to Lily's forehead. Then he followed Kate to the bassinet, where they put Lily down. She snuffled in her sleep before settling down with a soft sigh.

Rick and Kate stood at the bassinet, watching Lily sleep for a few minutes, their arms around each other, and Kate resting her head against Rick.

Kate went into the bathroom then, emerging in her pajamas (they made their nights early these days because of Lily) to find Rick already in his t-shirt and boxers for bed, and holding another envelope. "What's this?" she asked when he handed it to her.

"Your Mother's Day card from me," he replied. "I wanted us to be alone when I gave it to you."

Kate opened the envelope and pulled out the card. Rick had bought the card stock and handwritten the message himself.

The card read:

" _ **My Dearest Kate,**_

" _ **You already know how much I love you. At least, I hope you do. But on this, your first real Mother's Day as a mom, I want you to know something else—that I value you for the amazing person that you are in every facet of life, and that I admire you for being an exceptional mom. You are kind and understanding, patient and loving, and seeing you with our daughters**_ **(the 's' was a last-minute addition, which was another reason Rick waited to give the card to Kate)** ** _makes me fall in love with you more every day._**

" _ **Above all, I want you to know that beneath the hardworking, dedicated mother, I will always see the remarkable, extraordinary woman I am blessed and lucky to call my wife.**_

" _ **Happy First Mother's Day.**_

 _ **Love Always,**_

 _ **Rick"**_

Kate swiped at her eyes (damned post-partum hormones) before pulling Rick's head down for a sizzling kiss, which he eagerly reciprocated. When the need for oxygen forced them to break the kiss, Kate breathlessly said, "Thank you for giving me the two most incredible daughters in the world."

He smoothed his hands through her hair, tangling his fingers in the tresses before cradling the back of her head in one palm. "Joint effort," he replied softly. "Lily and Alexis both. Never underestimate the ways you've changed and influenced Alexis's life, Kate. You're part of the reason she is the woman she is. And we get to do everything together with Lily right from the start."

"You keep giving things back to me that I had thought were lost to me forever," Kate said, tracing one fingertip down his jawline. "Mother's Day is just the latest."

" **I** was lost, before you showed up at that book party and flashed your badge at me," Rick replied earnestly. "You found me, and you made me a better man, and you make my life so much richer and better and fuller and **more** than I ever thought it could be."

He was going to say something else, but the look in Kate's eyes, the love shining there, made him need to kiss her again, and before he could move, she fused her mouth to his once more, and he responded in kind.

* * *

 ** _Kate's lullaby for Lily is "Better Place" by Rachel Platten. And we don't have a definite birth date for Alexis, at least not that I could find or that I remember being mentioned in canon, so I just made her birth month October, the same as her portrayer, Molly C. Quinn._**


	56. Chapter 54

_**Thank you for your continued enthusiasm for and support of this story. It means everything to me.**_

 _ **And to my guest reviewers, a special shout out, since I cannot respond to all of you individually.**_

 _ **Note to 1Saloni: yes, this story will continue through the arrival of Kate and Rick's sons, and it will go beyond that, actually. I know exactly where and how this story will end. And then I have plans for a few one-shots within this same universe after that.**_

 _ **Now, on to the chapter...**_

* * *

 _Alexis was cold. Very cold. Goose bumps covered every inch of her body, and her teeth were chattering._

 _She was in the morgue at the 12_ _th_ _Precinct. Why was she in the morgue? She hadn't interned there with Lanie in years. "Lanie?" she called. There was no answer. "Dr. Perlmutter?" Still no answer._

 _She heard the hum of the fluorescent lights above her, and realized for the first time that two of the stainless steel morgue tables were side by side. The corpses on them were covered with sheets, and a wave of terror broke over Alexis. She didn't want to move, but she **had** to move. She stumbled forward and pulled back the sheet on the nearest gurney, revealing the face of the dead person. _

_It was her father._

" _No! **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!** " Alexis screamed, but all she could hear was the echo of her own screaming. _

_She stumbled to the other gurney and pulled back the sheet to reveal the face of the second corpse._

 _It was Kate._

 _They were dead. Her parents were dead and in the morgue._

 _Alexis fell to her knees and let forth a keening wail of grief, collapsing face down in the small space between the two tables as she felt what she could only describe as her heart being ripped from her chest…._

"Alexis! Alexis, wake up! Lex, **WAKE UP**!"

Alexis was sobbing and gasping, thrashing around in the bed, the sheets twisted below her knees, when she felt Javier's strong, familiar arms wrap around her and pull her to him. She clung to him, still sobbing and gasping for breath. She opened her eyes, which were blurred by tears, and just sobbed in his arms for several minutes.

Javier spoke quietly but firmly, right in Alexis's ear. "They're okay," he said. "Castle and Beckett are alive. They made it. They had a baby nine days ago. They're all right."

Alexis loosened her grip on Javier just slightly. They were at his apartment, and she had just had a horrible nightmare that her parents hadn't survived the brutal attack on them one year ago today. The digital alarm clock read 3:47 AM. "I—I was in the morgue," Alexis stuttered. She was still shaking in his arms. "And they were there. They were dead, Javier. They were both dead."

"Well, it was a year ago today that we found them," he said, glancing over his shoulder at his alarm clock to confirm the time. "I've been waiting for something like this to happen for the past coupla weeks."

"I'm sorry I'm such a mess," Alexis said, pushing her hair out of her face.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Javier said fiercely. "Nothing at all."

"I need to see them," she said. "I need to see them and know that they're okay, Javier."

He nodded. "Then let's get dressed, and I'll take you home," he said. He reached down and untwisted the sheets so Alexis could get her legs free and get out of bed and get dressed.

A few minutes later, they were dressed and headed down to Javier's car. "It's stupid, I know," she said. "But I have to see them. I just...I **have** to see them."

Javier stopped in the lobby of his building, so Alexis stopped too. "It's not stupid," he told her. "It's not stupid at all. That nightmare shook you up so much, of course you have to see them. And I'm going to take you to them, Lex." He hugged her, and she let the hug linger for several seconds.

A short time later, they were on their way up to the loft in the elevator. Alexis quietly unlocked the front door, and Javier followed her inside. The loft was dark and silent.

Alexis dropped her purse on the coffee table, and Javier stood by the couch as Alexis peeked into Rick and Kate's bedroom. Seeing that everything was quiet and still, and the lights were off, she tiptoed into the bedroom and over to their bed.

Her father was on his back, his breathing deep and even. Kate was lying on her side, her head resting on Rick's chest, and Alexis could hear her breathing too. She watched them sleeping and listened to them breathing for a couple of minutes, and then she crossed the room to stand before Lily's bassinet. The baby was sleeping peacefully as well.

Alexis was watching Lily so intently that she was caught off guard when an arm encircled her throat and she was pulled back against someone. "Don't speak, and don't make any sudden moves," Kate said in a low, menacing whisper.

"Mom, it's me!" Alexis said out loud, wincing when she saw Lily stir.

"Alexis?" Kate released her captive, and sure enough, when the woman turned around, a shaft of moonlight caught her features long enough for Kate to see that the intruder she had seen standing over her baby's bassinet was, indeed, Alexis. "I thought you were spending the night at Esposito's. What are you doing here?"

Alexis looked chagrined and apologetic at the same time. "I had a horrible nightmare, and I woke up screaming and sobbing, and I told Javier I had to see you and Dad, I had to be sure you were really all right. So he brought me home. He's in the living room. I'm sorry I woke you, Mom."

And it was in that moment that Kate realized what day it was: one year to the day since Caleb Brown had shot her and Rick in the kitchen...and Alexis, Javier, Kevin and Lanie had found them lying there, holding hands, bleeding out on the floor.

Lily's arrival nine days ago had pre-empted the realization that the date was rapidly approaching.

Alexis was still none-too-steady on her feet, her face too pale and her eyes too wide for Kate's liking. "It's okay," Kate said. "I'm sorry I grabbed you like that, but I felt something, felt like someone was in here, and when I opened my eyes, all I saw was someone's back to me, standing over Lily's bassinet, and I just reacted."

Alexis tried to crack a smile but didn't quite succeed. "I guess I'm lucky you didn't throw a flying tackle and knock me down," she said.

Kate took Alexis by the hand and led her out to the living room. Esposito was sitting on the couch, but he sprang to his feet when the women entered. "Everything okay?" he asked.

Kate and Alexis looked at each other. "We're working on it," Kate said.

"I shouldn't-" Alexis started to say, but then she trailed off.

"You shouldn't what?" Kate asked.

"I'm not sure," Alexis said. "But it's been a year. And you're all right. And Dad's all right. And Lily's here now. I haven't had any nightmares or panic attacks in months."

"But this is the anniversary," Javier said. "That's a pretty powerful trigger."

"This day is not going to be easy for your dad and me either," Kate said.

Now Alexis looked guilty. "And I reminded you of it," she said, looking stricken.

"It would have occurred to us at some point today," Kate said.

"None of this is your fault, Alexis." The three of them turned to look when they heard Rick speak, watching as he entered the room, wearing his bathrobe. At Kate's look, he said, "I woke up alone. And then I remembered what today is, and I had to find you."

Alexis went to Rick and hugged him. "I'm sorry, Dad," she said.

He hugged her back. "For what? For having a nightmare? For worrying about Kate and me? Those are not things to be sorry about, Alexis." He looked at Esposito over Alexis's shoulder as he held his eldest daughter. "Esposito, what are you doing here?"

Esposito replied, "Alexis was with me when she had the nightmare that made her need to see you and Beckett. I brought her home."

"Thank you," Rick replied. When he released Alexis, she went over and hugged Kate tightly.

"No blaming yourself," Kate said firmly as she and Alexis embraced. "And no apologies. You just needed reassurance that we were all right."

"I did," Alexis replied. She looked from Kate to Rick, drinking them both in eagerly with her eyes. She couldn't stop the jaw-cracking yawn that escaped her then.

"Do you think you can sleep now?" Rick asked.

"I can at least rest my eyes," Alexis agreed.

"I'll call you later, Lex," Javier said. He stood up, but before he could take a step, Rick spoke again.

"Why don't we all try and get some sleep before Lily's awake for the morning?" Rick asked. He looked at Esposito." And that ' **all'** includes you, Esposito."

Esposito and Alexis exchanged a look, and Kate looked at Rick. The three of them were surprised at what Rick was saying. Javier put it together first. "On the couch," Esposito said.

"Of course on the couch," Rick replied. Kate and Alexis exchanged a look now; that was the husband and father they knew and loved.

Javier wasn't going to balk. "That would be great, Castle. Thanks," Esposito replied.

And so, Kate and Rick returned to their bedroom, where Lily was still sleeping, leaving Alexis and Esposito alone in the living room.

As they settled themselves back in bed, Kate said, "You did a great thing out there."

"I'm adjusting," Rick replied. "Alexis is going to be with Esposito for the rest of her life. And Esposito **does** have his own apartment, his own razors, he's gainfully employed, and he makes her happy. He makes Alexis the kind of happy that you make me. I couldn't want anything more for her."

"Neither could I," Kate said before she and Rick kissed and settled back to sleep.

Out in the living room, Alexis had gotten a pillow, an extra sheet, and a light blanket for Javier. He had taken off his jacket and shoes and he helped Alexis make up the couch. "Are you gonna be okay upstairs?" he asked quietly. "Not that I think we should try to share the couch. I don't need Castle kicking my ass in a few hours if he finds us curled up on the couch together."

"I think I'll be okay upstairs, yeah," Alexis said. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Thank you," she said.

"Anytime," Javier replied. They kissed, and then he rested his forehead against hers. "Get some sleep. I'll see you in a few hours."

"I love you, Javier," Alexis said.

"I love you too," Javier replied. Then Alexis went upstairs, stopping at the top of the stairs to blow him a kiss, and soon all was quiet once more in the Castle household, for the next couple of hours, anyway.

* * *

Lily didn't know or understand why Mommy and Daddy were so tense and anxious, but she didn't like it. They had never been like this before, so why were they like this now? Alexis and Uncle Javi had both been there for a little while, but they weren't there now. And this strange tension, the way Mommy and Daddy were so uncomfortable and couldn't sit still, unsettled Lily a great deal.

Lily was a fairly easy baby, all things considered, but the cues she was getting from her parents made her fussier than she had ever been in her life.

"It's not you, Lily," Kate said, picking up the clearly unhappy baby and cuddling her close. "Daddy and I just..." She trailed off, not wanting the negativity and the darkness of that horrible day one year ago to touch Lily. Kate was just feeling very unsettled. Even though the entire kitchen had been redone, even though she and Rick were all right, Esposito had been right, and the day itself was a trigger. On the one hand, she didn't want to be driven out of her own home, but on the other, she wasn't feeling very emotionally steady, she knew Rick well enough to know that he wasn't feeling very emotionally steady either, and Lily was picking up on their anxiety and reacting negatively to it, which made Kate feel horribly guilty.

"Let's get out of here for a while," Rick suggested suddenly. He was trying to stave off a panic attack himself, after months of being fine and not having so much as even a fleeting nightmare. "It's a nice day, weather-wise. We can take Lily for a walk. Show her the swings where we'll push her someday when she's old enough." He then wrapped his arms around Kate and Lily. Knowing Kate as well as he did, Rick added, "And it's not running away, and it's not letting him win. The fact that we're still here, and our Sweetpea is here with us, proves that we're the ones who won. But since the date is obviously triggering both of us, and Lily's picking up on that, let's get outta here for a while, okay?"

Kate leaned back into Rick's embrace, with Lily down to whimpers now, ensconced in Kate's own arms. "Yeah," Kate agreed quietly, "let's get out of here for a while." Kate was determined to be strong, but she could tell that Rick's breathing was a bit erratic, and she was none too calm herself, on top of which was the fact that this was the first time since Lily was born that being in Kate's arms didn't soothe her completely. A change of scenery could only help all of them at this point.

Rick packed the diaper bag while Kate got Lily, who was wearing tiny white leggings and a white t-shirt that said in pink and black letters "I Love Mommy + Daddy to the Moon and Back," settled in her stroller. The ride down in the elevator was silent. When they exited their building into the bright sunshine and warm breeze, Kate asked Rick, "You wanna drive?" and nodded at Lily in her stroller.

Rick was so surprised by the question, since throughout their years together, with rare exceptions (mostly to the Hamptons, or if they took the car when they went out to dinner), Kate usually drove, that the surprise took his mind off the encroaching panic attack he was fighting. "Really?" he asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Yes, really," Kate said. She made a big show of rolling her eyes, grateful to be on familiar turf. "It's not the department Crown Vic, I know, but-"

"This is so much better!" Rick exclaimed. He wrapped his hands tightly around the handle of Lily's stroller, and that was the first time either Rick or Kate was aware that Rick's hands had been shaking ever so slightly.

Kate slid one arm through one of Rick's arms as he steered Lily in her stroller, and they meandered down the sidewalk, taking in the fresh air and bright sunshine, finding calm and comfort in being anchored to one another and their daughter, and focusing on the moment instead of letting what had happened to them a year ago at this time control them.

They stopped off for coffee, getting their usuals (Kate had gotten the okay to drink coffee with caffeine in moderation while nursing Lily, since she hadn't had any troubles with moderate caffeine consumption during her pregnancy), and they were both feeling much calmer as they started off again down the sidewalk.

They had only gone four blocks when they heard someone shout, "Becks! Hey, Becks! Wait up!"

Kate and Rick both turned toward the sound of the female voice to see Madison Queller, Kate's old friend from high school, rushing toward them with a big smile on her face. "Maddie!" Kate exclaimed, surprised and pleased to be seeing her old friend again after all these years.

Kate let go of Rick's arm just in time for Madison to launch herself at Kate in a big hug, which Kate carefully returned, making certain not to spill her coffee. "You look incredible!" Madison exclaimed when she released Kate and held her at arm's length to look her up and down. Then she saw Rick, and her gaze flew to Kate's left hand, seeing Kate's wedding ring gleaming in the sunlight. "I **knew** it!" Madison exclaimed triumphantly. "I **knew** all those years ago you were hot for Castle!"

"She still is," Rick interjected then, "and the feeling is entirely mutual."

Kate just looked at Rick, but she was smiling. She couldn't very well deny what either Madison or Rick had said.

Then Madison noticed the stroller and gasped so deeply, Kate was half-afraid Madison's lungs would collapse. "You have a little Castle baby!" she exclaimed. She looked into the stroller at Lily, who regarded Madison solemnly, taking her measure, since Madison's was not a face or a voice that Lily recognized. "Oh, she's beautiful!" Madison exclaimed in a hushed voice. "And a total mini-Becks."

"Isn't she, though?" Rick asked with a proud smile.

"What's her name?" Madison asked.

"Lily," Kate replied with the maternal smile that had become such a part of her in the last nine days. "Lily Johanna Castle."

"Your mom would be nuts about her," Madison said softly. Then she addressed the baby. "Hi, Lily. You can call me Aunt Maddie, or Aunt Madison. Do I ever have some stories to tell you about your mom when you're a teenager!"

Rick leaned toward Madison interestedly. "I'd like to hear those stories myself," he said, "and I'm well past teenaged."

Madison laughed. "Nice try, Castle," she said. "You should know by now that girls have to have their secrets." She focused her attention on Kate again now. "I am so happy for you guys," Madison continued. "And I am so sorry I didn't do a better job of keeping in touch, Kate, but I'm married to my job. Q3 is still going strong, and we're finally getting ready to open a second Q3, out in Fairfield, Connecticut. I did see in the paper that you're running for City Council from Manhattan, and I believe I live in your district, so you've got my vote, and if you're looking for campaign volunteers, you can count me in."

"That would be great," Kate said. "It would give us a chance to catch up."

"I have a lot of contacts in the restaurant business, both suppliers and other restauranteurs. I'm happy to help get the word out about your campaign and your platform," Madison said. "And when you win, you can have your victory party at Q3!"

" **If** I win," Kate corrected.

"Who wouldn't vote for you?" Madison challenged. "Give me your phone." Kate wordlessly handed her phone over to Madison. "I'm putting my number in your contacts," Madison said as she did just that. After returning Kate's phone, she handed her own phone to Kate. "Put your number in mine," she said. "We're not losing touch again. I know we both have crazy busy lives, but tell me when and where you want me to work on your campaign, and what you want me to do, and I'll be there."

"I appreciate that, Madison, thank you," Kate said. "I'm gonna have to start getting back to work on my campaign pretty soon here, actually. The primary is on September 12."

"We could get together sometime next week, if you want," Madison offered. Then her phone binged with an incoming text. She took her phone back from Kate, who had just finished adding her number to Madison's contacts, and read the text. "Crisis at work. I have to run. But it was great seeing you again."

"You too," Kate said. The women hugged once more.

"Congratulations on everything!" Maddie said. She shook Rick's hand, cooed over Lily once more, then left in a flurry of promises to call Kate later that day.

After Madison's departure, Kate looked at Rick, who was regarding her with a smile. "What?" she asked as she pocketed her phone.

"I was just thinking about the case we worked with Madison and her restaurant years ago," he said. They resumed walking, Rick pushing Lily's stroller once more, and Kate with her arm through his, her hand resting atop one of his on the handle of the stroller. "You **were** hot for me back then, weren't you?" he inquired, looking at her.

She met his gaze. "I wouldn't admit it, even to myself, at that point, but yes, Rick, I was hot for you back then," Kate said. Running into Madison like that had been a delightful surprise, and the weight of the day and the horrible memories associated with this particular date were no longer sitting in the middle of Kate's chest like a boulder. Rick's body language was back to normal as well, and his hands weren't trembling as he confidently pushed Lily in her stroller, his breathing normal. "In fact," Kate said as they waited for the light to change so they could cross the street to the park with their swings, "I was falling for you then."

Rick looked at Kate, surprised. "You were?" he asked eagerly.

"I was," Kate confirmed. The light changed, and they crossed the street and reached the park and headed for their swings. "And **me** being me, it really threw me off balance. I tried so hard to keep it hidden, but people could see it. Madison...Jordan Shaw…Lanie… I'm sure Javi and Kevin saw it but they weren't as pushy about it as Lanie was. And that **really** unsettled me, because if **they** could see it, surely you could see it too. And I was such a mess back then."

"Not to me," Rick said earnestly. "Never to me."

"Oh, come on, Castle," Kate said. "Think back. I was a **complete** mess in those days. And I knew if we started anything then, it would implode spectacularly, and I couldn't take that chance. I couldn't lose you."

"I wasn't going anywhere," Rick replied. "Not permanently, anyway. You were it, and I knew it."

"I admitted I was hot for you back then. So will you admit that you hated Demming?"

"Some admission. Clearly you already know that."

"Ah, but you hated Demming because you were jealous."

"Of course I was jealous!" Rick exclaimed. "You were kissing him at the precinct, and you-"

"Couldn't make myself feel even the tiniest fraction of what I felt just looking at you walking towards me every morning," Kate replied. "I was hiding. I never felt for anyone what I feel for you, and I couldn't risk losing you permanently, so I tried to make myself make it work with Demming, and it just didn't, because he wasn't you. And Josh wasn't you. And you were, and are, the one I love. I had to get myself together enough that we had a real chance."

"Yeah, we weren't ready back then," Rick agreed.

"You knew I was falling for you back then," Kate said.

They had reached the swings by now. "I **hoped** you were falling for me, harder than I had ever hoped for anything in my life," Rick replied. He parked the stroller beside the swingset, reached in, unbuckled Lily, and lifted her out. Her hand instantly went to his shirt, clutching at the fabric. "I was already totally gone for you, but I knew if I pushed too hard, you'd throw me out of your life, and I couldn't let that happen." He handed Lily to Kate, and the baby looked up at her mother. Kate looked into Lily's eyes, a mirror of her own, but so wide open and curious about the world, without any of the shadows or pain that Kate had seen in her own eyes for too many years, before Rick came along.

Rick held Kate's swing for her, and she sank down carefully, holding Lily tightly. Rick then sat down on the swing next to theirs. He leaned over and kissed the top of Lily's head, inhaling her sweet baby smell, and then he kissed Kate's cheek. "I moved around a lot growing up because of Mother's career. So many schools, so many people." He looked into Kate's eyes now. "But I never felt like I belonged until I found myself sitting across the table from you in that interrogation room at the 12th and following you around on the Tisdale case. And that was because of you, Kate. You're where I belong. And your eyes are always going to be the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen."

Kate took a deep breath. "This is an emotional day. Keep this up, and you're gonna make me cry," she warned him as she fought the tears building in her throat.

"As long as they're happy tears," he replied. "Today's a tough one, but you and Lily...you make it better. You make everything better for me."

Kate buried her face in Lily's hair, giving up the fight to keep the tears from coming. She lifted her face a moment later, and, gazing at Rick's face, said, "They're happy tears, I swear."

"Good," Rick said. He pulled out his phone. "Now," he said, and he looked at Lily, "you're too young to swing by yourself here, Sweetpea, but one day, when you're big enough, Mommy and I are gonna bring you back here and push you on one of these swings. But in the meantime..." He held up his phone now. "I think we should document your first trip to the Beckett and Castle swings for your baby book."

Kate wiped at her eyes with one hand, and the smile that bloomed on her face was beatific. "Okay, we're ready," she said.

Rick leaned sideways, holding his phone aloft, his cheek touching Kate's, and Kate had Lily turned to face the camera in Rick's phone. Rick snapped the picture, then another three in rapid succession. After he put his phone back in his pocket, he turned to Kate and said, "Even on the worst days-"

She finished the sentence in unison with him: "-there's a possibility for joy."

And when they went to bed that night, they held each other tightly, they both got up with Lily when she needed feeding or changing, and neither Kate nor Rick had any nightmares or panic attacks triggered by memories of their shooting on that date a year prior. They had made great strides in healing from that traumatic event, and although May 16 would never be their favorite day of the year, they would find it increasingly easy to get through by always making it a point to spend that day together, and to surround themselves with family and friends.


	57. Chapter 55

_**Thank** **you** **all for your continued enthusiasm and support of this story, and to my guest reviewers on the last chapter, if I could answer you personally, I would. Father's Day will be in the next chapter, in case anyone was wondering.  
**_

* * *

As the month of May progressed, everyone was busy. Kate began working on her campaign from home, and not only did Madison get involved, but so did Kate and Rick's family and friends. The first batch of campaign paraphernalia was ready for distribution by now. The only person who didn't openly mock the straw boater hats was Ryan; he liked them, and was, in fact, already wearing one. "You're the only one who actually looks good in one of those," Esposito told him. Still, the flat-brimmed, flat-topped hats wrapped with a wide, red-white-and-blue grosgrain ribbon were political tradition, or so Rick, whose idea they were in the first place, claimed.

"Can I just hand out buttons and signs?" Maddie asked. "I'm a restauranteur, not a milliner."

"Hey, someday these will be collector's items," Rick insisted.

"Seriously, Castle?" Esposito asked.

Ryan grabbed a stack of straw boaters. "I think you could be right, Castle." He looked at Kate then. "You run for the Senate, we'll all be able to say we knew you when. And in that case, these 'Kate Beckett for New York City Council' hats **will** become a collector's item."

"Do politicians have groupies?" Rick wondered then.

"I doubt anyone will be asking me to sign their chest, babe," Kate replied.

"I should hope not," Rick said, grimacing.

"Do you still do that?" Madison asked.

"I haven't signed a chest in years," Rick replied.

Madison spoke then."And I bet you stopped signing chests after you met Kate." At the look on Rick's face, Madison beamed triumphantly.

"Wait, you stopped _**right** _ after we met?" Kate asked.

"Yes," Rick replied earnestly.

The look they shared stretched until Alexis plopped a straw boater on top of her head and mused aloud, "This is the first time I've seen one of these in person. All the other times, they were on TV at political conventions."

"Okay, I take it back," Esposito said, putting an arm around Alexis's waist and pulling her against his side. "You look better in that hat than Ryan does."

Smiling, Alexis grabbed another straw boater and put it on Javier's head. Before Javier could finish sputtering his protest, Kevin had snapped a picture of Alexis and Javier both wearing the straw boaters.

Martha arrived at Kate's campaign office then, and after being told, much to her disappointment, that Lily was with her Grandpa Jim for the afternoon while they sorted through these campaign materials, she said, "Just remember, I'll have her at my place on the evening of June 10."

"June 10?" Madison asked. "What's so special about June 10? You told me your wedding anniversary is a week before your birthday, Becks, which is how you know you'll never forget it. What's June 10 then? Castle's birthday?"

Martha, always blunt and ever helpful, supplied, before Kate or Rick could stop her, "June 10 will be six weeks since my granddaughter's birth. And since she is sleeping in your bedroom, Richard, Katherine, and respectable married couples, especially when one half of that respectable married couple is running for New York City Council, do not rent motel rooms by the hour, I had assumed that Lily would be with me at my place for the evening."

Esposito, Ryan, and Alexis all three looked distinctly uncomfortable. Madison couldn't hide her amusement and didn't bother to try. Kate pinned Maddie with a hard stare. "Not a word, Madison," she said sternly.

Madison chewed on the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud and nodded.

"Yes, Mother, Lily will be with you at your place the evening of June 10," Rick said, amazed he could get the words out without gritting his teeth. "We'll let you know when we're on our way to get her."

"Take your time," Martha encouraged her son and daughter-in-law. "You know I can go all night if need be."

Unable to stand it any longer, Madison turned her back and bowed her head, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Alexis's face was flushed pink, and Ryan and Esposito couldn't look at either Beckett or Castle.

Alexis rushed forward, grabbed a stack of boaters and one of the many small boxes of campaign buttons, and handed them to her grandmother. "Why don't you hand these out to some of your students and tell them about Mom running for City Council from District 1 in Manhattan? Maybe they're eligible to vote for her."

"You know, I believe some of them are!" Martha exclaimed as she took the items from Alexis. "In fact, you've inspired me, Katherine. I have just decided that we will be doing scenes from _The Tempest_. Oh, I know it's about the possibility of a philosopher-king, but considering how many women's parts Shakespeare had played by men, it's no wonder he wasn't thinking of women beyond the stereotypical terms of characters like Juliet and Lady MacBeth." And Martha was off in a flurry of goodbyes.

After she had departed, Madison, still laughing, said, "Castle, your mother is a hoot!"

"That's not the word I'd use," Rick muttered.

"Gram's definition of 'boundaries' is very loose and ever-changing," Alexis said.

"Is Martha aware there's really only one definition for 'Too Much Information'?" Javier asked.

"Well, now that we've all fulfilled our embarrassment quota for the day," Kate said, holding a couple of envelopes aloft, "there's a Manhattan Criminal Justice Breakfast on June 16 that I have been invited to as a candidate for City Council, and there's going to be an Equal Pay Rally at City Hall on May 30. I'm definitely going to attend both of those events."

Ryan and Esposito got phone calls then; a body had dropped, and newly minted Detective Ann Hastings Whittaker had recently been promoted to Homicide and was now working with Ryan and Esposito as their junior partner. "She has good instincts," Esposito said.

"She worked her way up from the uniformed ranks," Ryan replied.

"Yeah, I remember her from a case years ago," Kate replied. "You guys better get going." Ryan took a box of straw boaters to hand out at the 12th, Esposito grabbed a box of campaign buttons, and everyone averted their eyes when Alexis and Javier kissed goodbye.

"I'd better get going too," Maddie said, taking two boxes of campaign buttons. "But email me the details on that Equal Pay Rally, Kate, okay? I definitely want to be there for that."

"I will," Kate replied.

After it was just the three of them—Kate, Rick, and Alexis-remaining at Kate's campaign office, Alexis's phone rang. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "Excuse me, I have to take this." She stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind her to take the call.

Alone with Rick, Kate said, "So on a scale of 1 to 10, Martha-"

"A million," Rick interrupted. "And I know, that's just her, but it's still embarrassing."

"I think she and my dad are trying to out-grandparent each other," Kate mused. "We've got to stop them from being jealous of each other. Lily needs both of them in her life, and she loves both of them. They don't have to compete for her attention."

Before Rick could reply to that, the door to the campaign office flew open, and Alexis stood there, her face flushed with pride. "I got the internship!" she exclaimed. "Kubow, Edwards and Meyer!"

"That's wonderful!" Kate exclaimed as Alexis rushed forward to hug Kate and Rick.

"Congratulations, Pumpkin!" Rick said as he and Alexis hugged.

"I have to text Javier, and Gram, and Jim, and everyone," Alexis said. She hugged her parents again, then started to head for the door, but stopped and turned back to look at them. "We're all moving onward and upward." She paused, then said, "It feels really great, doesn't it?"

Kate and Rick exchanged a look, and then looked at Alexis. Kate beamed as she wrapped one arm around Rick's waist and plunked one of the straw boater hats on top of his head before looking back at Alexis and saying, "Yes, it does."

* * *

Kate attended the Equal Pay Rally on May 30, and she was interviewed for the news, which brought her campaign its biggest exposure to date.

May gave way to June, and her appearance at and participation in the Manhattan Criminal Justice Breakfast was such a big success that Kate was invited to take part in a "Meet the Candidates" forum at the end of the month. This was where she began the delicate task of balancing career and motherhood. Without question, Lily always came first with Kate. In fact, the Equal Pay Rally began the tradition of Lily and Rick accompanying Kate on the campaign trail. Also, whenever possible, Ryan and Esposito would be there too, unofficially acting as security while also supporting their friend's candidacy, which also began with Equal Pay Rally, which Kate and Rick's entire family, and family of friends, attended.

June was an eventful month all the way around. Alexis spent her days interning at the law firm, and her evenings and weekends were split between Javier and her family, as she helped with Kate's campaign, bonded with Lily, and just spent time relaxing with her parents, having one-on-one time with both Kate and Rick, and spending time with the rest of their family and friends. She and Javier watched Sarah Grace and Nick a couple of times for Kevin and Jenny so they could go out on date nights. Alexis went to the theater with Martha, quizzed Jim about what to expect from law school, and even took a few days to just veg out and relax.

Javier started coming to Sunday brunch with Alexis, and although the first time he accompanied her to the loft there was a silent beat of uncertainty between him and Castle, the others, especially Alexis, were too determined he would fit in to let things get weird or tense, and by the third Sunday brunch, Javier was accepted as one of the family.

Alan and Lanie moved ahead with their wedding plans, over strenuous objections from Lanie's mother, until Alan, tired of the stress and strain Mrs. Parish's attitude was putting on his beloved, finally stood up to her on Lanie's behalf. "Mrs. Parish, with all due respect, Lanie and I don't know Lydia or Marian Brightfield, and we don't care what kind of wedding Lydia Brightfield and her fiance had. This wedding is ours, and we're going to do it our way because Lanie is the bride and I'm the groom. We want you to celebrate with us, but no dictionary I know of defines 'celebrate' as 'stress out your daughter with a lot of demands that she wants no part of because of the wedding of somebody else that she doesn't even know.' Whatever Lanie says goes here. And I'll be the one helping her make most of the decisions, and the ones that don't involve me will involve Kate, because Kate is her best friend and matron of honor. I love your daughter more than anything in this world, and I'm asking you to accept her decisions for our wedding, because I don't like seeing her so upset."

Mrs. Parish's reaction to that was initially frosty, but Mr. Parish literally embraced Alan, clapping him so hard on the back he almost fell over and said, "Welcome to the family, son! And I will help you any way I can to make sure my princess has the wedding of her dreams, not a wedding to outdo the Brightfields' daughter."

At last report, Mrs. Parish was being very civil and very formal about everything regarding the wedding, while her dad was happily agreeing with everything Lanie and Alan told him they had decided on already.

Lily was christened at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, where Gates and her husband attended and where Kate and Rick had started attending services a few months prior, the weekend before Father's Day. As Kate and Alexis had predicted, everyone wanted to hold Lily during the actual christening ceremony, but one look from Victoria "Iron" Gates and it was very clear that she would be the one holding Lily during the ceremony. Her other godmother and both of her godfathers would get their turns holding Lily later.

And so it was that as Alexis, Jim, and Alan all three filmed the proceedings, which were also attended by Madison, Lily Johanna Castle was presented for baptism by her mother and father, her two godmothers, and her two godfathers.

Father Kenneth went through the questions of the ceremony, which Lily's parents and godparents answered in unison, then blessed the water, and the oil, and then came the actual baptism, where he poured the water on Lily's head and intoned, "Lily Johanna Castle, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

Everyone returned to the loft after the service to celebrate—Kevin and Jenny detouring to pick up their kids from Jenny's parents' house—and Sarah Grace officially met Lily for the first time. She was in awe of the baby. "She's so tiny," she said in a loud whisper to Kate. Madison had insisted on catering the party as her gift.

"She is," Kate agreed. "But she's growing every day, and someday she'll be as big as you are, Sarah Grace."

"And then we can play together," Sarah Grace said happily.

Nick Ryan, who had turned one year old in April and was walking everywhere and picking up new words every day, toddled over, looked at Lily in Kate's arms, pointed at her, and exclaimed, "Baby!"

"That's right, Nicky, that's Aunt Kate and Uncle Rick's baby," Jenny said. She was following him around to make sure he didn't get into anything he wasn't supposed to get into.

"Baby," Nick repeated before toddling over to his Uncle Javi.

"The short attention span of a boy," Jenny said wryly.

"They don't always outgrow it," Kate said, and Jenny followed Kate's gaze to where Rick was laughing with Alan and Kevin. "At least, not completely."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Jenny replied, only half-jokingly.

Martha and Jim came rushing over then, and Martha got there first. "Ha! I win!" Martha crowed. "May I, Katherine?" she asked, gesturing to Lily in Kate's arms.

"Sure," Kate said. She looked at her father, and was amazed to see that he was actively forcing himself not to pout. "I'll make sure you get plenty of time with her later, Dad," she said, resting her hand on her father's forearm while Martha began talking to Lily about being little and fierce, which, Martha explained, came from Shakespeare.

Jim's face lit up at Kate's promise. "I'll hold you to that," he told her.

"I have no doubt that you will," she replied. "And you know, it's not a competition between you and Martha. Lily loves you both and needs you both."

Jim smiled ruefully. "I guess neither Martha nor I are very good at sharing. But I'll work on it, Katie, I promise."

Rick approached then. "Jim, just the man I wanted to talk to," he said. Rick looked at Kate. "Actually, I need to talk to Kate first. Would you excuse us for a moment, please?"

"Of course," Jim said.

"Alexis, if my dad and Martha start fighting, get Lily out of the middle of it," Kate called as Rick took her hand and led her towards his office.

"I will, Mom," Alexis promised with a smile. Kate reflected, not for the first time, that it felt really right to her to hear Alexis calling her 'Mom,' and she honestly wasn't sure who was getting the biggest kick out of it—Kate herself, Alexis, or Rick.

"We still have a few weeks to go, you know," Kate said when she and Rick were in his office, "not to mention a house full of people."

"June 10, I know, it's burned into my brain," Rick assured her. "I'm actually being serious here. I realized recently that I hadn't updated my will since you agreed that you would be Alexis's guardian if anything were to happen to me...and that we never wrote a joint will after we got married. Nothing is going to happen to either one of us," he said fiercely, "but just in case, I want to have all the bases covered, and so I thought maybe your dad could recommend somebody that could help us out with writing a will."

"We do need to get that taken care of, and the sooner the better," Kate agreed. "I'm sure that Dad will be happy to refer us to somebody."

Alexis stuck her head in the office then. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Victoria wants to make a toast, and she wants everyone present for it," she said.

"We'll be right there," Rick said.

Alexis returned to the party, and Kate said, "We'll ask him before he goes home, but after most of the other guests have left."

"Okay," Rick agreed.

After Rick and Kate had returned to the living room, and with Javier holding Lily now, and Alexis standing beside him, everyone raised their glasses after Victoria had called for everyone's attention. "I would just like to thank you, Kate and Castle, for giving me the honor of being one of your daughter's godmothers. I think I can safely speak for her other godmother, and both of her godmothers, when I say that we will all be there for Lily through good times and bad for the rest of our lives, and we will not take our responsibilities as godparents lightly." Lanie, Kevin, and Javier murmured their agreement.

Victoria looked at Lily then. "Lily, we are all here today because we all love you very, very much, and we all wish for you nothing but joy in life and a long, exciting, and promising journey. To Lily Johanna Castle, and her wonderful parents who have brought her into all of our lives."

Everyone echoed Victoria's "To Lily and her parents" and then, since the guest of honor was overdue for her afternoon nap, the party began to break up, though Jim Beckett stayed to help get Lily settled for her nap and didn't leave without giving Kate and Rick the name of a friend of his who would help them draw up a joint will.

That night, as they lay in bed talking softly while Lily slept peacefully across the room in her bassinet, Kate said, "You know, we're going to have to name guardians for Lily in our will."

"Oh, god, we are," Rick realized. He and Kate were lying on their sides, facing each other. "Nothing is going to happen to either one of us, though."

"No," Kate agreed. "No, it's not. We're going to grow good and old together."

"Yes, we are," Rick agreed.

"But it's going to be a requirement for the will for us to name guardians for Lily. And we have no shortage of candidates."

"That's true," Rick said. He sighed as he rested one hand on her hip. "I hate talking about this part. I know I'm the one who brought it up, and it's the responsible thing to do, but I just...I don't want to miss a thing with you, and with Alexis, and with Lily."

"Talking about it isn't going to jinx us, Rick," Kate replied, framing his face in her hands. "Like you said, it's the responsible thing to do. So let's just do it, get it over with, and then we don't even have to think about it. We can just get on with our lives."

"As soon as we decide who to name as Lily's guardians," Rick mused.

"Yes," Kate agreed. "But we don't have to decide that tonight."

"No, we don't," Rick agreed. Kate's hands began to wander. Rick was pleasantly distracted for several minutes, especially when her lips began to follow the path of her hands and his shirt ended up on the floor beside the bed. "Um, K—Kate," he finally managed to get out. "It's not June 10th yet."

"I know," Kate replied. "But making out is okay. Unless you'd rather n-"

His kiss cut her off. But then he broke the kiss and said, "Should we really be heatedly making out in bed with Lily sleeping across the room?"

"She's going to be seeing us kiss a lot as she grows up," Kate reasoned. "And she's asleep for the moment. I don't think this will scar her for life."

"That makes sense," Rick agreed. Their makeout session was interrupted a few minutes later when Lily awoke, fussing to be fed.

When Kate was settled back in bed with Lily, she looked from Lily to Rick and said, "June 10th."

"June 10th," Rick repeated before following Kate's gaze to Lily, who was nursing contentedly as her mommy and daddy talked quietly, the timbre of their voices and, eventually, her full stomach soothing her back to sleep.


	58. Chapter 56

_**Thanks to devildog3479 for pointing out to me that I got a little bit ahead of myself with some of the dates in the last chapter. I meant to say that the Manhattan Criminal Justice Breakfast Kate attended was June 6, not June 16. June 10 happens in this chapter. Father's Day will be in the next chapter.**_

 _ **Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support. I appreciate them, and all of you, very much.**_

 _ **And just to be on the safe side, I'll say that this chapter is rated M.**_

* * *

It was the first time Javier had been to dinner at the loft since Christmas Eve, and besides Alexis, the only people present were Rick, Kate, and Lily. Javier watched Alexis with Lily, and the way Lily, tiny as she was, responded to Alexis's voice, the exaggerated faces she pulled, the way Alexis cuddled Lily close, and he couldn't help but smile. He had seen Alexis with the Ryan kids, so he knew she was good with kids, but seeing her with Lily brought that up to a whole other level.

"You are amazing, Lily," Alexis said. "Yes, you are." Alexis was holding Lily so that Lily was facing her, and then Alexis gasped. "You smiled at me!" she exclaimed. Rick and Kate were putting dinner together in the kitchen. Alexis turned her head towards the kitchen. "Mom, Dad, Lily just smiled at me! A **real** smile, not gas!" Then she looked at Javier. "Javier, Lily smiled at me!"

Rick and Kate both left the kitchen to rush to the living room. They stood behind the couch and looked down at Lily, who greeted her parents with a gorgeous, all-gums grin. "She just started doing that yesterday, didn't you, sweet girl?" Kate said, ignoring the sheen of moisture in her own eyes. Kate had been the recipient of Lily's very first real smile the day before, and had been so moved that she had cried for 20 minutes. After Kate had composed herself, Lily had smiled at Rick for the first time, and that had made Kate and Rick both cry for another 20 minutes. Lily was bewildered by her parents' tears, but they eventually reassured her, through a lot of soggy hugs and kisses, that they were proud of her, and they spent the rest of the evening, until Lily fell asleep, smiling back at her and earning more smiles from Lily in return.

"She has Kate's smile," Rick said happily as he took Lily from Alexis, "only without the teeth. Isn't that right, Sweetpea?"

"I still say it's too early to tell that," Kate retorted lightly.

"I'm telling you, our daughter has your smile," Rick insisted to his wife.

"I didn't think babies smiled this soon," Alexis said.

"Oh, now you've done it," Kate said. Rick pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up his new favorite website, Baby Center dot com, which contained week-by-week articles on a baby's development through the first year of life. He handed the phone to Alexis. "Impressive, huh?" he said. "They didn't have that when you were a baby."

"Way to make me feel old, Dad," Alexis teased as she took her father's phone and read the screen. "I'm assuming you've introduced playtime."

Rick looked at Alexis, his eyes twinkling. "Whatever gave you that idea?" he asked jokingly.

"A lifetime of knowing you," Alexis replied, tickling Lily's onesie-clad foot. "Dad's great at playtime, Lily. Trust me on this."

"We've also started reading already," Kate said. "Cloth books for now, although at the rate your dad keeps ordering his and my childhood favorites from Amazon, we're going to be on a first-name basis with the UPS guy before much longer."

"Just making sure our Prime membership is worthwhile," Rick said. "And it's not a competition, but Alexis's first word **was** 'denouement,'" Rick reminded Alexis and Kate. He looked at Lily.

Alexis looked at Kate. "You realize this means he's going to download a list of literary terms and start teaching them to Lily immediately," she warned her mother.

"He's already started," Kate replied. Rick opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Kate said, "I heard you when you were changing her at 2:28 this morning, babe. 'A is for 'alliteration,' 'B' is for 'blank verse,' 'C is for 'characterization'...I think that was my favorite. Let's see, 'D' was for 'denouement,' of course, 'E' was for-"

"Eat," Rick said, handing Lily off to Kate. "Dinner's ready." He returned to the kitchen to begin dishing up the pasta primavera and the salad Kate had made. After Alexis and Javier washed up, they joined Rick and Kate at the table, with Lily parked in her infant carrier in between Rick and Kate's seats.

They were about halfway through dinner, talking about Alexis's internship, Kate's campaign, all things Lily, Rick's new book that would be out soon, and the goings-on at the 12thfrom Javi's point of view, before Rick and Kate exchanged a look and then broached the subject that was the most important reason they were having dinner with Alexis and Javi that night.

"So," Rick began, "we wanted to talk to you two about something."

"Both of us?" Javi asked, doing his best to mask his surprise both on his face and in his tone of voice.

"Yes," Kate replied. "Rick and I are drawing up our will. Not because anything's going to happen," she added hastily when she saw the brief, instantaneous flash of panic in Alexis's eyes.

"It's just the responsible thing to do," Rick added, barely managing to avoid talking over Kate. "And we actually hadn't gotten around to it after getting married, so it was past time."

"Obviously, the most important part of the will is naming guardians for Lily," Kate continued. She looked at Rick again before looking at Alexis and Javi once more. "We gave this a great deal of thought, and talked it over a lot, and we were wondering..."

"Would the two of you be okay with Kate and me naming you Lily's guardians in our will?" Rick asked, looking from Alexis to Esposito and back again.

Javi was more floored than Alexis. "You want us to..." She couldn't bring herself to give voice to the thought, but the weight, the importance, of the responsibility were abundantly clear to Alexis, and she exclaimed, "Yes!"

But then Alexis looked at Javier. He looked composed, even though his heart was pounding hard and fast. Javi looked at Kate, who was looking at him hopefully, and then he locked eyes with Castle. The two men looked at each other across the table, neither blinking or flinching, neither of their expressions changing.

But Esposito saw clearly in Castle's eyes that he was not being asked to be Lily's guardian because of Alexis, but because of himself. It wasn't just that Beckett trusted him, which he had known for years and which went both ways, but Esposito saw that Castle trusted him too. Castle trusted Esposito to do right by both of his daughter, if it came down to that.

"Yes," Javier echoed Alexis.

"Great!" Kate exclaimed. "We're just covering all of our bases. But we're very happy that you both said yes."

"We really are," Rick said.

After dinner, Alexis picked Lily up again to hold her and then looked from Lily to Javier. Javier was surprised when she held Lily out to him. "You haven't held her yet tonight," Alexis explained simply.

Javier took Lily in his arms, carefully shifting her until he was cradling her. He looked down at her and saw that she was looking back up at him attentively. That was definitely the Beckett in her, he thought. "I'll be here for you for the rest of my life," he told the baby. Her response was to smile up at him, which made him crack a smile of his own. The smile may have been Beckett's, but the fact that she was smiling at him like that was a Castle trait if ever he saw one.

Before leaving the loft that night, Esposito pulled Castle aside. "I won't let you down," he said simply.

"I know you won't," Castle replied. "More importantly, Alexis knows you won't let **her** down. That's what it's really about."

"I'll always have Lily's back too," Esposito said seriously.

Rick nodded once. "I know you will," he said. "Kate and I went around and around on the guardians thing, but I know we made the right choice...and not just because Alexis is Lily's sister, and not just because of Alexis."

Alexis approached then, carrying her overnight bag, which Rick pretended not to notice. "Is everything okay here?" she asked. Kate was behind her, holding Lily.

Her father and Javier both turned to look at her with smiles on their faces. "Everything's great," Rick assured his daughter.

"It really is," Javier agreed. Alexis said good night to her parents and Lily, and then she and Javier left to go back to his place, while Rick and Kate took Lily off for her bedtime routine. They signed the will after Lily was asleep, and returned it to the lawyer the next day, and then put it entirely out of their minds as they went on with the business of everyday life.

* * *

Kate and Lily both aced their six-week checkups with their respective doctors, and Kate went back on The Pill, albeit a lower dosage containing only one hormone that was safe for a nursing mother, and then it was finally June 10.

Lily sat in her carrier in the middle of her parents' bed, watching as her daddy got dressed for dinner and talked to her the whole time. "Which one, do you think?" he asked, as he held up two brightly colored neckties for Lily to see, a navy blue one in his left hand, a purple one in his right. Lily cooed at him as she waved her hands around. "Purple it is," he said. He turned up the collar of his French blue button-down shirt—the one that he knew Kate thought brought out his eyes—and draped the tie underneath the upturned collar, making sure equal lengths of material hung down on either side. "I'm not a big tie guy," he confided to his youngest daughter, "but a little over ten months after your mom and I met, we were working on this case, and we didn't get any dinner. Well, not really. So I asked your mom if she'd go to Remy's with me...well, I guess I didn't ask her in so many words, but she put her arm through mine and we went to Remy's. In a sense, that was really our first date. We just didn't call what we were doing dating for another couple of years. And I was wearing a tie that night." He tied his tie while he talked, keeping Lily's gaze the whole time as she stared raptly up at her daddy, listening to every word he said. "And she doesn't usually do this, but that night, your mommy twirled her hair when we were walking to the elevator arm in arm. It made her look very girlish, and very cute, in the best possible ways." He shrugged into the smartly tailored navy blue Armani suit jacket that matched his pants, patting the breast pocket to make sure that the purple silk pocket square he had retrieved from the drawer before placing it in the pocket and putting the jacket on peeked out just enough. "Just promise me you won't twirl your hair like that until you're...well, at least in high school, okay, Sweetpea? Because I have to have to time to get your Uncle Espo and Uncle Ryan prepped to help me deal with any boys that come around you, although actually, if your Mommy just goes Detective Beckett on those boys, they'll run away screaming, although when it comes to you dating, I'll be the bad cop more than your mommy, I think."

He looked up then, having sensed Kate's presence. She had just exited the bathroom and was standing there looking stunningly gorgeous in a black dress with thick straps that had two black fabric flowers at the end of each strap, one at the bottom of the strap and one a couple of inches above her breasts. The dress's square neckline was modest, completely covering her chest, and the dress's skirt stopped just above her knees. Simple nude stockings and black heels completed the ensemble, and she was wearing her hair pinned up in the back. Rick had to consciously keep his fingers from twitching as he envisioned taking Kate's hair down, peeling off that gorgeous dress, removing her stockings one at a time, kissing every inch of her flesh as he bared it, while she did the same to him, with her maybe getting impatient enough to rip the buttons off his shirt (and not for the first time), and perhaps using the purple silk tie now knotted so neatly at his collar on him in lieu of handcuffs. 'Apples' was still his safe word; when they had first gotten together officially, and Rick had insisted Kate pick a safe word, she had chosen 'oranges,' at which point he had accused her of being a smartass. "Well, they do say that when couples have been around each other a long time, they start to act like each other, Castle," she had smirked at him. Back then, she had only called him 'Rick' when they were making love. Now Kate called him 'Rick' all the time, and he liked the way she uttered that one syllable, no matter the context—while making love, when she was scared, when she was happy, when she was sad, even when she was angry, although she usually reverted to 'Castle' when she was angry with him.

Kate hadn't heard most of what Rick had been saying to Lily, with the bathroom door closed, the water running, and her concentrating on getting her hair to look just right and finally going with the quintessential little black dress, giving in to the cliché that black was slimming since she was a mere six weeks removed from giving birth, although she had already lost most of her baby weight. This was her and Rick's first significant alone time since Lily had been born, and the sight of her husband in Armani and a tie with matching pocket square made her heart skip a beat. Of course, One if by Land, Two if by Sea **was** the fifth most romantic restaurant in the world, and definitely a get-dressed-up place if there ever was one in Manhattan. She wasn't at all worried about Rick's reaction to the stretch marks she had gained while carrying Lily. Her scars had never fazed him, just as his scars didn't faze her, and she was fully expecting him to talk about how the stretch marks were another badge of honor, just of a different kind. But she was a little self-conscious about that last little bit of extra weight she still carried, although deep down, she knew that wouldn't matter to Rick either.

He was wearing the blue shirt that she loved him in the best, the one that always brought out his eyes, having matched it with his navy blue Armani suit, and a purple silk tie and pocket square. Thoughts of dinner flew out of her head as she imagined being back here later, alone in their bedroom for the first time in six weeks, with the Armani suit on the floor beside their bed while she stripped the shirt and tie from him, running her hands all over his bare chest and back and then following the paths her hands blazed with her mouth, maybe finding another use for that tie later, driving him as wild as he was already driving her with the both of them still fully dressed and Lily in the room with them.

"Wow," Rick said in a hushed voice.

"Wow yourself," Kate replied, crossing the room to him and straightening his tie, even though it didn't need straightening. They stood there for a long moment just looking at each other until Lily broke the reverie with a gurgle and coo. "And let's not think about Lily dating tonight. That's a long way off. The only date I want to think about is ours."

Kate carefully sat down on the bed next to Lily then. "You're going to have a fun evening with your Gram, yes you are," she told Lily. Rick watched Kate and Lily together, Lily responding to her mother's voice and smile with another gurgle and a smile of her own. "And when you wake up, you'll be here at home with your dad and me." Kate checked Lily over. "Looks like Lily's ready," she said.

"Well, I changed her before I finished getting dressed," Rick replied. "I'll just go grab the diaper bag, and then we can go."

Downstairs, Kate got in the backseat with Lily, as had become the custom over the past six weeks whenever they went anywhere in the car. The drive to Martha's was short, but they were taken aback when Jim Beckett answered Martha's door.

"Dad?" Kate asked, confused. She was carrying Lily in her carrier, and Rick had the diaper bag.

"They're here!" Jim called over his shoulder, before looking eagerly at Lily. "There's my girl!" he exclaimed. Lily smiled then, and Jim's jaw dropped. "She smiled at me!" he exclaimed. He looked at Kate excitedly. "She has your smile, Katie."

"Told you," Rick said under his breath.

"Well, for heaven's sake, Jim, let them in already!" Martha called, bustling to the door and gently nudging him out of the way. "Hello, Lily," she greeted her youngest granddaughter. Rick and Kate entered with Lily to find Alexis sitting on the couch, putting the cap back on her bottle of water.

"What's all this?" Rick asked, surprised to see Alexis at Martha's as well.

"An unofficial meeting of the Lily Castle Fan Club," Alexis replied.

"Did they press you into referee duty?" Kate asked Alexis.

"There's no need for that, Katherine," Martha said, having unbuckled Lily from her carrier and lifted the baby into her arms, where Lily was fascinated with the necklaces and dangly earrings Martha was wearing. "Jim and I have negotiated a truce."

"And they didn't even need me to broker the peace," Alexis chimed in, rising from her seat and hurrying over to greet her baby sister properly. "Javier had to work tonight, and I knew Lily would be here, so I dropped by, and Jim was already here, so we're all going to spend the evening with Lily while you guys, who look incredible, by the way, have your night out."

"Jim and I met for coffee earlier this week and talked," Martha assured Richard and Katherine. She looked at Jim now.

"That's right," Jim said. "Martha and I are going to behave ourselves from now on. That's not to say we might not slip from time to time, but we're certainly capable of sharing Lily. I think one reason it's been difficult for us to share her so far is that we were each a parent to only one child-"

"And I was a single parent," Martha interjected.

"And I admit, I feel closer to your mom when I'm with Lily, Katie," Jim said. His expression softened."She would have loved being a grandma, and as I told Martha, if you think I'm a baby hog, Johanna would have been much worse than me. Lily's a Castle, I know, but she's also a third-generation Beckett woman. And you know how much I love the first two generations of Beckett women."

"I know, Dad," Kate replied, feeling the familiar bittersweet pang in her chest that her mother, who would indeed have loved being a grandma, wasn't here to see Lily.

"Anyway, we're going to share and play nicely from now on," Martha said. "And we'll do our best not to backslide, at least not on a regular basis." To prove her point, Martha turned to Jim. "Jim, would you like to hold Lily?"

"Yes, I would, Martha. Thank you very much," Jim replied as he accepted the baby from Martha and kissed her forehead. "We're going to have a lot of fun tonight, Lily Jo, yes we are. All of us," he added, looking at Martha and Alexis.

"Everything's in the diaper bag," Kate said.

"I do remember how to give a bottle and change a diaper, Katie," Jim said, amused.

Rick was hoping he and Kate could get out of there without Martha making any remarks about their plans for the evening.

"You can text or call if you need us," Rick added.

"Okay," Alexis said, "but I think we've got this, Dad. You two go out and enjoy yourselves."

"Yes, have fun," Martha told them. "And don't do anything I wouldn't do—which, as you know, leaves you a long list of things to choose from."

"And there it is," Rick muttered. Kate bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud at Martha's comment. Rick and Kate both hugged and kissed Lily and told her they loved her and they'd see her later, then said their goodbyes to Alexis, Martha, and Jim before heading to One if by Land, Two if by Sea.

After a sumptuous three-course dinner—Pan Roasted Nantucket Scallop appetizers, followed by Beef Wellington for Kate, and Boneless Rack of Lamb a l'orange for Rick—with most of the conversation being about Lily and Alexis, and a little bit about Kate's campaign and the readings and signings Rick was getting ready to commit himself to in the tri-state area, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania in the fall, Kate and Rick headed home. Rick texted Alexis to check on Lily while Kate was in the ladies' room at dinner, and Kate texted Alexis after buckling her seat belt, while Rick started the car and pulled into traffic.

"Lily's asleep," Kate reported when Alexis texted her back.

"When I texted earlier, Alexis said that they were all taking turns playing with her and reading to her," Rick replied. "They probably wore her out."

Kate put her phone back in her clutch purse, set the purse in her lap, and not-so-innocently reached over to rest her hand on Rick's knee, continuing to look out the windshield as her fingers danced from his knee to this thigh and back again. "So this is why you wanted to skip dessert," he mused, even though she was moving teasingly closer to his inner thigh and it was starting to arouse him.

They stopped at a red light, and Kate looked at him, and he turned to look at her, seeing the look of pure desire in her eyes. "I'm not skipping anything. You're my dessert," she replied.

The tires squealed as Rick's foot came down harder than he intended it to on the accelerator when the light turned green. "You do know I can't get you out of speeding tickets anymore, babe," Kate said, her eyes dancing with amusement now.

"You never got me out of speeding tickets before," Rick said, silently congratulating himself on being able to utter a coherent sentence as he decelerated to just under the speed limit.

"No, but I can think of something else I'd like to get you out of," Kate replied, her hand returning to his thigh and resting there, soft and warm and solid and burning his skin through the material of his pants.

When he looked back on this night in the months and years ahead, Rick wouldn't remember exactly how he and Kate got home, parked the car, and made it upstairs, because Kate couldn't keep her hands off him the entire time.

Once they were in the loft, though, with the front door closed and locked behind them, they walked hand in hand to the bedroom, just as they had their first night together. In the bedroom, Kate kicked off her shoes before stretching up on her toes to kiss Rick slowly and deeply, her tongue mapping his mouth as his hands roamed her back, looking for the zipper to her dress as his own questing tongue answered hers.

When the need for oxygen forced them to break the kiss, Rick's jacket, tie, and belt were on the floor, his shirt was untucked and rumpled, and Kate's hair was down and her dress was unzipped. "Should I have gotten candles, rose petals, put satin sheets on the bed?" Rick wondered.

Kate, her lip gloss totally wrecked, shook her head, then replied, "All I want, all I need...all I will **ever** want and need...is you."

Rick slid the straps of her dress down her arms, and the dress slipped from her body, pooling at her feet. She stepped out of it as she reached for the waistband of Rick's pants. They made short work of the rest of each other's clothes and then Rick was laying Kate down on their bed and she was pulling him down with her. She touched his face gently, and he lowered his mouth to hers, holding himself poised above her for the space of a few heartbeats, before their bodies merged and they let themselves be carried away on a tidal wave of love, desire, and joy.

In the afterglow, they lay on their sides in each other's arms, sharing long, passionate kisses. Kate rolled over so she was lying half on top of Rick, covering his face with kisses. When she rested her chin lightly on his chest, he looked into her eyes as he tucked a damp strand of hair behind her ear. "Amazing," he said softly.

"It certainly was," Kate agreed.

Rick wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. "I don't mean just that," he replied. "I mean all of it. Everything. You...our kids...our home...our life. It gets bigger every day. It becomes more every day. You and me...our family...I love you, Kate."

"I love you too," she said. "I was, at best, half-alive before you came along. And you've given me a life that is so far beyond anything I ever dreamed of. And it **does** keep getting bigger and becoming more, and becoming better. You're what I was waiting for without knowing I was waiting for you. I didn't think I could feel the way you make me feel. I didn't think I could have what we have. But you never gave up on me, on us."

"I couldn't. Not completely. Not ever. I was waiting for you too." He paused a moment, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand and looking at her earnestly, his heart in his eyes. "Remember when I said that I never really felt like I belonged until I met you?"

"Yes," Kate replied.

"That's only part of it. I always wanted to belong to someone," he confided. "I love being Alexis's dad...and now Lily's dad. And as crazy as she can make me sometimes, I'm proud to be Martha's son. But I always wanted to be that man...the one that some strong, smart, beautiful woman who would call me on everything and love me for me, even when I make her crazy or angry, and who would always be there with me and for me, and let me be there with her and for her, and who would let me take care of her and would take care of me, and make a life with me… I wanted to be the man about whom that elusive woman would say, 'Yes, he's my husband,' and she'd be happy when she said it, and as proud to be my wife as I am to be her husband. And I'm so happy that that woman is you, Kate. I'm so happy that I belong to you."

She smiled back at him before pecking a quick kiss to his lips, then looking into his eyes and replying, "I'm very happy and very proud to be your wife, Rick." She shifted, sitting up and straddling him. "Only one thing would make me happier than I am at this moment." She felt his body's reaction to hers, and shivered as he ran his hands down her back.

They said it in unison: "Seconds on dessert." Rick pulled Kate closer, pressing a kiss over her thundering heart before she gently pushed him back against the pillows and they made love again.

It was almost midnight when they went to Martha's to bring Lily home. Lily was sound asleep, and Alexis was also sleeping, curled up on Martha's couch, and they agreed not to wake Alexis up, but to let her spend the night at Martha's. Jim had gone home a few hours before, when Lily had fallen asleep for the night.

"Lily is a delight," Martha said. "Honestly, Richard, I don't know how you managed to have two such well-behaved daughters."

"I don't either, but I'm grateful for it," Rick replied. He hugged Martha and kissed her cheek. "Thank you, Mother."

"Anytime," Martha replied. She and Kate hugged then. "Safe home, darlings. Text me when you get there, so I know you're in for the night."

"I will, Martha. Thank you for this evening. Everything was wonderful," Kate replied.

Martha grinned mischievously at her son and daughter-in-law. "Obviously," she said.

Rick and Kate took Lily home and got her settled in her bassinet without her waking up. Then they texted Martha good night, and settled in for a few hours of sleep themselves before Lily awakened for her middle-of-the-night feeding.

* * *

 _ **One if by Land, Two if by Sea really is rated the fifth most romantic in the world, and Baby Center dot com is a real website that does track a baby's week-by-week development and milestones for the first year of her (or his) life.**_


	59. Author's Note--NOT A CHAPTER!

_**Due to circumstances beyond my control, I will not be posting the next chapter on Sunday, July 2. If I did, it would be a grossly subpar chapter, and these characters, and you, the readers, deserve better than that. I am so very, very sorry to disappoint you, and I promise, I will *try* to get the chapter posted on July 4, and then the next chapter on Sunday, July 9, as usual. Thank you for your understanding, and I hope you'll stick with me, because we have some exciting things coming up, including Rick's, and Jim's, first Father's Day with Lily; Lanie and Alan's wedding; the reappearance of someone from Esposito's past; more of Madison, and an unexpected change in her personal life; the City Council election; and of course, more Kate and Rick, together and with their daughters, family and friends.**_


	60. Chapter 57

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story. Here is the next chapter.**_

* * *

Rick's first Father's Day with two daughters was fairly low-key, all things considered. Their extended family all had their own plans—Lanie and Alan were seeing both sets of parents, and updating them on how their wedding plans were coming along; the Ryans were going to both sets of grandparents plus Jenny had hinted around about a surprise for Kevin; Victoria and Gerald Gates were spending the day with her family, which would mean a lot of shop talk among all the current and former police officers in Victoria's family; and Javier was working, along with Detective Ann Hastings Whittaker, closing in on their latest homicide victim's killer—so it would just be Rick, Kate, Alexis, Lily, Jim, and Martha.

Kate's original idea to serve Rick breakfast in bed was ruined when he got up with Lily when she awoke for the day shortly before 5 AM. "It's Father's Day. You should have been able to sleep in today," Kate said when she woke up half an hour later and found Rick playing with Lily in the living room. "Alexis and I were going to make you breakfast in bed." Sunday brunch was canceled for the day, in favor of a picnic lunch in Central Park with Jim and Martha, capped off by a visit to the Central Park Zoo, which would be Lily's first, and the first time any of the others had been there in years.

"Father's Day is the official day you celebrate being a father," he replied. "I'm perfectly happy doing what I'm doing right now, and the only breakfast I would want in bed is..." He trailed off, covering Lily's ears with his hands as she sat in her carrier looking up at her, and then he loudly stage-whispered, "you." Clearing his throat, removing his hands from Lily's ears, and lifting her high into the air until she gurgled and screeched at him, he continued, "And since that wasn't an option this morning, I decided to let you sleep, and get a jump on celebrating Father's Day with Lily."

Rick and Lily both looked so happy that Kate couldn't argue with his logic. "Well, Happy Father's Day," Kate said. She was kissing Rick, Lily still held aloft above them, when Alexis made her way downstairs, and seeing them all on the couch, stopped short.

"Dad! We were gonna make you breakfast in bed," Alexis said, dismayed.

"Highly overrated," Rick said after he and Kate had stopped kissing. Alexis came over to the couch and sat down on Rick's other side, taking Lily from her father. Lily grabbed hold of Alexis's hair and gave a tug.

"Yikes!" Alexis exclaimed. "We might have a future softball player here. She's got one heck of a grip."

"Not the hair, Sweetpea," Rick said, gently prying Lily's fingers loose from Alexis's hair. "We talked about this, remember?"

Alexis smiled. "Happy Father's Day, Dad," she said, leaning over to carefully hug him with Lily braced between them.

"Thank you," Rick replied, looking from Alexis and Lily on his left to Kate on his right. "All of you. Now, where are my presents? You're not really gonna make me wait for those, are you?"

Kate looked at Alexis. "So he's like this not just on Christmas and his birthday, but Father's Day too," she said.

"Oh yeah," Alexis replied. "And it does kind of make sense to give them to him now, instead of dragging everything to the park and then back here later."

"That's a good point," Kate said. She reached out and took Lily from Alexis. "Okay, give us a few minutes to get Lily changed, and to get the presents, and we'll be right back."

"I'll start the coffee," Rick replied as his wife and daughters headed upstairs.

"I was going to ask if you would. Thanks, babe," Kate called from halfway up the stairs.

Rick busied himself in the kitchen, not only starting coffee but looking over their breakfast options, and in a few minutes, Kate, carrying Lily, and Alexis returned, all three of them dressed for the day. Although it was much more baggy now that she was no longer pregnant, Kate was wearing her "I'm a One-Writer Girl" t-shirt; Lily was in her "I'm a One-Writer Girl" onesie; and Alexis was wearing a white t-shirt that proclaimed in black and pink letters that matched the writing on Kate's and Lily's tops, "I'm the Big Sister." Kate carried Lily, while Alexis carried a stack of three wrapped packages.

Rick, still in his pajamas and robe, sitting back on the couch, looked up at them—three of the four women who were his life, and his heart, standing there, Kate and Alexis smiling at him, Lily happy in her mother's arms, waving her hands, which she had only recently become aware of, around as she gurgled and made her baby noises. What he had done to deserve this life, this family, he would never know, but he would be forever grateful.

Kate looked at Rick with concern when she saw that he looked like he was about to cry. "Babe, what's the matter?" she asked.

Rick sniffled. "Nothing," he replied. "Everything is absolutely perfect." He paused, then said, "Can I get a picture of the three of you looking just like that?"

Kate and Alexis exchanged a quick look, then Alexis said, "Sure."

"Just let me grab my phone. I won't be a minute," Rick said, hurrying to his and Kate's bedroom, where his phone was charging.

"Do you think there's such a thing as sympathetic post-partum hormones?" Kate asked Alexis while Rick was getting his phone. "Although he didn't really have sympathetic pregnancy symptoms..."

Alexis smiled as she set the stack of gifts on the coffee table. "You know Dad's a total emotional mushball, especially when it comes to us, Mom. I think this being his first Father's Day with Lily, and seeing all of us together like this hit him harder than he might have originally thought it would."

Alexis's explanation made sense to Kate, and indeed, when Rick returned with his phone, he was smiling now, but his eyes were suspiciously wet. He wiped at them and then said, "Okay, got it. Ready?"

Alexis wrapped an arm around Kate's shoulders and rested her cheek against Kate's. Kate made sure Lily was facing Rick. "Smile for Daddy, Lily," Kate said, her own smile so bright and beautiful as she looked from Lily to Rick that it took Rick's breath away.

Rick snapped the picture, and immediately set it as the lock screen for his phone. Then, slipping the phone into the pocket of his robe, he sat down on the couch again, and looked eagerly at the wrapped presents on the coffee table. "So, can I open my presents now?" he asked, forcing himself not to bounce on the couch.

"Yes," Kate said with a smile. "The one on top there is from Lily."

Rick grabbed the top gift off the stack and tore into it enthusiastically. He removed the lid from the box, tossing it aside, and folded back the tissue paper to reveal a framed and matted piece of canvas that contained Lily's handprints and footprints in pink paint. Above her handprints was her full name in block letters: LILY JOHANNA CASTLE. Below her footprints was her date of birth: MAY 7, 2017.

Rick looked from Lily's tiny handprints and footprints up at the baby, still ensconced in Kate's arms. "She was not a fan of that paint, but it only took us three tries to get complete prints without any drips, didn't it, Lily?" Kate asked the baby. Lily gurgled in reply. "I completely agree—Daddy's worth the trouble." She rubbed noses with Lily, then turned to look at Rick. "I was looking for Father's Day gift ideas from a new baby online, and that was the first thing that came up, so I ran with it," she said.

"I'm glad you did, because I love it," Rick said. Kate and Lily sat down next to him, and he leaned over and kissed Lily's cheek. "Thank you, Sweetpea," he said. "And thank you, Kate."

Alexis sat down on Rick's other side. "My gift is next," she said. Rick carefully set Lily's framed handprints and footprints, still in the box, on the other side of the remaining gifts, picked up Alexis's gift, and as he tore into it, Alexis said, "Mom helped me with the idea."

"Did you make your handprints and footprints for me too?" Rick asked.

"Not quite," Alexis replied.

Alexis's gift was a hinged triple dark walnut photo frame. In the first frame was a photograph of a much younger Rick holding Alexis in front of the Christmas tree when she was a little over two months old; the middle picture was of Rick and Kate with Alexis at her Columbia graduation earlier in the year, with Kate visibly pregnant in the picture; and in the final frame was the picture Javier had taken at the hospital the day Lily was born, of Rick holding Lily, Kate, in her hospital gown in her hospital bed, resting her chin on his shoulder, Alexis sitting on the edge of the bed next to Rick, and Martha and Jim standing on the other side of Kate's hospital bed and leaning in to be seen in the frame.

A small plaque on the bottom of the middle picture was engraved:

THE CASTLE FAMILY

ESTABLISHED 1993

Rick looked from the pictures up at Alexis, who was looking at him a bit nervously. "I know we don't usually get this sentimental on Father's Day," she said, "but this year, it seemed to call for it."

"Yes, it did," Rick agreed. "I love this, Alexis. Thank you so much. It's going right on my desk, before we leave for the park." He hugged Alexis, and she hugged him back.

Kate's gift, the largest and heaviest of the three, was last. "I wonder what this could be?" Rick pondered, honestly having no clue what it was.

When he opened the gift, he was shocked.

Kate had gotten him another remote-controlled tank with a camera in it. He looked from the box to his wife, his eyes wide. "It was my fault you smashed the original into pieces," Kate said, "although I did think it was funny at the time. I figured it was about time I replaced it. However," she went on quickly when Rick opened his mouth to say something, "under no circumstances are you to use that thing to spy on me getting dressed again, Field Marshal, understood?"

They both missed Alexis comically cringing at their exchange as Rick nodded and said, "Understood."

Lily, facing Daddy and Alexis, looked at them, wondering at the funny look on Alexis's face. Alexis stood up, took a couple of steps, reached over, and took her sister from their mother. "They're usually pretty good about the PDA," Alexis said softly to the baby as Kate and Rick embraced and then kissed, "but once in a while, there's that." She nodded at the kissing couple on the couch. "But that's a good thing. Now, if we ever have a little brother, I bet he'll think it's yucky, but we'll outnumber him and be able to say it's sweet...although the disconcerting part was the Field Marshal spying part. I don't want to know any more about that, and you won't either."

"What are you whispering about over there?" Rick asked. Alexis jerked her attention from the baby to her father. Kate, her arms wrapped around Rick's shoulder and her clasped hands resting atop his left shoulder, was also looking at the girls interestedly.

"Just sister stuff," Alexis replied with a smile.

After a breakfast of fresh fruit, toast, coffee, waffles and bacon for the adults, it was time for Lily to eat again and get her morning nap. Rick quickly showered and dressed while Kate and Alexis cleaned up the breakfast dishes. Martha arrived during Lily's nap, lugging a gigantic, and very heavy, package wrapped in brown paper and tied with string. After Rick took it from her, she greeted everyone with hugs and kisses, peeking in on her sleeping granddaughter, and then returned to the living room, motioning to the package with a theatrical flourish of both her arms as she proclaimed, "Happy Father's Day, Richard!"

"Thank you, Mother," Rick said, accepting another hug and kiss from his mother, and returning them. "What in the world is this?"

Martha looked at him, her eyes dancing. "Why don't you open it and find out?" she challenged.

Not needing to be told twice, Rick tore into the package and was stunned at the contents: a framed movie poster of the first Star Wars movie from 1977...and upon closer inspection, he discovered that the poster had actually been autographed by the five principle actors (Mark Hamill, the late Carrie Fisher, the late Sir Alec Guinness, Harrison Ford, and James Earl Jones) **and** the director, George Lucas.

"Mother," Rick said, awed. "How did you... **where** did you..."

"There was an auction at Sotheby's in February," Martha replied. "I went with a couple of friends, and I was the only one who knew what most of the memorabilia meant because it dovetailed with many of your interests, Richard. As soon as this went on the auction block, though, I knew you'd want it. The poster itself would have been enough to thrill you, but when the auctioneer pointed out that it was actually autographed by the director and the five principle actors, I understood why there were so many young men there, but they all went home disappointed, because I decided as soon as I saw that poster that it would be yours. I just had to decide when to give it to you, and that day is today."

Rick leaned the poster up against the wall by the front door and really looked at his mother. "Mother, you never cease to amaze me," he said.

Martha merely smiled. "Back atcha, kiddo," she replied. They were hugging again as Rick profusely thanked her when they heard Lily squealing. Martha broke the hug and said, "And speaking of amazing, I hear Lily is awake. I'm going to get some time with her now. Since it **is** Father's Day, I'm sure Jim will want plenty of time with her, and I'm certainly not going to deny him today." Then she rushed off, following Kate, who had already gone to tend to Lily.

Kate called her dad while Martha talked to and played with Lily after she'd been changed, and Jim assured Kate he would meet the rest of them at Central Park in the pre-arranged spot. They got ready to leave then, making sure to pack plenty of supplies for Lily, including the adorable, tiny, floppy purple sunhat Martha had bought for Lily, and sunscreen for everyone. They stopped off at their favorite deli to pick up the majority of the items for their picnic lunch, and Alexis finished assembling the picnic basket as they drove to Central Park. Martha held Lily while Rick got her stroller opened up; Alexis carried the picnic basket, the paper cups, and the beverage dispenser full of lemonade, and Kate carried the gifts from her and Lily for her father. Rick pushed the stroller with Lily in trooped to the meeting place to find that Jim already had the picnic blanket spread out and was waiting for them with a big smile on his face.

"Katie! Everyone! Over here!" Jim exclaimed, waving at them.

A flurry of hugs and kisses followed, and then Jim zeroed in on Lily in her stroller, awake and babbling. "There's my Lily Jo!" he said happily as he unbuckled her and lifted her out of the stroller, high into the air, which made her squeal, and made Jim himself laugh before he brought her down for a snuggle and a kiss on the forehead.

Kate smiled as she watched her father and Lily together. "Happy Father's Day, Dad," she said, hugging him.

He carefully hugged her back with one arm, keeping a tight hold on Lily cuddled against his chest with the other. "Thank you, Katie."

Rick, Alexis, and Martha were setting up the picnic lunch. "Do you want your presents now, or after lunch?" Kate asked Jim.

Jim looked surprised. "I thought Lily was my present," he said.

"The best one," Kate agreed, "but you do have a couple of packages to open."

Jim considered. "I guess I'll open them now, before we eat," he decided. "Let's sit down." They went over to the picnic blanket and sat down. Rick had parked the stroller at the blanket's edge, and Jim reluctantly put Lily back in her stroller so he could open the packages that Kate held out to him.

"The one on the bottom is from Lily," Kate said.

Jim opened it eagerly; it was a soft gray t-shirt that proclaimed "Only the Best Dads Get Promoted to Grandpa." He grinned as he held the shirt up to his chest to display it.

"I'll wear this proudly," he said. He regarded Lily in her stroller. "Thank you, Lily Jo."

Kate rubbed her suddenly sweaty palms on the thighs of her jeans. "And the other one is from me."

Jim opened Kate's gift to him, and his eyes filled with tears as he looked down at the gift in its box in his lap.

Kate's gift was a hinged triple dark walnut picture frame, identical to the one Alexis had given Rick earlier in the day. But the pictures in Kate's frame, from left to right, were one of the last pictures taken of Johanna Beckett; a picture of Kate that Alexis had taken last week; and a picture of Lily from a few days ago, wearing a purple onesie that said in white and pink letters "Grandpa's Favorite Girl," with the "o" in "Favorite" being a tiny red heart.

Beneath Kate's picture was the small plaque, engraved simply THE BECKETT WOMEN.

Jim swallowed hard, and when that failed to dislodge the lump in his throat, he cleared his throat several times before swiping at his eyes. "This is..." He couldn't find the words.

Kate couldn't find words either, so she just got up on her knees, and hugged her father. He hugged her back fiercely. In the darkest times of his life, he had never thought he would get to this place, not only with Katie, but now he was Lily's grandpa too. Sure, it would never not hurt that he was doing this without Johanna, but he knew how lucky he was, and he wouldn't take it for granted for a moment. He knew that Johanna would expect him to be there for Katie and Lily, and to enjoy being a grandfather as much as he had always said he would enjoy it, even without her there to share in that joy as Katie's mother and Lily's grandmother.

"I love you, Dad, and so does Lily," Kate said, her own voice husky with emotion.

"I love you both too," Jim said softly.

After Kate and Jim had recovered themselves, everyone feasted on a picnic lunch of sandwiches, potato salad, cole slaw, potato chips, and lemonade.

After lunch, Kate went back to the car to feed and change Lily, and then the family headed to the Central Park Zoo. "I checked online, and they don't have any tigers here," Rick said after they had purchased their tickets and were inside the zoo.

"I know," Kate replied. She couldn't help chuckling as she said, "I checked that out online too."

"I didn't mind waking up handcuffed to you at all," Rick said in an undertone so only Kate could hear him, "but I could have done without the hungry tiger."

"We both could. And the tranq darts," Kate added.

The family meandered leisurely through the zoo, Alexis walking and talking with Martha, while Jim insisted on pushing Lily in her stroller, and Kate and Rick walked beside them, Kate next to her dad, and Rick next to Kate.

They saw the sea lions, then went to the Tropic Zone, which included several different species of birds, from an African Pygmy Goose to a Kookaburra to several varieties of starlings. "Poison Dart Frog," Rick read when they stopped in front of a blue frog with black spots all over that looked more like they belonged on a leopard than a frog.

"You're getting an idea, aren't you?" Kate asked.

"I think so," Rick said, nodding. He pulled out his phone and quickly tapped out a few rudimentary notes. "I'll follow up later. Need to do more research. Do you think anyone's ever been killed by one of those?"

"Not in our jurisdiction, obviously," Kate said.

They followed the path to the Temperate Territory, and it was while they were all standing in front of the Red Panda that Alexis excused herself from her grandmother and approached Jim Beckett, who was reminiscing about how much Kate had loved the red panda when she was a little girl. Rick had put the sunshade up on Lily's stroller, and she clearly wasn't as interested in the red panda as her mother had once been, since she now sleeping.

As they walked from the red panda's cage over to the snow monkeys, Alexis fell into step beside Jim. "Happy Father's Day, Jim," she said.

He smiled at her. "Thank you, Alexis," he replied.

"I know we're not _**technically**_ related," Alexis said, "but you've become a very important part of my life, Jim. You've been really great with all of your advice and information on law school, and your encouragement. And I know you're friends with Mr. Kubow."

"I had nothing to do with you getting that internship, Alexis," Jim replied quickly.

"Oh, I know, he told me," Alexis assured Jim. "But he did say that when he mentioned having hired a promising young intern and you asked this intern's name, when he said, 'Alexis Castle,' you told him I'm your stepgranddaughter and that he made an excellent choice."

"I was just stating the facts as I see them," Jim said.

Alexis reached into her messenger bag then and pulled out a wrapped box. "You're the only grandfather I'm ever going to have, and I admire and respect you a lot, Jim. So it just seemed right to get you a gift for Father's Day. I hope you like it." She held the box out to him.

"Alexis, you didn't have to do this," Jim said.

"I know I didn't **have** to; I **wanted** to," Alexis said. "Go ahead and open it."

Jim did so. Alexis's gift was a khaki fisherman's hat, the kind you can attach fishing lures to. "Mom said fishing is your favorite hobby," Alexis said. "I'm sure you probably have some battered old hat that brings you luck, but the only idea I came up with on my own was a pen, and that's just so cliched for a lawyer and law professor."

Jim put the hat on his head. "Perfect fit," he said. "Thank you, Alexis. I actually needed a new hat, because you're right: my old one is so battered, it's about to fall apart. I've been hesitating on getting one because I'm pretty attached to the old one, but now that I have this one, I'll think of you whenever I wear it."

Alexis smiled, relieved. "I'm glad," she said. "Happy Father's Day, Jim."

"Thank you," he said. Then they hugged, as Rick, Kate, and Martha looked on with smiles.

"Dad, Alexis, over here!" Kate called. They broke the hug and turned to look at Kate, and when they saw her holding up her phone, Jim and Alexis put their arms around each other's shoulders and smiled as Kate took their picture, with Jim wearing his new fishing hat.

Since Lily was asleep, they didn't linger at the zoo for much longer, only taking in the penguin exhibit before leaving. Jim's car was parked near Rick's, and everyone said their goodbyes. Kate wished her dad a Happy Father's Day again, and he said simply, "It is, for all of us."

Then everyone went home, with Martha getting dropped off at her apartment before Rick, Kate, Alexis, and the now-awake Lily returned to their home, where they spent the rest of the evening together, ordered in Chinese, and then went to bed early.

Rick stood watching Lily sleep, and Kate exited the bathroom in her pajamas and stole up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her cheek against his, looking down at Lily with him. "Good Father's Day?" she asked in a whisper.

"No. Best Father's Day yet," Rick replied. He turned into Kate's waiting embrace and kissed her before heading into the bathroom himself for his own bedtime ablutions. When he emerged a few minutes later, in his t-shirt and boxers, Kate was already asleep. Rick got into bed and spooned Kate, and was asleep within a few minutes himself.

Upstairs in her own bedroom, Alexis stayed awake reading until she got a text from Javier, and then she texted with him for a few minutes, telling him about her day, and reading about the case he and Detective Hastings Whittaker had caught and how they kept Ryan out of it since he had family plans that day, but that Ryan would get involved the next day. Javier then called Alexis, explaining that he was outside the precinct and heading home because he was wiped out from his day. They exchanged "good night"s and "I love you"s and promised to meet for lunch the next day.

Unbeknownst to Javier, however, someone was watching him from a parked car just down the block from the 12th Precinct. The man, in his early 70s, wore a black Miami Marlins baseball cap, a white v-necked t-shirt, scuffed and faded black Doc Marten boots that he'd owned for 25 years, and brown slacks that had seen much better days. He watched Javier exit the precinct, stop on the sidewalk, and pull out his phone. He was close enough that, while he couldn't see Javier's face close up, the set of his shoulders and his body language related that while he was tired, as he stood there tapping away at his phone, he was happy. The man caught the flash of a brilliant smile when Javier put the phone up to his ear and, though he could neither hear what Javier was saying nor read his lips, Javier was obviously talking to someone who made him happy, someone he loved very much. A wife, maybe a girlfriend?

The man was pulled from his intense scrutiny of Javier by a coughing fit. Inwardly cursing, and knowing he should have brought his supplemental oxygen with him but he didn't want to deal with the hassle of the tank and the cannula so he had said screw it and left it at the hotel, he fumbled in his slacks pocket for his inhaler. He coughed violently, doubling over in the cramped driver's seat of his rental car, and cursing himself again for being so stupid as to rent a compact car. His forehead was maybe one inch from the steering wheel of the ancient (by car-rental standards) Honda. Why hadn't he taken something with some actual space, like a Chevrolet or a Ford? _Because you're a cheap bastard, and you know it. You're an all-around bastard, and you know that too,_ his brain told him as he hacked like he was going to cough up a lung.

By the time his coughing had subsided enough for him to use his inhaler, as he used the inhaler, he looked at the sidewalk where Javier had been standing, only to find it deserted. He inwardly cursed again. Well, it wasn't like he was going to approach Javier tonight, he reminded himself. He had seen him, knew where he worked, and had a scrap of paper with his home address on it back at his hotel. That was a start.

When the medication in the inhaler kicked in and began working, the man drove back to his hotel, a dive in the Bronx, but the price was right. He went straight for his supplemental oxygen when he was in his room and had kicked off his boots. Propped up in bed, he pulled the spiral-bound notebook and ballpoint pen from his suitcase and began writing as he took the oxygen, continuing for three hours before he was drowsy enough, and breathing well enough, to get some sleep.


	61. Chapter 58

_**Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement. I posted the first chapter of this story on July 11, 2016, so it's almost the first anniversary of "This Changes Everything." I didn't know when I started that I'd still be writing a year later, with so much more story to tell, but these characters mean so much to me, and are so inspiring to me, and so are all of you. The interest and enthusiasm for this story came completely unexpectedly to me, but it is so, so greatly appreciated, more than I could ever adequately tell you. This is really my love letter to Castle the show and the characters unlike any others I've ever seen, that have moved and inspired me in ways no other show and characters ever have or ever could. So to all the readers, reviewers, and followers, all the Castle fans and Caskett shippers who read this story, thank you for taking this journey, for trusting me with these characters we love so much and so well, and I hope you keep taking as much enjoyment from reading this story as I do from writing it.**_

 _ **Also, the identity of the mystery man at the end of the last chapter will be revealed in the next chapter.**_

* * *

Kate was concerned when she got the text from Lanie with just an address followed by the appeal to "Meet me here ASAP, and come alone!" Rick assured Kate he had everything under control with Lily, and Kate went rushing out the door, wondering what was going on, and not feeling encouraged when Lanie sent another text, which Kate read at a stoplight, that said, "URGENT. HURRY!"

Which is why Kate was more than a little puzzled when the address proved to be a bridal shop in Tribeca. When Kate walked in the door, she immediately spotted Lanie in a far corner, pacing and looking like she was about to jump out of her skin. "Lanie?" Kate said as she hurried across the shop to meet Lanie.

"Kate! Thank God you're here!" Lanie exclaimed, grabbing Kate in a hug that was part relief, part desperation.

" _ **This**_ is the urgent situation?" Kate asked.

"Yes!" Lanie exclaimed. When she was shushed by a little old lady with a snow-white beehive of hair piled on her head like a jumbo paper cone of cotton candy at a fair, with glasses on a chain that were sliding down her nose, she said in a frazzled tone of voice, "I'm sorry, but I'm having a crisis here! You've worked here since time began—I'm sure I'm not the first bride in crisis you've seen, am I?"

The little old lady 'hmmph'ed before turning and stalking to the back of the store, out of sight of Lanie and Kate, who were the only customers in the store at the moment. "I'm getting married in seven weeks, and I don't have a dress yet, and you don't have a dress yet! And my mother wants me to wear something that would make me look like Princess Diana. When I reminded her how Princess Diana's marriage ended up, she actually said that didn't matter, look at how beautiful her wedding dress was!" Lanie put a hand to her head. "She wants to take me wedding dress shopping this afternoon, so we have to find me a dress **right now** so I can tell her I've already got one. I considered lying that I had a dress, but she'd demand to see me in it. So we're not leaving here until I have a dress, and if we can find a dress for you at the same time, so much the better."

"Okay," Kate said, "now that I know you're not dying and the wedding's not off, I'm relieved. I wish I had some advice for you."

"Please, you hit the in-law jackpot with Martha. Alan must **really** love me to sign on for the insanity of having my mother for his mother-in-law," Lanie reflected. "You and Castle don't mind having us around for most of your future holidays, do you? Alan's parents live closer than mine, so we'll be able to see them all the time. And it's not so much my dad. Oh, sure, he's having those 'my little girl is getting married' moments, but he's just so much more...well... **sane** about it than my mother. And my dad likes Alan. I think my mother is still making up her mind about him, which is ridiculous. Alan is an incredible, amazing man. So I think the less exposure to my mother, the better it will be in the long run for my marriage." Then Lanie got a thunderstruck look on her face.

"What is it?" Kate asked.

"I just referred to my marriage, Kate," Lanie said, sounding awed. "My **marriage**."

Kate smiled, knowing exactly how Lanie felt. "Wait until the first time someone refers to you as Alan's wife, or refers to Alan as your husband," she said. "And the first time Alan calls you his wife...the first time you call **yourself** his wife...the first time you call Alan your husband."

"So there's more of this feeling to come?" Lanie asked.

"A whole lot more," Kate assured her.

Lanie finally smiled a real smile. "Wow. Kate, I'm getting married!" she exclaimed.

"And it was just last summer over the 4th of July weekend that you said you were thinking about it," Kate reminisced.

"It was, wasn't it?" Lanie mused. "I wish we could go up to the Hamptons again this year, but since the 4th is on a Tuesday, and we're already taking time off for the wedding and honeymoon-"

"Yeah, we had a blast last 4th of July, having everybody up there," Kate said. "I think it's just gonna be the immediate family this year, though. And Esposito, if he can get away. Maybe everybody can come up for Labor Day weekend. I'll run it by Rick, see what he thinks. Now, let's find you a wedding dress."

"The sooner, the better," Lanie said. She went over to a rack, Kate trailing after her, and was none too encouraged by the choices before her. Everything was too grandiose, too poofy, or too unlike Lanie. She didn't find anything she even wanted to try on.

Kate and Lanie were both staring at the same dress with equal distaste. "Are they kidding with this?" Lanie asked.

"That had to have been made in the '80s," Kate agreed. "That headpiece alone..."

"Do you know what this whole ensemble reminds me of? The wedding dresses on shows like _Falcon Crest_ and _The Colbys_. Look at that thing." She shook her head. "You know, most of the actresses on those shows wore the absolute ugliest wedding dresses. My mother watched most of them, so I remember."

"Maybe we're going about this the wrong way," Kate mused. "You're getting married in the middle of August, in Manhattan, right? And the venue will be air-conditioned, but that doesn't mean you absolutely have to have a long dress."

"No, the long dress with the 900-foot train is my mother's idea and taste, not mine," Lanie said.

"Okay, so there has to be at least one dress in this shop that doesn't look like it was worn by an '80s primetime soap opera character and doesn't have a 900-foot train," Kate said, looking around the shop. "What about over there?" she asked. Lanie followed Kate's gaze to a rack of shorter formal dresses.

"This is more along the lines of what I was thinking," Lanie said as she took in the whole rack of dresses. She began flipping through them somewhat rapidly, then stopped a little more than halfway through the rack. "Oh," she breathed silently.

The dress was white, but without any ruffles or frills, no sequins or beads; just a simple white dress of satin, with a v-neck, and a lace overlay bodice, knee-length, and with short sleeves that stopped several inches above the elbow.

Lanie reached out in seeming slow motion and removed the dress from the rack. "I want to try this one," she said.

Kate nodded. "Do it," she urged.

While Lanie went to try the dress on, Kate found the dresses for bridesmaids and matrons of honor and began perusing them, looking for something in blue, since Alan and Rick would be wearing custom-tailored three-piece navy blue suits; Alan would wear a white shirt with a royal blue necktie, and Rick would wear his French blue shirt with a royal blue necktie. Kate had just found a strong possibility of a dress for herself—a dress the same length as Lanie's, but in a shade called Horizon that would match Rick and Alan's ties perfectly, with spaghetti straps, a modest v-neckline that would completely cover Kate's chest (Kate was still sensitive about the scar there from the bullet she had taken at Captain Montgomery's funeral, and even though all the attention would be focused on the bride, Kate didn't want her scar to have any chance of showing), and a pleated bodice, with a short zipper in the back, and the back of the dress started about halfway down her spine—when Lanie emerged from the dressing room with tears in her eyes.

Kate sensed Lanie standing there and looked up at her best friend, gasping at the sight of her. "Oh, Lanie," she whispered.

Lanie just nodded, her lips trembling. "This is it," she said. She did a slow spin in a circle, stopping when she faced Kate again. "This is the dress I'm going to get married in."

"It's perfect for you," Kate said. "And when Alan sees you in that, he's going to forget his own name."

"I hope not. We'll need it for the vows," Lanie said, trying to stave off tears. Then she noticed the dress Kate had one hand on. "Did you find something you like?"

"I think so," Kate replied, pulling the dress off the rack.

"So go and try it on," Lanie said. "We might actually get out of here with dresses for the both of us today."

Which is exactly what they did, after only minor alterations to both dresses, thankfully performed by a younger seamstress and not the stern little old lady with the glasses on a chain and the disapproving stare.

"I'm carrying my wedding dress!" Lanie exulted when they were out on the sidewalk. "And you have your matron of honor dress. Alan and Castle are getting fitted for their suits next week. This wedding is starting to come together." Lanie paused, then said, "I'm really sorry for freaking out on you back there."

But Kate waved away the apology. "You're the bride. This is supposed to be your perfect day, and no one, not even your mother, has any right to try to take that away from you or mess it up for you."

Lanie's phone rang then. "It's Alan," she said. Kate nodded as Lanie answered. "Hi, honey! I found my wedding dress!...Now you **know** you are not allowed to see this dress until our wedding day….I said I found a wedding dress, not honeymoon lingerie!"

Laughing at the pure exasperation in Lanie's voice and trying not to get caught laughing by Lanie herself, Kate moved a few feet down the sidewalk and pulled out her own phone to call Rick, who answered before the first ring had finished. "What's the emergency?" he asked. "I've got Alexis, Mother and your dad all three on standby in case you need me."

"Wedding crisis," Kate replied. "But it's all taken care of. How's Lily?"

"Sleeping," Rick replied. "Speaking of this wedding, we have a party to plan for the bride and groom. Do you think they could come over for lunch or dinner today so we could start putting this thing together?"

"I'll ask Lanie," Kate said. Lanie's eyes were dancing, and she was laughing at something Alan was saying. When Kate got her attention and relayed Rick's question to her, Lanie, in turn, asked Alan, and they agreed to meet for dinner that night at the loft to plan their party.

Lanie and Kate parted, agreeing that they'd see each other later at Kate and Rick's place, and Kate returned home to Rick and Lily, while Lanie went home to hide her dress from Alan.

Kate arrived home carrying the garment bag containing her matron of honor dress to find Rick playing on the floor with Lily, who was kicking her legs and waving her arms and hands while Rick humorously narrated. He was gently peddling her legs like she was riding a bicycle. "And one, and two, and one, and two...That's it! Feel the burn! It's the Baby _Jane_ _Fonda Workout_! Seriously, Sweetpea, your Gram used to have the VHS tapes."

"No leg warmers," Kate said. "My mom had those tapes too."

"Yay, Mommy's home!" Rick exclaimed, scooping Lily up before getting to his feet. "Ooh, is that a pretty dress in that garment bag, or did Lanie go the stereotypical bride route of making you wear the ugliest dress she could find?"

"I picked it out myself," Kate replied. She handed Rick the garment bag and took Lily from him, kissing the baby and then kissing Rick. "And it's a very nice dress, really. The color matches your tie. So did you and Lily have fun?"

"Of course we did," Rick replied.

"Doing the Baby _Jane Fonda Workout_?" Kate smirked.

"It just popped into my head, the way she was moving, and she's in that striped onesie from Ryan and Jenny, which reminded me of some of Jane Fonda's outfits in those workout videos," Rick said. "Am I allowed to look at the dress?"

"Sure," Kate said as she held Lily aloft. Lily smiled down at her mommy. Now that she was two months old, she looked to see where noises were coming from, and she watched people, especially Kate and Rick, intently, and she was a great little listener, completely fascinated whenever anyone talked to her. Rick had already predicted Lily would have an exceptional vocabulary, and probably start talking early. Lily could also differentiate between the most familiar voices in her world: Mommy, Daddy, Alexis, Gram, and Grandpa Jim. "Aunt Lanie and Uncle Alan will be coming over later, Lily, and I know we'll be talking about the wedding, but I bet you're going to be a pretty big center of attention too." Lily gurgled at this.

Rick whistled low, and Kate and Lily both turned to look at him. He was inspecting Kate's matron-of-honor dress on its hanger. "You're going to upstage Lanie in this dress," he said.

Kate smiled wryly. "I doubt Alan will think so."

"He'd better not! He's getting his own wife that day. He doesn't need to be ogling my wife," Rick replied.

Kate was struck all over again by hearing Rick refer to her as his wife. She never failed to thrill to those words, especially when they came from Rick.

"You have nothing to worry about there," Kate assured him. "Alan will only have eyes for Lanie on their wedding day. I've seen **her** dress. She'll take his breath away."

"That's how it should be," Rick said with a nod. "I'll go and hang this up for you."

Kate and Lily both watched Rick go into the bedroom until he had disappeared from view. Kate would swear Lily sighed when Rick was out of her sight line. "Don't tell him I told you this, Lily," Kate said softly, and Lily turned her head and her attention to her mother, "although I'm pretty sure he already knows...but he's had that effect on me since a few months after we met. And he always will." When Lily smiled, Kate smiled back and then rubbed noses with her baby girl, grateful for at least the millionth time that she hadn't missed out on this life with Rick, and with Lily, and Alexis.

* * *

Lily had been bathed, fed, burped, changed, and was in one of her countless cute sleepers, this one a gift from Martha, a white sleeper that proclaimed in bold letters of alternating purple and pink "I Love the Night Life." In actuality, though, Lily was sleeping for longer stretches through the night, and Rick and Kate would be asking her pediatrician at her rapidly approaching two-month check-up when they should move her from her bassinet to her crib, since both of them had read separately, and shown the articles to each other, that the earlier a baby started sleeping alone, the better it was for the baby in the long run. She was in her swing, with her thumb in her mouth, while Kate sat on the floor beside the swing, reading Lily _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_ , which was already one of her favorite books.

When Lanie and Alan arrived for dinner, Rick let them in, since Kate was still reading to Lily, who was almost asleep. Kate was near the end of the book, and Lily's eyelids were drooping. By the time Kate finished the last page and closed the book, Lily was asleep. She carefully, quietly got to her feet, quietly greeted Lanie and Alan, and then turned her attention to Rick, asking him, "You want to carry her to bed, babe?"

"Yeah," Rick agreed. He looked at Lanie and Alan now. "We'll just be a few minutes," he told them.

While Rick and Kate were putting Lily to bed for the night, Alan shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he said, "You know, we've never really talked about kids in anything but abstract terms."

"You're right. We haven't," Lanie said.

"It's not something I want to do right away," Alan said.

"Oh, me neither, me neither," Lanie said.

"But I could see us with a kid or two eventually," Alan said.

"How eventually?" Lanie asked.

"Well, you're the one who has to do all the hard work," he replied, "so the way I see it, that's pretty much your call."

"Really?" Lanie asked, surprised. She knew Alan was a liberated man, and very supportive of women's rights, but she hadn't known he would go so far as to leave the when of them beginning a family entirely up to her.

"Well...yes," Alan said. "You're the one who will go through all the changes and all the discomfort and then the actual physical pain of labor and childbirth. I'm not some caveman who's going to demand that you give me children, but seeing Kate and Rick with Lily these past couple of months, and the few times we've seen Kevin and Jenny with their kids...It's gotten me thinking, Lanie, and aside from marrying you, I can't think of anything that would be better than having kids with you."

Lanie just had to kiss Alan for that, so she did. When they came up for air, she said, "I definitely want at least one child. But not for a couple of years."

"Two years it is," Alan agreed, sealing the deal with another kiss.

They kissed until they heard Castle say, "Another thirty seconds and then can I spray them with a fire extinguisher, Kate?"

Lanie and Alan pulled apart, and Lanie gave Castle an arched-eyebrow look. "A fire extinguisher, Castle?" she asked.

"Well, we don't have a garden hose," Castle said.

Kate elbowed him in the ribs. "Okay, okay, we have a party to plan, and dinner will be ready soon. We're having lasagna. I hope that's all right."

"Sounds great," Alan said. "I'm famished."

They had just started eating when Rick said, "So, what are we thinking for the party?"

Kate added, "Yeah, have you guys given any thought to what you want to do, and when? I know that, as best man and matron of honor, technically we're supposed to plan the party, but we've been kind of busy lately."

"For the best reasons in the world," Lanie said. She looked at Alan, whose face was lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. "And we've decided on what we want to do."

"What my bride means," Alan said, "is that I got this idea, and when she saw how excited about it I am, she decided to be the best good sport in the world and go along."

"Well, I haven't been there in ages myself," Lanie retorted, "and yes, you may be more excited about it than I am, but I think we'll all have a great time."

"And where will we be having this great time?" Rick asked.

"Coney Island!" Alan exclaimed. "Luna Park! The best of both worlds: the amusement park with all the rides and games and food, and the boardwalk and the beach. They even have an arcade! Oh, the hours I spent in arcades when I was a teenager! And all the rides!"

At the mention of Coney Island, Rick, who was sitting next to Kate, instinctively reached for her hand under the table. Before he could squeeze her hand, she squeezed his hand. They exchanged a look, and Rick could see in her eyes that she would be okay with this somehow, since it obviously meant so much to Alan, and Lanie was looking enthusiastic now.

"Are you inviting Gates and her husband?" Rick asked.

Alan and Lanie exchanged a look. "I—we hadn't thought about that," Lanie admitted after a pregnant pause.

"What about Alexis and Javi?" Kate asked.

"Well, they're coming to the wedding, so yeah, we thought we'd include them in the party," Lanie said. "Really, it's not weird for us. It's not still weird for you guys, is it?"

"It was never really weird for me," Kate reflected. "And I think Rick is starting to adjust, finally."

"Yes, I am," Rick said. "Okay, so Alexis and Espo, Ryan and Jenny..."

"My sister and brother-in-law," Alan piped up. "My parents would probably be game for some of it if we wanted to ask them."

"Mine wouldn't," Lanie said, grimacing now. "Well, my dad probably would go for it, but my mother? Never. She already gave me an earful about my wedding dress. She'll probably be apoplectic when she finds out I'm not having a traditional shower, or some fancy tea party." She looked at Alan. "Do you want to ask your parents?"

"Will it cause problems if we ask mine and not yours?" he asked.

"Not if Gates is there," Rick said. "Seriously, Lanie, she could intimidate your mother with one look."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Ignore him. He just wants to see if Victoria will get sick on the Steeplechase."

"If she does, I really hope I'm not sitting in front of her," Rick said.

"We don't have to decide about the parents tonight," Alan added.

"Let's ask Gates and her husband," Lanie said decisively. "We'll revisit the question of whether or not to ask the parents, and whose parents to ask, after we've nailed down a date."

The rest of their evening, after dinner, was spent looking at the rides, games, and food available at Luna Park and Coney Island on Rick's tablet, and Rick and Alan were like a couple of little boys, compiling lists of which rides they wanted to go on, and which games they wanted to play, and the food they just had to have.

"So how do you really feel about having your combined bachelor and bachelorette parties at Luna Park and Coney Island?" Kate asked Lanie when they were in the kitchen, getting refills on their drinks, wine for Lanie and water for Kate.

"I think it's going to be a lot of fun," Lanie replied honestly. "What I do isn't who I am, but you know firsthand how grim it gets, Kate. Alan is able to take the absolute worst, most gruesome, pierce-my-armor day and make it all okay for me. I don't think anyone else would think of Coney Island for a bachelor and bachelorette party, except maybe Castle. And I really want to do this now. I haven't been to Coney Island since I was a teenager. I hope that arcade still has skeeball. I used to rule at skeeball. Besides, if Alan and Castle win everything, they'll be positively insufferable, and we can't have that."

"Definitely not," Kate agreed.

"I get it now," Lanie said. At Kate's inquiring gaze, Lanie went on. "Why you, Kate Beckett, the most commitment-phobic person I used to know, next to myself of course, were so happy and so eager to marry Castle: because when you **really** love someone, and you know that that someone **really** loves you, you don't want to be without them. You want to join your life to theirs, permanently, and build something new and wonderful together."

"I'm really happy for you, Lanie," Kate said. "Alan's a great guy, and you two are great together."

"Look at us," Lanie said. "Ten years ago, we never would have pictured ourselves here. Our younger selves would have laughed us out of the room."

"Your younger self would have laughed you out of the room. Mine would have told me off for even suggesting anything like this might have a chance of happening," Kate said. She looked over to where Rick and Alan were laughing about something on the tablet's screen, and she smiled at the sight of the two of them laughing and nudging each other.

Lanie followed Kate's gaze. "We were idiots ten years ago," she said bluntly.

"I don't know that I'd go that far," Kate mused thoughtfully. "We just hadn't found them yet."

Lily woke up then, crying loudly over the baby monitor. Kate and Rick both rushed to tend to her. Alan stood up, setting Rick's tablet on the coffee table. Lanie crossed the room until she was standing next to him. "You and Castle get everything planned out?" she asked.

"Almost," Alan replied. "If there's something else you'd rather do-"

"Nothing in the world would be as much fun as Coney Island and Luna Park with you and our friends," Lanie said, wrapping her arm around Alan's waist and leaning her head against his shoulder. "Although if Deputy Chief Gates **does** get sick on the Steeplechase, I hope I'm not sitting in front of her either."

Rick and Kate returned then, without Lily. "She just needed a clean diaper," Kate reported.

"Well, we should probably get going anyway," Alan said. "Thanks for dinner, and for being the greatest best man and matron-of-honor in the world and agreeing with this crazy party idea."

"It's not crazy, it's inspired," Rick replied. "I wish I'd thought of something like that before we got married." He looked at Kate.

"Well, there was the honeymoon," Kate reminded him.

"Oh yeah," Rick agreed, his mind drifting back to the memory of Kate in head-to-toe black with the corset and the boots, her gun in its holster around her hips, and… He mentally slammed on the brakes, knowing it was better not to let his mind go that far in front of Lanie and Alan.

They said their good nights, and after Lanie and Alan left, Kate and Rick locked up and then got ready for bed themselves.

When they were lying in bed in the dark, Rick said, "Are you gonna be okay with being at Coney Island for the party?" In the dim light of the room, Kate could see the genuine concern in his eyes.

"Yes," she said, looking in his eyes. "I can do this for Lanie and Alan. And you'll be there, so I know I'll be all right." She laid her head on his chest and felt him kiss the top of her head.

"I love you, Kate," Rick said in the darkness.

She never got tired of hearing him say that, and she never got tired of telling him, "I love you too, Rick," as she did now, lying in their bed in his arms, with Lily sleeping peacefully across the room from them.

* * *

That same black compact Honda Civic had been parked down the street from the 12th Precinct almost every day for the last ten days...but the only person who seemed to have taken notice of the car was Kevin Ryan. When he reached the sidewalk and spotted the car again, he'd had enough. Whoever the old guy that was always either in or near that car was, he was staking out the 12th for some reason, and Kevin decided it was time to find out who this weird stalker was.

Unobtrusively, he snapped a picture of the car's license plate with his phone, and then headed home to Jenny and the kids, making a mental note to track the license plate the next day, since he and Javi and Hastings (she still went by her maiden name at the precinct) didn't currently have a case.

As he made his way home to his family, little did Kevin know what he was about to discover about the car and the old man who spent so much time sitting in it, and the impact his discovery would have.


	62. Chapter 59

_**Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support for this story. This chapter is a bit light on Kate and Rick, but they'll be back to being prominently featured in the next chapter. Meanwhile, in this chapter, the identity of the mysterious man who's been casing the 12th Precinct will be revealed, as will a new fact about Lily.**_

* * *

When Kevin Ryan ran the license plate on the black Honda Accord that had been parked just down the street from the 12th Precinct for almost two weeks, learning that the car was a rental wasn't a surprise.

The surprise came when he tracked down to whom the car had been rented: 74-year-old Matias Agustin Esposito of Miami, Florida. When he got a look at Matias Esposito's driver's license picture, any hope Ryan had had that Matias Esposito was a long-lost uncle, or that the last name was just a coincidence, died a quick death; the resemblance between Javi and Matias was clear, even though the driver's license had been renewed five years ago (Florida state driver's licenses were good for eight years, unless you were 80 or older; then they were only good for six years and required the driver to pass a vision test).

Javi didn't talk about his dad much. All he had ever told Kevin about his old man was that he split after divorcing Javi's mother when Javi was five. He had moved to Florida and remarried, and all Javi got after that was a postcard and a phone call. One of each, for the rest of his life.

The old man was obviously coming around because he wanted something from Javi after all these years.

"Whatcha workin' on, bro?"

At the sound of Javi's question, Kevin quickly, nonchalantly minimized the window with Matias Esposito's driver license photo in it at his computer, then put on his best poker face. "Just catching up on some paperwork," he replied.

Javi sat down at his desk. "I kind of hope the murderers keep their vacation going for the next few days," he said. "If they do, I might be able to talk Captain Karpowski into giving me Monday off in addition to Tuesday so I can be with Alexis on the 4th. Too bad we can't all go up to Castle and Beckett's place in the Hamptons like last year, huh?"

"Yeah," Kevin agreed. "We'll just have to do it over Labor Day weekend instead. I already put in for the time off."

"Good thinkin'. I should do the same thing," Javi replied.

"So if you can get Monday off, are you going up for the whole weekend of the 4th?" Kevin asked as Javi retrieved a request for time off form to fill out for Labor Day weekend and began scribbling the necessary information on it.

"Well, Alexis is going up Friday morning with Castle and Beckett and Lily and Martha, and I think Beckett's dad is driving up either Friday night or Saturday morning. If I get Monday off, I'll be heading up straight from here Friday night, probably get there in time for a late dinner," Javi replied. "I want at least one moonlit walk on the beach with my girl." He looked up and flashed Kevin a grin before finishing his time off request form.

"You'll get it," Kevin told him. Thankfully, the workday was almost over by now, and Kevin rushed home to his family. Jenny could tell he was preoccupied as soon as he walked in the front door, but he managed to push it aside to engage with Sarah Grace and Nick through dinner, baths, and bedtime routines.

When the kids were asleep, Kevin threw himself down on the couch and leaned all the way back, his head tipped up to stare at the ceiling. Jenny grabbed a couple of bottles of beer from the fridge, opened them, and then sat down next to her husband, handing him one of the open bottles. He accepted it wordlessly as Jenny took a sip of her own beer, swallowed it, and said, "So, what's going on?"

Kevin sat up and picked at the label on his bottle of beer, his eyes downcast. "The past couple of weeks, there's been this black Honda Civic parked just down the street from the precinct almost every day. Same car, same old man sitting in it, or standing on the sidewalk next to it. I ran the plate today, and it's a rental car." He looked up to meet his wife's gaze now. "It's Javi's father."

Jenny's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, Kevin! Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he said with a nod. "The guy who rented the car is named Matias Esposito. He's 74 years old and lives in Miami. I saw his driver's license picture, and just by looking at it, I can tell he's Javi's father."

"What does he want with Javi after all these years?" Jenny asked.

"He could be dying and he wants to make peace with Javi before he goes," Kevin mused.

"What if he needs a transplant of some kind? Like a kidney, or bone marrow, and he's coming to Javi because Javi's a good possibility for a match since they're father and son?" Jenny asked.

Kevin's face twisted in anger. "If that's the case, that's the lowest of the low," he said angrily. "He doesn't bother to see his own son for 30 years, and then he shows up because he wants a transplant of some kind?"

"Javi doesn't know yet, does he? About his father being in town," Jenny realized.

Now Kevin looked uncomfortable. "He's trying to get next Monday off so he can go up to the Hamptons and be with Alexis for a long 4th of July weekend," he said. "He was in such a good mood today, I couldn't bring myself to drop this bomb on him." He took a long pull from his bottle of beer before setting the bottle on the coffee table and resting his head on Jenny's shoulder. "I don't have any idea if I did the right thing by not telling him, Jenny, but he's my best friend. I couldn't blow up his life by telling him, 'Oh, hey, your father's been staking out the precinct for the past couple of weeks, he's the old guy in the rented black Honda Civic down the block.'" He sighed.

"This isn't going to be good," Jenny said. "Whatever the reason Javi's father showed up now, it's not a good thing, and he's not going to take it well at all."

"No, he isn't," Kevin agreed.

"We'll be there for him, though," Jenny said, wrapping her arms around Kevin.

"Of course we will," Kevin agreed. What he didn't say, though, was that he hoped Javi would let Alexis be there for him. Kevin hadn't forgotten that Javi didn't want Alexis informed several months ago when that suspect had stabbed him. Kevin, knowing how Jenny would feel if the situation were reversed, had called Alexis to come down to the hospital to meet them, and Javi and Alexis had ended up having an argument because Javi hadn't wanted Alexis to know, and Kevin had gone and told her anyway.

Kevin understood the protective instinct, but he had also seen how long it had taken Beckett and Castle to get together, and one of the reasons was Beckett's sometimes misguided attempts at protecting Castle by shutting him out. He didn't want to see Javi and Alexis go through something similar, but he couldn't shake the feeling that that was exactly what was going to happen, that Javi wouldn't want his father anywhere near Alexis, no matter what the man's reason was for coming back into Javi's life after all these years. And Alexis, like her father had with Beckett, wouldn't take being shut out of Javi's life, even in the name of him trying to protect her, well at all either.

Kevin sensed a storm brewing, but he had no way of knowing when or how it would strike. All he could do was be there for his friends and help them through it...while simultaneously keeping Beckett and Castle from kicking Javi's ass for hurting Alexis by shutting her out if, as he believed, that was what was coming down the pike.

* * *

Because of all of Lily's baby paraphernalia taking up space in the car, Alexis and Martha took the same train to the Hamptons that Alexis and Javier had taken the year before. Javier had gotten Monday off, and had assured Alexis that he was going to leave straight from the precinct on Friday afternoon. Rick, Kate, and Lily had driven up Thursday afternoon and were all waiting at the station when Alexis and Martha arrived Friday morning.

Jim arrived Friday night, leaving straight from the office, and it was a good thing so many adults were on hand, because Lily was fussier in the Hamptons than she had ever been in her entire life so far.

No matter what her parents, grandparents, and big sister did or said, Lily could not and would not settle down. She didn't sleep for more than an hour at a time, and her unhappy wails upon waking tore at especially Kate's and Rick's hearts.

This went on all of Thursday night, and at first, the adults all thought it was just the fact that this was the first time Lily had ever been away from home, and that she was unsettled by the change in her surroundings but that she would get used to it after the first night.

With everyone so tired, they all stayed home on Friday. Lily wouldn't go down for much of a nap either in the morning or the afternoon, only about half an hour in the morning, and 45 minutes in the afternoon, but Jim's energy level picked up considerably the moment he arrived at the house to find Katie and Rick almost running on autopilot, and, to a lesser extent, Martha and Alexis also flagging, because while Lily hadn't napped much during the day, Kate and Rick had certainly tried to make up some of their sleep deficit from the night before, since, now that she was almost two months old, and had been a fairly easy baby from birth, getting up with Lily fifteen times a night was not something her parents were in the habit of doing, because they simply had never had to be in the habit of doing it. Lily only awoke two, maybe three times a night, for feedings and diaper changes. This waking every hour, sometimes sooner, was not something with which Kate and Rick had ever had to deal before.

When Friday night turned out to be a repeat of Thursday night, Kate fretted that Lily might be getting sick. Lily didn't feel feverish, or have any other common symptoms of illness, like a stuffy or runny nose, sneezing, coughing, or throwing up, but Kate still berated herself out loud for not bringing the baby thermometer along.

"It's the 4th of July weekend, and we didn't think we'd need it," Rick said as he paced the master suite, gently swaying Lily in his arms.

Kate was near tears herself. "Well, I'm beginning to think we did need it," she said. "And this is the Hamptons, not Manhattan. There's not a 24-hour pharmacy here where we could send Alexis or my dad to go and pick up a thermometer."

Just then, bright, multicolored flashes lit up the sky above the beach, and the thundering boom of fireworks set off by early revelers filled the air. Kate, remembering Rick's reaction to the 4th of July fireworks last year, looked at him anxiously, praying that the explosions outside wouldn't trigger a panic attack in him.

Rick did stop pacing, but he had no other outward reaction of any kind to the early fireworks.

The window-shaking booms had an interesting effect on Lily, however: she stopped crying.

Kate figured it out immediately. "The noise!" she exclaimed over the din of the fireworks as Lily rested her cheek on her daddy's shoulder and popped her thumb in her mouth. Her sleeping schedule had been completely messed up for the past two days, and the exploding fireworks were actually calming her down. "It's been too quiet out here for Lily!"

Sure enough, Lily had drifted off to sleep, her thumb falling out of her mouth, her cheek resting against Rick's shoulder. "We definitely have a city girl on our hands," Rick whispered. "The city noises are like white noise to her. They help her sleep."

Kate cautiously, quietly approached them, Rick standing stock still, holding the sleeping Lily up on his shoulder. A soft knock came at the closed door to the master suite. Kate reversed course and opened the door to find her father, Martha, Alexis, and Javier all crowded into the doorway. "Is Lily all right?" Martha asked quietly, anxiously.

"She stopped crying so suddenly," Jim added worriedly. "It was like flipping a switch. That's not like her."

"Is she okay?" Alexis asked, distressed as the rest of the family that Lily was so upset.

"She's sleeping," Kate said in a stage whisper. "Those early fireworks outside-"

"I went down to the beach and ran those punks off," Javier said. "They were a couple of young teenagers, and I could smell weed on 'em too. They probably weren't more than 14 years old." He shook his head disgustedly.

"Thanks, Javi," Kate said, "but it turns out, those fireworks are what put Lily to sleep."

Alexis put it together first as the others exchanged puzzled glances. "The noise," she said. "Lily's so used to the noise of the city that being out here is what unsettled her because it's too quiet."

"Exactly," Kate said. She looked over at Rick, who was still holding Lily. "We just figured it out when she stopped crying at the fireworks."

"Well, how do you like that?" Martha said. "Every other child is afraid of fireworks. Our Lily is soothed to sleep by them."

"You can all go back to what you were doing, which was probably sleeping," Kate said. "That's certainly what we're going to try to do."

"Well, if anyone else sets off fireworks early, I won't run them off," Javier said.

"I think we're going to try putting her down," Kate told the others as Rick slowly, softly walked toward the portable crib that was set up next to Kate's side of the bed. He gently settled Lily, gingerly removing his hands but standing over the crib and watching to make sure she stayed asleep while Kate shooed the rest of their family on their way.

With Lily asleep, Kate and Rick quietly collapsed into their own bed. "Do you think that Lily being soothed to sleep by fireworks is an early indication of eccentric tendencies possibly inherited from my mother?" Rick asked when they were in bed. "Some things skip a generation, you know."

Kate opened her eyes and turned her head to look at her husband. "Can we have this conversation when we're both at least a little more awake?" Kate asked. "And Martha's not eccentric, she's flamboyant."

"She certainly is that," Rick agreed. But Kate was already asleep, and Rick dropped off to sleep himself almost immediately after that.

* * *

After going out for dinner on Saturday night, when Javier and Alexis got back to the house, Javier suggested a walk on the beach. Alexis beamed at him and said, "I thought you'd never ask."

They left their shoes on the back porch and cut through the back yard before heading to the beach to walk on the sand underneath the moon. The ocean waves were the perfect background noise as they strolled hand in hand, Alexis's fingers threaded through Javier's. "This is perfect," Alexis said.

"You think so, huh?" Javier asked, looking at her with a big smile. The ocean breeze played through her hair, and the sand beneath their feet was cool and damp as the tide lapped at their toes like a kitten lapping up milk from a saucer.

"Don't you?" Alexis countered.

"One of the most perfect moments of my life, without a doubt," Javier replied. "It's not a coincidence that those perfect moments always happen when I'm with you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, Lex."

Alexis stopped walking and moved to stand in front of Javier, wrapping her arms around his neck. His arms wrapped around her waist of their own accord. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, too, Javier," she replied.

Javier looked at Alexis then, brushing her hair behind her ears. "I adore you," he said simply.

She smiled at him. "That's good to know, because I'm crazy about you," she replied before kissing him.

When they stopped kissing, Javier said, "I sure hope you're gonna be crazy about me for the rest of your life, because I'm going to adore you for the rest of mine."

"I take it as fact that we're together for the rest of our lives," Alexis replied earnestly. "I want us to have the kind of relationship my dad and Kate have."

"I thought you were calling her 'Mom' now?" Javier said.

"I am," Alexis replied. "I just wanted to be sure you knew I meant her, and not the woman who gave birth to me. Because in the grand scheme of things, that's **all** she did."

"I know what it's like to have a parent that doesn't give a damn about you," Javier said. "She's out of your life, though."

"And your father is out of your life," Alexis replied.

"I don't think he was really **in** my life enough to be considered out of it now," Javier reflected. "He walked out and didn't bother looking back, beyond a postcard and one phone call. But I turned out all right."

"You turned out much more than 'all right,' I'd say," Alexis replied.

"Yeah, but you're biased 'cause you're my girlfriend," Javier said. They started walking again, ambling down the beach and back towards the house.

"Even so, it's still a true statement," Alexis said. "And I don't need Meredith to be my mother. I have Kate, and she's not a mother, she's a mom. There's a difference." Alexis paused, then said, "Do you ever think about your father?"

"I have no reason to," Javier replied. "He doesn't even know I'm alive."

"You never wanted to track him down?" Alexis asked.

"I didn't see the point," Javier replied. "And I've never been in the habit of being where I'm not wanted. He made his decision 30 years ago, and obviously it's not a decision he ever wanted to take back. It is what it is."

"That sounds a lot like Meredith," Alexis agreed. They had reached the house. "If my parents, my baby sister, my grandmother, and the only grandfather I'll ever really have weren't all in there, we could make some fireworks of our own."

"That's one of the great things about being together for the rest of our lives," Javier reflected. "We've got forever, so we can anticipate the fireworks the next time we do get to be alone together."

"I do like the anticipation," Alexis agreed.

Everything was quiet in the house. Having finally fallen asleep, Lily must have been tired enough to stay asleep, and Kate and Rick were obviously exhausted from having been up with her for over 24 hours, while Martha and Jim were obviously exhausted from having been up with Lily for almost 24 hours.

Javier walked Alexis to her room. "It's no coincidence that your dad put me in another wing," Javier said.

"Definitely not," Alexis agreed.

After several lingering good night kisses, and whispered "I love you"s, Javier, carrying his shoes, padded down the hall towards the wing of the house where he was sleeping. Alexis stood in front of her bedroom door and watched him go until he was out of her sight, and then she went into her bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her.

* * *

Lily slept through the fireworks on the 4th of July. Much to everyone's relief, especially Kate and Rick's, Rick did not have a panic attack during the fireworks like he had last year. Of course, the noise was somewhat muffled inside the house, and he and Kate watched the fireworks light up the sky from the master suite, pulling a chair up by the windows, and with Kate sitting in Rick's lap the entire time. Wrapping his arms around his wife kept Rick grounded in the present moment.

Everyone returned to the city on Wednesday morning, and Javier headed straight into work. He was able to get away with coming in late only because they didn't have an active case, but he had been at work all of ten minutes when they got a call about a body drop, and he, Ryan, and Hastings headed out to the crime scene to meet Perlmutter and the uniforms.

They were immersed in the case immediately—the murder weapon was a fireworks mortar tube covered with fingerprints that were not the victim's, plus neighbors had heard a loud argument between the victim and a yet-to-be-identified man—and so he and Ryan weren't able to compare notes on how their holiday weekends had gone. Ryan wanted to tell Javi about his father being in town, but he couldn't find an opening, or the right time, or the right words.

When Javier left the 12th Precinct shortly after 8 PM, with Ryan and Hastings having already gone home, he was headed down the sidewalk when out of the corner of his eye he saw an old man, shabbily dressed, crossing the street and heading towards him. He sped up, not wanting to deal with some random panhandler, but the man followed him for three blocks, lagging behind him, before Javier finally turned around, showed the man his badge, and said, "I don't know who you are, I don't know what you want, but I'm NYPD. Unless you're in some kind of trouble-"

The old man laughed mirthlessly. "You could say that," he said. "You're Javier Esposito, correct?"

Javier's eyes narrowed and he unconsciously moved into a fighting stance, ready to defend himself if need be. "How do you know my name?" Javier demanded. "What do you want from me?"

"Javier...I'm your father," the old man replied.

The entire world came to a screeching halt for Javier with those four words. He just stood there staring at this old man in his shabby clothes, with his stooped shoulders, and laboring for a full breath of air. "No," Javier said firmly. "My old man walked out on me and my mom 30 years ago. I got one postcard and one phone call from him, and that was the end of it."

The old man held up his hands and then slowly reached into his left hip pocket, extracting a battered brown wallet. He opened it and removed two small pieces of paper, then held those pieces of paper out to Javier.

His heart pounding in his throat, Javier took the proffered pieces of paper.

One was a Florida state driver's license in the name of Matias Esposito, with the old man's picture on it.

The other, much more damning piece of paper, was a worn photograph of a much-younger Matias Esposito kneeling in the dirt next to a 3-year-old boy wearing a too-big New York Yankees baseball cap, holding a Wiffle bat, and smiling.

Javier knew the 3-year-old wannabe baseball player, because he **was** the 3-year-old wannabe baseball player once upon a time.

He felt the blood drain out of his head as he looked up from the photograph at the old man...the man who had abandoned him after divorcing his mother.

"I am your father, Javier," the man repeated, having the audacity to look hopefully at him, "and you are my son."

And that was the instant that the world started spinning for Javier again...only to promptly fall off its axis.

After 30 years of radio silence, the man who had fathered him was standing before him.

"Emotional overload" didn't even begin to describe the countless variety of emotions, every single one of them negative, tripping over one another as they rioted for position of prominence in Javier's brain.

He just stood there staring at the man...and Matias Esposito stared back until finally, the laser-sharp focus of Javier's gaze became too much for him to take, and he had to avert his eyes to the sidewalk because the intensity of his son's gaze made him too uncomfortable to look Javier in the eye.


	63. Chapter 60

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

Javier's emotions were all over the place as he stood there on the sidewalk outside the 12th Precinct, looking at his father staring at the pavement. _Coward_ , he thought. _He's the same coward that abandoned me 30 years ago. He finds me, and he can't even look me in the eye. What's the use?_

Javier spun and started walking away from this stranger quickly. "Javi!" the man called. "Wait, _mi hijo!_ We have much to discuss."

Javier turned around and looked at the stranger with disgust. "First off, I am **not** your boy, to hell with biology," he all but snarled. "Secondly, I have nothing to say to you. You think you can just show up after 30 years and everything's gonna be cool? That I'll actually be happy to see you? Think again, old man! You left! And that was fine, you had every right. You got divorced. A lot of people move after divorces. But you forgot about me! Not everybody who gets divorced leaves their kid behind when they leave their ex!"

"I never forgot you, Javi," Matias said gravely. He finally looked at Javier again. His little boy was a man fully grown. An understandably angry man, but Matias knew he deserved his son's wrath.

"Do **not** stand there and lie to me," Javier said in a low, menacing voice through clenched teeth. "You want to try and ease your conscience by pretending that you thought about me every day for the last 30 years, you go ahead and lie to yourself. But you **do not** lie to me. You **chose** to forget me. You **chose** to leave me behind, with nothing but one phone call and a lousy postcard. You think you can come waltzing in here now and I'll welcome you with open arms? That's not going to happen. Now, this conversation is over." He started to turn away.

"I'll give you time and space, but not too much," Matias said. Javier cursed himself for noticing that the old man still had an accent. "We **do** have much to discuss, Javi."

"You come near me again, I'll get a restraining order against you!" Even as he said it, Javier knew he'd have to produce better grounds than "I don't want to have anything to do with the son of a bitch who abandoned me 30 years ago" in order to get one, but he hoped the threat was enough to drive the man off.

"I found you. I won't lose you again until I have to," Matias said. Javier ignored him and walked quickly down the sidewalk, not wanting to break into a run because he refused to give the deadbeat who dumped him the satisfaction of knowing that he had caused Javi to run away from him.

His mind and heart in complete turmoil, he wandered the city aimlessly for he didn't know how long, until he came back to himself and realized where he needed to be, and whom he needed at this moment.

Which is how he came to be knocking on Beckett and Castle's front door shortly after 10 PM, and then mentally kicking himself for possibly waking Lily. He was fumbling for his phone, which, he saw now, was turned off, which he honest to God didn't even remember doing, so he could call or text Alexis when the door opened to reveal Beckett standing there in one of Castle's robes open over a t-shirt and sleep shorts. "Javi?" she asked, puzzled.

Castle and Alexis were both coming down the stairs. "Lily's still asleep," Castle announced. Following her two-month checkup, which she completely aced—her pediatrician had pronounced her the healthiest baby he'd seen all year—Kate and Rick had transferred Lily to her crib in her own room to sleep, and the transition had been difficult for the first couple of weeks, but they held firm (Rick was more firm than Kate, which surprised both of them until they really thought about it—Rick had been through this before with Alexis, so a few middle-of-the-night wails, after ascertaining nothing else needed to be done, like feeding or changing Lily, was normal to him, while Kate, not an anxious mother by any means, was undergoing a bit of separation anxiety, since she had gotten so used to Lily being asleep in her bassinet by Kate's side of the bed for two months, and she always hated hearing her daughter cry, no matter the reason), and the transition was now pretty much complete, with Lily handling sleeping in her crib in her room just fine. If she was particularly fussy, Kate and/or Rick would stay in the nursery until they were sure she was sound asleep. The rocking chair Jim had refurbished was seeing a lot of use, and Rick had snapped a few surreptitious pictures of Kate and Lily in the chair, rocking, reading a book, or having mother/daughter time.

"Javier?" Alexis asked. "I've been trying to reach you for the past few hours."

"Can I come in?" Javier asked. Kate wordlessly stepped aside and let Javi enter the apartment. Seeing Castle similarly attired to Kate—a gray silk robe belted closed over a black t-shirt and probably boxer shorts, since Castle's legs were bare beneath the robe's hem—he said, "I'm sorry to disturb you. I know you go to bed early these days, but I didn't know my phone was off, and I need to see Alexis."

Alexis was still dressed in khaki walking shorts and a peach-colored tank top, her long red hair pulled into a loose ponytail, and she stepped forward. One look at Javier told her something was very, very wrong. His body language screamed tension and sadness at the same time, and he had this faraway look in his eyes, like he wasn't completely present in the moment. Something had obviously happened but Alexis had no idea what. "I'm here," she said, and seeing his eyes fill with relief concerned her more than she already was.

Javier wanted to believe it had been some strange dream, some nightmare, but he knew all too well that his encounter with Matias Esposito was real, and it had left him so unsettled, so emotionally scattered and shocked, that the sight of Alexis catapulted him back into the moment. He surprised Alexis, Beckett and Castle all three when he surged forward and pulled Alexis into his arms, clinging tightly to her, closing his eyes and breathing her in, forcing himself back to the present moment.

As concerned and confused as she was, Alexis could only tighten her hold on Javier. They just stood there holding each other. Kate and Rick exchanged a look of their own, wondering what was going on, what had shaken Esposito up this much.

Javier pulled back, but Alexis maintained her hold on him, rubbing his back with one hand while cupping his cheek in her other hand. "What happened?" she asked anxiously.

Javier swallowed hard. "I saw my father," he said.

Kate and Rick were as shocked by this as Alexis. "Are you sure it was him?" Alexis asked.

Javier laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah, I'm sure it was him. He showed me his ID. I didn't even ask. I thought he was some kind of bum trying to panhandle outside the precinct. I got the bum part right."

"Wait, he just walked up to you on the sidewalk and said 'I'm your father'? After..." Kate said.

"Thirty years," Esposito replied. "He said we have much to discuss. What he thinks we have to discuss, I have no idea."

Rick moved to Kate's side and threaded his fingers through hers. "We'll leave you two alone," he said. "And Esposito? You're staying here tonight. You shouldn't be alone at a time like this. Lean on the people you can trust."

"Rick is right," Kate added. "If you need us for anything, just let us know."

Alexis looked over her shoulder at her parents gratefully. "Thank you," she said. "I'll make up the couch."

"I didn't say you had to do that," Rick said, surprising Alexis, Javier and Kate all three. "I just said that Esposito is staying here tonight."

Esposito looked at Castle now. "Castle-" he said.

Rick waved away whatever Espo was about to say, though. "It's a big shock. At least you're not in the middle of a criminal crisis. You can be thankful for that much, anyway."

Esposito wasn't sure exactly what Castle meant by that, but he wasn't curious enough to follow up on it by asking him right this second. "Thanks, Castle. Thanks, Beckett," he said.

"Any time," Kate replied. She looked to Alexis now. "One of us will tend to Lily if she wakes up crying, so don't take that as an interruption if it happens."

"We won't, Mom," Alexis said.

Kate and Rick disappeared into their bedroom then, leaving Alexis and Javi alone in the living room. Once they had shed their robes and tossed them at the foot of the bed, and gotten back into bed, Rick propped up against the headboard with a sigh. Kate lay on her side facing him, her head propped on her bent elbow. "Hey," she said, brushing her fingertips down his jawline, "talk to me, babe."

Rick turned his head to meet her gaze. "No deadbeat father comes back into his grown son's life after 30 years or more without wanting something," he said, and Kate didn't miss the undercurrent of steel in her husband's voice.

"I don't think Javi's father is CIA. I believe that it is possible for lightning to strike twice, but that would just be too much," she said.

"I saw my father exactly twice in my life," Rick continued. "And both times, it wasn't about me. Not really. He's the reason Alexis was kidnapped to Paris. She could have been killed. Then that Gemini mess...you could have been killed, Kate. And I could have been killed. And it was just so...so cold, so methodical, when he put a bullet in Gemini right in front of me. He had already stabbed the guy in the stomach, and then he just pulled out a gun with a silencer and put a bullet in Gemini's head. No big deal, just another day at the office for him. He didn't... **couldn't**...understand why that bothered me, why it knocked me for a loop. I mean, he gave me a hug so he could plant a freaking GPS tracker on me! That was the reason. Not because he was my father and I was his son, not because he cared about me as a person, cared about me the way a father is **supposed** to care about, supposed to **love** his children. It was all about the mission for him. Both times. I'm grateful to him for helping me save Alexis's life, but if not for him, she wouldn't have been in that kind of danger in the first place. And he used us to get Gemini. If anything had happened to you..." He trailed off. He had kept his voice quiet, partly because he only wanted Kate to hear what he had to say, partly out of the acquired habit of speaking quietly since Lily had been born, but it was clear that the issue of Jackson Hunt wasn't completely dead for him, and that Esposito's run-in with his own long-lost deadbeat dad had brought that issue roaring back to the surface for Rick.

"He's not one of my favorite people either," Kate said, "but I can't completely hate him, because if he hadn't spent that night with Martha years ago, you wouldn't be here...and Alexis wouldn't be here, and Lily wouldn't be here either. But there is **nothing** casual about taking someone's life, even if they're a scumbag criminal."

"Not to you," Rick said. "But to him, it's like a carnival shooting gallery. Some scumbag criminals **have** to be killed in the moment. I watched Esposito take out Jerry Tyson without an ounce of regret."

"I had to kill Kelly Nieman, because only one of us was going to get out of that room alive, and it was going to be me," Kate said, "but when you found me standing over her with the scalpel in my hand and her lying in a pool of her own blood..." Kate trailed off.

"You were in shock," Rick said. "As evil as she was, even though it came down to you or her, you still had enough of a conscience to feel bad about having to take a human life. He doesn't have that, Kate. I don't know much about the man, but I know that with absolute certainty."

"If I had been able to shoot Kelly Nieman instead of having to stab her, I don't know if it would have been as much of a shock to my system," Kate said. She hadn't even told Rick this in the moment, or when they had finally gotten home and held each other tightly all night long and well into the next day. "But standing over her after stabbing her, I had to fight like hell not to picture my mom bleeding out in that damned alley after she was stabbed." She took one of his hands in both of hers and scooted closer to him. "If you hadn't gotten there when you did, if I hadn't heard your voice, felt your touch, seen you and known that it really **was** you, and you were all right and you were there with me, I really think I might have gone catatonic. You brought me back to myself, back to us, back to the moment. And that threat was finally gone for good."

Rick looked alarmed now. "He's still out there. Jackson Hunt. What if the people that see him as an enemy know about Lily now?"

"We can't live our lives in fear of something that might never happen," Kate replied, resting her chin on his chest and meeting his gaze squarely. "Detective Beckett may be retired, but if anyone **ever** tries to come after Lily, I will go full-out Detective Beckett on their ass so fast, they won't know what hit them. But it's been a few years since we heard anything from Hunt. And we're not courting the Tyson and Nieman kind of threats anymore, since I'm not with the Department anymore. We're going to be all right. I waited too long for this life and this family to let anyone or anything even make the slightest hint of a threat to take any part of it away."

"Can I just tell you, I've always loved the badass side of you," Rick said then. "I knew I was making you mad in the interrogation room the night we met, but when you came striding into the library to arrest me the next day and you were so angry, and then you didn't take any guff from me, and you even told the uniforms there was no need to be gentle when they cuffed me, I was in awe. I'm still in awe of you, Kate."

"I'm gonna tell you something that I've kept secret all these years," Kate said then. "It was at the library that I knew. That morning at the library, the Tisdale case? That's when I knew I wanted you around. That's when I knew that you were unlike anyone I had ever met before, and I knew that you added an element to my life that no one else ever had, or ever could."

"What about your complaints about me being a 9-year-old on a sugar rush? And asking if you had to wait for me to sign the release form before you could shoot me?" Rick asked, surprised.

"I had to save face somehow," Kate retorted. "Everyone at the precinct expected me to play the put-upon, barely-maintaining-her-patience, hardnosed Detective Beckett. And there was no way I was going to just fall at your feet, or into your arms, right away. I was too afraid to do that, for one thing. And when I realized I was falling for you, I had to get myself together enough so that we'd last, because I'd been waiting for you my whole life without realizing I'd been waiting for you until you were there. That's why I was so upset and angry during the times you weren't in my life. I didn't want to need anybody after I lost my mom. And then you came along and made me want to need you."

Rick smiled. "How about that," he mused. "You were into me right from the start, just like I was into you right from the start."

"You wanted to get into my pants right from the start," Kate countered.

"Not by the end of the Tisdale case," Rick insisted. "That first night, at the book party and in the interrogation room, yes. I admit it. But by the end of the case, I knew there were a lot of layers to you, and I wanted to know everything there was to know about every single one of those layers. And then I fell in love with you, and I wanted to be with you every minute. The one advantage I had was the precinct. I kept coming around so I could be with you as much as possible. I figured if I kept coming around long enough, if I kept knocking on the door, you'd let me all the way in eventually."

"And I was the one who came knocking on your door," Kate mused.

"If you hadn't, I would have kept knocking on yours," Rick said. "But I'm glad you did knock on my door that night."

"I am too," Kate said, moving her head up to peck a quick, hard kiss to Rick's lips before returning to her previous position with her chin resting on Rick's chest.

The look on Rick's face shifted. "There's more going on that Esposito doesn't know," Rick said. "Technically I know it's overstepping, but I think we should investigate his father, find out what the old man **really** came back for."

"Ryan would help us," Kate said. "And Javi is family. He's been blindsided by this, but once he's thinking a little more clearly, he'll want to know what he's dealing with, especially if his father won't go away. Javi can tell him to get lost, to go back to wherever he came from and not bother him anymore, but that doesn't mean he'll listen." She paused. "I'm a little surprised that you basically gave him and Alexis permission to share her bed."

"All they'll be doing tonight is sleeping," Rick said. "That's why I said yes. He needs her right now. He needs her the way I've always needed you. I've been where he is, in a way. I think Jackson Hunt is more cunning and calculating, and more dangerous, than Esposito Senior, but Espo needs to be with the people he knows he can trust, and Alexis is at the top of that list. She'll get him through the night, and we'll get Ryan in on it in the morning."

Meanwhile, in the living room, Javier had poured out the story of his father approaching him on the sidewalk and their conversation to Alexis. He had prowled around the room restlessly, like a caged tiger, as he related the events of just a few hours earlier. Alexis listened with her own torrent of emotions building: anger at Javier's father for dropping into his life unexpected and unaware, not unlike times past that Alexis herself had experienced with Meredith, and the understanding of Javier's conflicted feelings, all negative at this point, about his father's sudden appearance.

"Thirty years and nothing," Javier concluded as he crossed the room and threw himself down on the couch beside Alexis. "And then he just shows up out of nowhere, outside the precinct, spouting off about he's not going to lose me until he has to. He never **had** me, Alexis! Not since I was five years old, and I'm not five years old anymore!" He gestured helplessly with his hands. "Standing there telling me that he never forgot me. Well, he has a damned strange way of showing it. No contact at all for three decades, and then he comes walking back into my life wanting...wanting acceptance, wanting a big hug from his boy. Well, I'm **not** his boy! And I **told** him that! And I'm sorry I'm getting loud. I'm not angry at you, and I don't want to wake Lily, but dammit, I've done all right without him. I've done just fine without him. I don't need him. I never needed him. Okay, when I was a kid, it would have been helpful to have a father around. When I was getting in trouble as a teenager, **that's** when I needed a father. But I don't need a father now. And he's not gonna leave me alone. I **know** he's not gonna leave me alone. He **said** he's not gonna leave me alone. And I just...I don't know what to do." He scrubbed his hands over his face and then finally turned his full attention to Alexis, the bleak, completely uncertain look on his face breaking her heart. "I don't know what to do, Alexis."

"You don't **have** to know what to do, Javier," Alexis said, putting her arms around his neck, "at least not tonight, not right this second. And you don't have to figure it out alone. I'm here...and my parents, and Kevin, and we will help you get through this."

Javier sighed, letting his chin drop to his chest. "I feel drained all of a sudden," he said. "Just completely exhausted."

"Well, it **is** almost midnight," Alexis said. She stood up and took his hand then, gently tugging on it. "Come on. Let's go to bed."

She led him upstairs to her bedroom, quietly closing the door behind them. This was the first time Javier had been in Alexis's bedroom, but all he wanted to do right now was collapse. He sat down on the edge of her bed with another heavy sigh. Alexis quickly changed into her pajamas and then sat down beside Javier. "You'd be more comfortable if you got undressed," she said.

"Not tonight, honey, my life blew up a few hours ago," he replied deadpan. "Besides, I couldn't possibly...you know...knowing that your dad and Beckett are right downstairs and Lily's just down the hall."

"I wasn't referring to _**'you know**_ ,'" Alexis said, amused despite herself. "It's late, you're exhausted, and you'll be more comfortable if you don't sleep in your shirt and pants and shoes."

Javier kicked off his shoes, and removed his socks, pants, and shirt, folding them carefully over the chair in the corner. In his t-shirt and boxers, he turned around to find that Alexis was already in bed, with the covers pulled back in invitation. He climbed into the narrow bed beside her, and once he was next to her, Alexis turned out her bedside light and lay down.

Javier moved closer, resting his head on Alexis's shoulder. He felt her kiss the top of his head. "Whatever happens, we've got this," she said softly. "I love you."

"I love you too," Javier replied sleepily. Alexis tightened her arms around him, and she rubbed his back in a slow, up-and-down motion, and he felt himself start to relax finally, the tension inside him unwinding like a spool of thread. He didn't know what the answer was...yet. But whatever that answer turned out to be, he knew that Alexis was right and that he wouldn't be finding it alone. After several minutes, his breathing slowed and evened out, and he was asleep, his head on Alexis's shoulder, his arms around her torso, clinging to her in sleep as though she was were the only thing anchoring him to the present.

As Javier slept in her arms, Alexis's mind was whirling. She knew all too well what it was like to be abandoned by a parent. Meredith had only been a part of Alexis's life when it was convenient for Meredith. Since their last showdown over a year ago, when Meredith had had the audacity to try to make the worst day of Alexis's life about her, Meredith hadn't contacted her in any way.

And Alexis was luckier than most, she knew, because Kate more than made up for Meredith's self-involvement and the years of neglect Meredith had visited on Alexis because of that self-involvement. Kate was deserving of the title of 'Mom,' which was one reason Alexis had finally sought the permission she had wanted for a while now and asked if she could call Kate 'Mom.' Kate was more of a mother to her than Meredith would ever be.

It was one thing when she was going through it; Alexis was used to the disappointment, and the uncertainty, and the questions. And even without Meredith, and before Kate, she had always had her dad and Gram to count on. She never had to question or wonder if they would love her or be there for her. She knew they always would be. And they were.

But now Javier was going through it, and that was not acceptable to Alexis at all. She couldn't spare him all of the pain and anger and confusion he was feeling, and that she herself had felt in the past because of her experiences with Meredith, but she would be there to help him get through it, as her father and grandmother and Kate had helped her.

And if she could get five minutes alone with Javier's so-called father, she'd also give him a piece of her mind, which was her last thought before falling asleep herself.


	64. Chapter 61

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story. All will be revealed regarding Esposito's father, and I won't drag it out for a very long time.**_

* * *

An early riser by habit since his time in basic training in the Army, Javier slowly came awake before the sun rose. He was in Alexis's bed, in her arms, his head resting in the crook of her neck. She was a sound sleeper, which he already knew, but he was especially grateful for it now. He carefully disentangled himself from her arms, noiselessly crossed the room to the chair to retrieve his phone from his pants pocket, and, once he was sure the phone was on (and saw that it was charged to 92%), he texted Captain Karpowski to let her know that he still had time on the books and asking if he could have today as a personal day. Karpowski texted back within ten minutes to tell him that was fine, but that she expected him back at the precinct tomorrow. He replied by thanking her and assuring her he would be back at work tomorrow morning as usual.

Then he sent a quick text to Ryan, letting him know that he wouldn't be coming into work today, and adding that he'd catch him later.

Without waiting for Ryan's reply, he set the phone on the bedside table and climbed back into bed with Alexis, who turned her head, opened her eyes, and asked, "Are you okay?" Before he could answer, she said, "That was stupid of me. Of course you're not okay."

"Hey, nobody calls my girlfriend stupid, especially my girlfriend," Javier replied, brushing a kiss across her forehead before resting his head on the pillow beside hers and meeting her gaze. "I'm sorry I woke you. I just...I had to text the Captain. I gotta get my head around this as best I can today, and he knows I work there, so before I have to see him again, since he'll probably be hanging around outside the 12th trying to catch me off guard again, I have to come up with some kind of game plan for dealing with him. And I also texted Ryan to let him know I wouldn't be in today, but that I'd catch up with him later."

"You don't have to face him alone, you know," Alexis said gently. "I'll go down there and give him a piece of my mind."

"Whoa, tiger, easy there," Javier said. "We can put this off for a little while longer. The sun's not even up yet. And we have the whole day. And a whole team of people."

"So we'll work something out by the end of the day," Alexis said.

"Somehow, yeah," Javier said. "We have to."

Alexis shifted slightly to give Javier more room. "Sorry the bed's so small," she said.

"You don't hear me complaining, do you?" he countered.

"No, I don't," she realized with a smile.

They kissed before settling back down to sleep for a few more hours.

* * *

Rick, Kate, and Lily were up and dressed for the day, and all of them had already had breakfast, when Kevin Ryan arrived at their front door shortly after 7:30 in the morning, a messenger bag slung over one shoulder, and casually dressed in jeans and a green t-shirt. "I got a text from Javi that he got Captain Karpowski's okay to take today off," Ryan said when Rick opened the front door to him. He ran a hand through his hair and walked into the loft, clearly agitated.

"He's here," Kate said as she picked Lily up off the blanket on the living room floor where they had been playing and stood up.

"He's here?" Kevin repeated, surprised.

"He's still sleeping," Rick replied. "So is Alexis. At least, that's what we believe, and we're sticking with that."

"Javi would never… Not with you and Beckett and Lily under the same roof." Kevin felt compelled to defend his best friend. "Anyway, I had no idea he was here, but there's something he needs to know, and Alexis, and you guys, and it's easier to tell you guys first."

Kate realized what it was. "You know about Javi's father?" she asked.

Kevin was surprised again. " **You** know about Javi's father?" he parroted Kate's question back to her. "How?"

"The more important question is, how do **you** know about my father, Ryan?" The three adults, and even Lily, turned their heads at the sound of Javier's voice, tightly controlled anger in every syllable. Sure enough, he was standing on the stairs, Alexis behind him with her hand on his shoulder.

"I was going to tell you, Javi," Ryan began.

"How long have you known?" Esposito asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Since last week," Ryan said, looking distinctly uncomfortable now.

"Since last week?" Esposito repeated, shouting. "What the hell?"

"Don't curse in front of our baby," Kate interjected sternly.

Esposito ignored Kate, but didn't let loose with any more swear words. "You've known since **last week** , and you didn't think that maybe **I** should have known, before the jerk ambushed me on the sidewalk outside the precinct last night?"

"It was the car, okay?" Ryan said defensively. "The black Honda Accord that's been parked down the block from the precinct for the past couple of weeks. I snapped a picture of the license plate when I was leaving one night last week, and then when I ran it, I found out it was a rental car, registered to one Matias Esposito of Miami, Florida. I was gonna tell you, but you came in that morning all happy about your 4th of July weekend with Alexis, and I didn't have the heart to drop this bomb in your lap and ruin it for you, Javi. I was going to tell you this morning, but after you texted me before daybreak that you'd gotten the Captain's okay to take the day off, I did the same thing. You never answered me back, and so I came here because I wanted to run this by Castle and Beckett before I told you. I didn't know you were here."

"You should have told me!" Esposito exclaimed.

"You're right. I should have," Ryan replied. "You're mad, I get that. I'm sorry. I should have handled this better." He slid the messenger bag off his shoulder and pulled his personal laptop out of it. "With the whole gang here, though...I mean, if you don't mind us imposing, Beckett, Castle...I thought we could research Matias Esposito, find out why he's here, maybe get some clue as to what he wants from you, Javi."

"It's not an imposition," Kate said.

"Not at all," Rick added.

"We were already planning to help you find out what's really going on and why your father is really back, and to get Kevin in on it, starting today," Kate said, looking at Javi. "As long as that's okay with you, of course, Javi. You don't have to go through any of this, whatever it is, alone. We're all here for you...if you'll let us be."

Javier scrubbed his hands over his face. "Thanks," he said, looking from Beckett to Castle to Ryan. He frowned slightly at Ryan, but then shook it off, since there were more important things to do at the moment.

Alexis squeezed Javi's shoulder, part reassurance, part silent message to give Kevin a break. He really did mean well, and he was trying, in his way, to look after his best friend. Alexis understood both sides here, and seeing the looks on her parents' faces, she was certain they did too.

"I'll go and get my tablet," Kate said, shifting Lily in her arms in preparation for handing her off to Rick.

"Hold that thought," Rick replied. "There may be something else you'd rather do, Kate. I'll be right back." He disappeared into his office, returning a moment later with his own laptop, which he set on the coffee table, and then he left the loft.

"Where is Castle going?" Ryan asked.

Kate and Alexis exchanged a look. "I have no idea," Alexis admitted, "but I'll run upstairs and get my laptop too."

"I'm not sure either," Kate admitted. She set Lily in her swing, buckled her in, and cranked it up to medium speed. Lily loved the swing, and she gurgled happily as she swung back and forth.

Alexis was back with her laptop before Rick returned, wheeling a large, blank, free-standing dry-erase board. Everyone's jaws dropped at the sight of the board except Alexis and Lily. "Where did you-?" Kate began.

"I'm sentimental," Rick replied as he wheeled the board into the living room and positioned it in front of the TV.

"I know," Kate said. "I just...Wow. I never thought we'd use one of these again."

"You didn't sneak that out of the 12th, did you?" Ryan asked.

"Of course not," Rick said in a mock affronted voice. He looked at Kate now. "But we used these over a hundred times. I know those days are behind us, and I don't regret that they are, because I like where we are now, and whatever happens with the election, wherever we go from November, it's gonna be great because it's gonna be us. But...well...like I said, I'm sentimental. And at least there's no dead body this time. And I thought it might come in handy to keep track of whatever we find out about Esposito's father." He headed back into his office, returning a moment later with a handful of dry-erase markers in black and red. He held the markers out to Kate.

Her fingers brushed his as she took the markers from him, and she kissed his cheek. Then she stepped over to the dry-erase board, setting the black marker on its ledge and uncapping the red one. "Timeline," she said.

Rick looked from Lily to Alexis, silently thrilling at the fact that they were going to get a glimpse of Kate at her Detective Beckett best, even though Lily wouldn't remember it.

"1982," Esposito said. "The year my parents got married, and the year I was born." He sat down on the couch. Alexis took the seat next to him and fired up her laptop. Rick sat down in the chair next to Lily's swing and logged on to his own laptop. Ryan sat in the chair opposite Castle's across the coffee table and was also logging in to his own laptop.

Kate dutifully wrote "1982" on the board.

"He left when I was 5, and they got divorced," Esposito said. "Moved to Florida. Got remarried almost as soon as the divorce was final."

Under "1982" Kate wrote "Parents' marriage + Javi's birth." She drew a short line, then wrote "1987," and under that she wrote, "Parents' divorce; Esposito Sr. remarries, moves to FL."

"And except for one phone call and one postcard, I didn't see or hear anything from him until last week," Esposito said. "That's it. That's all I got."

Kate drew a much longer line and wrote "2017," and under that she wrote "Esposito Sr. returns to NYC, makes contact w/ Javi. **WHY?"**

She capped the red marker, set it on the ledge, picked up the black marker, and uncapped it. "30 years," she said. "That is a long time not to have any contact with your own child."

"23 years of sporadic contact when it's only convenient for you isn't much better," Alexis mumbled. "Okay, so where do we start?"

They heard the wireless printer in Rick's office whir to life. "I have a name," he said, "and a driver's license photo." He set his laptop on the coffee table and rushed into his office, returning several seconds later with an 8x11 piece of paper with an enlargement of a Florida driver's license on it. "Matias Esposito," he said. He used one of the clip magnets on the dry-erase board to pin the piece of paper up so everyone could see it. "Age 74. Primary residence: Miami, Florida."

Esposito looked at the piece of paper on the board and his face contorted like he had just sucked a whole bag of lemons. "That's him," he said, his voice clipped.

"I'm running his financials right now," Ryan reported as he tapped away at his own laptop.

"The wife!" Alexis exclaimed. "We should look for her. Maybe they got divorced, or she died. Or they might have had kids."

"I don't know her name," Esposito said. "And I really don't care if they had kids or not. Any kids they may have had are no relatives of mine. I highly doubt the old man mentioned to his new kids, if he had any, that he abandoned a son back in New York City."

"We don't need her name, we've got his," Kate said. "I highly doubt there are two Matias Espositos who are 74 years old and living in Miami, and even if there are, we have his address from his driver's license."

"Is there coffee?" Esposito asked. "Anybody else want some?"

Rick looked at Alexis. "We didn't get you guys any breakfast," he said. "You should eat something."

"I couldn't eat a bite," Esposito said. "Just coffee, like I said. But Lex, you absolutely need breakfast." He got up then, headed into the kitchen, and poured himself a cup of coffee. Alexis set her laptop aside and followed him. She found a box of frosted chocolate fudge Pop-Tarts in one of the kitchen cupboards, opened it, ripped open one of the silver foil packages that contained two Pop-Tarts, and popped one in the toaster, pushing down the lever before replacing the remaining Pop-Tart in its package in the box, returning it to the cupboard, and then grabbed a mug of her own. Javier was still holding the carafe and he poured coffee into Alexis's mug. After she added her favorite fixings to it (two sugars and a splash of cream), she took a sip before biting into the Pop-Tart.

Javier took a long, bracing drink of his own coffee. "This is harder than I thought it would be," he admitted so only she could hear him. "The man is nothing to me. He's a sperm donor. So why is he pushing all of my buttons?"

"The same reason the mere mention of Meredith pushes all of mine," Alexis replied. "No matter how little they were actually in our lives, they still installed those buttons."

"I get it now," Javier said. At Alexis's confused look, he added, "Why you told Meredith off at the hospital that day." He didn't need to specify which "that day" it was. They would both remember it for the rest of their lives.

"I know this isn't going to be any real consolation," Alexis said, "but I feel like I should say it anyway." She paused, then said, "For a long time, Meredith yo-yo-ed in and out of my life. I never knew when she'd show up, because she wasn't the type to make promises. She didn't put a lot of stock in words that weren't on a page that she could memorize and say in front of a camera. When I was in high school and she showed up out of nowhere for a visit, she had me called out of class and she lied to the Headmaster to get me out of school so she could take me shopping. She didn't know how important school was to me, and even if she had known, she wouldn't have cared. And then she brought me down to the police station and told Dad that she wanted to get a look at Detective Beckett—because I, like an idiot, had told her about Kate, since Gram and I had already met her—and because she had a dinner to go to that night, she was dropping me off with Dad so she didn't have to schlep all the way downtown to take me home herself."

"I remember that case," Javier said. "The knockoff Sarah Jessica Parker purse." He shook his head. "I remember thinking Meredith was obviously a woman who didn't have a lot going on upstairs."

"I only went with her because I figured it was easier and a lot less embarrassing than making a scene, and if I had told the Headmaster the truth, and that I wanted to stay at school, believe me, Meredith would have made a scene," Alexis said. "So she takes me shopping—again, making it all about her; oh sure, she bought me things, but she spent most of that time telling me to go find something nice for myself, and she must have asked me if this dress or that skirt looked good on her, if those shoes made her legs look longer, how many pairs of Spanx I thought she needed. And then she drops me off with Dad because she has dinner plans and can't be bothered to make sure I get home first. I was never a priority with her. Not the way I have always been a priority with Dad and Gram, and also with Kate, even though our relationship wasn't the best for the first several years she and Dad were working together, and I could have...unbent, I guess is the word...a lot sooner than I did towards her. Because she really is the best thing that ever could have happened to my dad, and to me.

"I guess the point I'm trying to make is, yes, your father is back in your life now, and you don't know why, and based on my own experiences, I'm inclined to think he's only back because there's something he wants from you now. So I'm not unbiased. But it took me a long time to get up the nerve to finally cut Meredith out of my life once and for all, to finally tell her what I really thought of her, and I've been lucky so far in that she hasn't tried to contact me since that day. I don't know why your father is here now, or what he wants from you, but whatever it is, and how ever you decide to handle it, I will support you, and I will be right there by your side, no matter what."

Javier set his coffee down and carefully hugged Alexis tightly, making sure he didn't crumble her Pop-Tart or make her spill her coffee. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," Alexis said in his ear, so only he could hear her.

The soft clearing of a throat broke the moment for them. "I'm sorry to interrupt," Kate said, and she genuinely did look sorry, "but we've found some information on Matias."

Javier and Alexis returned to the living room then. Alexis quickly finished her Pop-Tart, and she and Javier continued sipping their coffee. "What have we got?" Javier asked.

"Financials show he's living on a fixed income," Ryan reported. "Social Security. He worked at a union factory long enough to get a pension, but he never got off the assembly line or got promoted to a supervisory or management position, so it's not much. Address is a retirement community."

"That's not surprising. It's Miami. Retirement communities have to be a dime a dozen down there," Rick said. "I found out that you are an only child, Espo. Marriage number two didn't work out either. They were married seven years, and then I guess one of them must have gotten the seven-year itch, because they divorced. Grounds were that oldie but goodie, 'irreconcilable differences,' and she filed first, but he counterfiled, her on August 14, 1989, him on August 16, 1989. Took a while to sort it all out, but the final divorce decree was granted in Miami-Dade County on Friday, April 13, 1990. No other marriage records have come up in his name, so presumably, he's single."

"He does have a cell phone, but he's only made a handful of calls—three to a Walter Albertson, age 80, same address, so definitely neighbors, possibly friends," Ryan continued. "One to a motel in the Bronx, presumably where he's staying. I figure I'll go out there this afternoon and check it out. And one to a 24-hour pharmacy four blocks from this motel in the Bronx."

Kate had made notes on everything on the board. "It's not a lot to go on, but we've started with less before and gotten the answers we needed," she said. "We'll build on this." She looked at Esposito. "That is, if you'll let us help you, Javi. All of us, I mean, not just Alexis."

Javier swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah. I don't know what he wants, or why he wants it, but I'm not facing him without backup, and you guys are the best backup anyone could ever have. Thank you. All of you." He looked from Beckett to Castle to Ryan. "And I'm sorry about earlier, Ryan. I just-"

"I get it, Javi. I'm sorry too. I should have told you right away," Ryan replied, his expression one of genuine contrition. "There's, um, something else I should tell you, though, in the interest of full disclosure. Jenny knows. I had to tell someone, and-"

"Jenny's family," Javier interruped. "It's okay that she knows." Ryan breathed an audible sigh of relief, and his expression morphed into one of relief as well.

"Whatever this is about," Kate said, "whatever we find out, we're all here for you, Javi."

"And whatever you decide to do about him," Rick added, "you have our full support. The decision is yours, and whatever course of action you take, we're all on your side."

Javier nodded. "That's good to know," he said.

Alexis took Javier's empty coffee mug and, along with her own, went to return it to the kitchen. She passed by Kevin's chair on her way to the kitchen and noted the name of the motel in the Bronx on his laptop screen, committing it to memory so that she could pay her own visit out there at the first opportunity.

While Alexis was in the kitchen, Rick caught a whiff of the telltale smell from the direction of the swing, signaling that Lily was in need of a diaper change. Kate headed toward the swing, but Rick was closer. "I've got her," he said. He turned off the swing, unbuckled Lily, picked her up, and as he headed toward the stairs to carry Lily to the nursery to change her, he too looked at Ryan's laptop screen long enough to note the name of that Bronx motel where Matias Esposito was allegedly staying. As a son abandoned by the man who had fathered him, who then put his firstborn child in mortal danger and used himself and his wife as a means to an end, Rick had very strong thoughts and feelings about what Matias Esposito was up to, and he was ready to have some very strong words with the man as soon as he could.


	65. Chapter 62

_**Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm for and support of this story. And I'd like to give a special shout out to guest reviewers Patti Kay, Chacha, and ndhbfan, to whom I cannot reply individually. Thanks for taking the time to read and review this story, and I hope you, and all who read it, continue to enjoy it.**_

* * *

When Rick returned to the living room with Lily, Kevin was packing up his laptop. "I'm gonna head out," he said. He looked at Javi. "Do you want to take a ride out to the Bronx to check out the motel, or..." He trailed off.

"No. I'm still processing," Javi replied honestly. "But you'll tell me if you find out anything." It was a statement, not a question.

"Absolutely," Kevin promised. He said goodbye to everyone else, including Lily, and then left.

After Kevin left, Javier went home to shower and change clothes, promising Alexis, when she asked, that he would call her later. He started to thank Castle and Beckett for letting him spend the night, but Castle waved his attempt at thanks away, saying simply, "It's what family does, and you're family."

After Javier had gone home, Rick handed Lily to Kate and went over to where Alexis was still standing by the front door. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he asked her, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," she insisted. "It's Javier. His father wouldn't be here now if he didn't want something." Her tone on the word 'father' made it clear that she didn't feel Matias Esposito deserved the title, because he hadn't been any kind of father to his son, and Rick knew, because of her own experience with Meredith, that this was a hot-button issue for Alexis, as much as it was a hot-button issue for him because of his experiences with Jackson Hunt.

"We're all in agreement on that," Rick said.

Alexis looked up at Rick. "Have I ever thanked you for being the best dad in the world?" she asked seriously.

"Being a parent is serious business," Rick replied earnestly. "The moment you were born, the entire universe shifted for me. I knew Meredith wasn't going to change. But the first time I held you, the first time you looked up at me, I knew that I would do absolutely anything to keep you safe and happy, and I promised myself that you would always know how loved you are."

"That's what good parents do," Alexis replied. "And I am all those things, and I know how loved I am. I've never had to question that. Because of you, I've never had to wonder." She hugged her father then, and Rick hugged her back.

Kate watched them silently, then looked at Lily, who was watching her daddy and big sister just as intently as Kate was. "We're very blessed, Lily," Kate said softly. Lily looked up at her mommy then. Kate knew that Lily, like Alexis before her, would always know how loved she was, and that she would know that not only her daddy loved her, but that her mommy did too.

And the truth was, Lily did know that already, even at the tender age of ten weeks.

Kate, carrying Lily, walked over to Rick and Alexis then. Alexis stepped out of her father's arms, and looked at Kate and Lily with a smile. "You'll never wonder either, Lily," Alexis said. "And someday, you'll know just how important that is." She dropped a kiss on the baby's forehead before carefully hugging Kate. "I'm gonna go upstairs for a while," she said.

After Alexis had disappeared to her room, Kate kissed Rick's cheek. "What was that for?" he asked her.

"For being you," she said. "For being such an amazing husband and dad."

He smiled the smile that made his whole face light up, and those oh-so-appealing crinkles at the corners of his eyes. "Always," he said simply before kissing Lily's forehead and then Kate's lips. Then, after resting his forehead against Kate's for several seconds, he said, "I'll just stow the board in the office. We'll need it again later." Rick then moved the board into the office, where it would remain from then on, and be used for other things through the years to come after they had solved the mystery of why Javier's father had come back into his life at this specific time.

* * *

Kevin was just leaving the Howard Johnson Express Inn in the Bronx, and he pulled up short when he saw Alexis heading towards him. "Alexis?" he asked.

"Is he here or not?" Alexis asked briskly.

"Matias Esposito is staying here, yes, but I only got that information because I flashed my badge. I just tried knocking on the door to his room, but there's no answer, and I don't see his rental car, so I'm guessing he's not here," Kevin replied.

Alexis pondered this for a moment. "I suppose searching his room is out of the question?"

"Without a warrant, yeah," Kevin said.

Alexis sighed. "You and Jenny are so lucky," she said.

"In a lot of ways," Kevin agreed, "but what, specifically, are you referring to here?"

"You've always had both of your parents in your lives," she said. "Probably the biggest argument you've had with them since you got married and had kids is which holidays you're spending with which parents. Meredith was never cut out to be a mother and was barely in my life. She only showed up when it was convenient for her and she could make it about her. Dad's father got me kidnapped, could have gotten me killed, and then the second time he came around, he could have gotten Dad and Kate killed. Kate's mother was brutally murdered when Kate was only nineteen. Lanie's mother is giving her every kind of hell possible about her and Alan's wedding. Now Javier's father, who abandoned him when he was five years old, is back in his life, and we all know he's only back because he wants something."

Kevin had had the same thought, and shared it with Jenny the night before. "You're right," he said. "Jenny and I are lucky in that regard. Our parents even get along with each other pretty well. We usually end up spending time with both families on Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter. It's the best way to keep everybody as happy as possible, we've found."

Alexis huffed out an agitated breath. "I just hate that he has to go through this!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. "I've been through it. It sucks." She sighed again as she sat down on the curb. Kevin sat down next to her. "He knew the situation," she continued. "His father wasn't part of his life. And that was the way it was, and he was okay with it. He'd lived with it for most of his life. He was used to it. He had accepted it, as much as he possibly could. And now he's back and he's messing things up. He's messing with Javier's head, with his peace of mind, with his security. He doesn't deserve that, Kevin! No one deserves that."

"I know," Kevin replied, "and I agree. It's not fair. You didn't deserve it either."

"But I had Dad and Gram, and now Mom and Lily, to make up for it," Alexis said. "And I cut Meredith out of my life, and she has stayed out. And I never mattered to her, really. When she didn't have anything else to do, that's when she showed up in my life. Javier didn't need this man showing up in his life."

"That's true, he didn't," Kevin said, "but he's not alone, Alexis. He's got you, and me, and Jenny and Sarah Grace and Nick, and Castle and Beckett. We'll get him through this, no matter how it all shakes out." He paused. "I was afraid, when I first ran the plate and found out who the rental car belonged to and who the old guy staking out the precinct for those weeks was, that Javi would try to keep you out, that he wouldn't want you to know, like he didn't want you to know when he got hurt when we went after that perp. But you're the first one he went to. That says a lot about your relationship, and about how much he loves you and trusts you."

"I love him too, and I just want to help him, Kevin. I've been through it before, but our situations are vastly different," Alexis fretted. "Meredith always served herself first. And I know in my heart that's never going to change. I'm honestly not worried about her showing up again in ten or twenty or fifty years and wanting something from me. She hasn't wanted anything I had to offer so far, so why would that change? I mean, really?

"But Matias...He **wants** something from Javier, Kevin. I don't know what it is, but I just have this feeling that it can't be a good thing. I truly believe that he's only back now because he has something wrong with him and he knows it. Because he's really sick, maybe even dying, and he wants an organ from Javier, or because he expects Javier to take care of him now, even though he never did anything to take care of Javier."

"I have a feeling you're right," Kevin said. "I don't know what the deal is—none of us do yet—but Jenny and I are both thinking along those same lines. And that's one hell of a burden of guilt to put on Javi. He really doesn't have an obligation to Matias. The man was never there for him, plain and simple. For him to come around now, expecting Javi to...I don't even know. Donate a kidney? Hold his hand in hospice? Whatever it is, it's definitely not fair to Javi, and not something Javi should have to do. But whoever said life was fair, right?"

"Right," Alexis said. She sighed again. "I just wish I could make this whole thing go away for him."

"I do too," Kevin said. "But we can't. Whatever this is really about, he'll find out...and we'll find out. And we'll be there for him, no matter what."

"We will," Alexis agreed. "And that's going to have to be enough."

"It will be enough," Kevin assured her. His phone rang then; Sarah Grace was calling, asking if Daddy was going to be home for dinner. Alexis stood up and dusted off her clothes while Kevin spoke to Sarah Grace, and then to Jenny. "I gotta get going," he told Alexis. "If you or Javi need anything, just call, anytime."

"Thank you, Kevin," Alexis said. "Javier is really lucky to have you for a best friend."

"He's really lucky to have you for his girlfriend," Kevin said as he got to his feet. "You okay to get home?"

"Yeah," Alexis said. "I'll see you later. Tell Jenny and the kids I said hello."

"Will do," Kevin promised. "See you later, Alexis."

After Kevin left, Alexis headed out herself. When she passed the 24-hour pharmacy that Kevin had mentioned Matias having called, she went inside. Matias wasn't there, but she went back to the prescription counter and, although lying was not and would never be a strong suit of hers, she acted as nonchalantly as possible when a boy who looked younger than herself came over and asked if he could help her, and she asked, "Is my father-in-law's prescription ready?"

"What's his name?" the boy asked as he stepped in front of the computer.

"Matias Esposito," Alexis replied. She spelled both names for him.

He tapped on the computer's keyboard, then said, "That's the Salmeterol. It's not ready yet, but it should be ready by five." He read the computer screen. "He asked to be contacted by phone."

"That's fine," Alexis said. "He'll pick it up after it's ready, then. Thank you."

"Have a nice day," he said with a smile as Alexis left.

"Yeah, you too," Alexis replied.

Once she was back outside, she Googled 'Salmeterol' on her phone, and found out that it was a long-acting bronchodilator most commonly used to treat Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, or COPD.

Just like that, a piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

Matias Esposito had COPD. Well, Alexis silently amended, most likely he had COPD.

Which meant that was the most likely reason for his sudden reappearance in Javier's life. He was very sick, if not dying, and he was trying to...trying to, what, exactly? Make amends to Javier for abandoning him? Make peace with his only son before he died? Try to get money out of Javier to pay for his medication, and for any treatments he might need?

Alexis headed home, determined to share this news with her parents, do more research on COPD, and see what they thought. She called Javier, but got his voicemail, so she left a message: "It's me. I found out something and you should know. Call me when you get this, okay? I love you."

As she made her way home, turning the COPD news over in her mind, she was only slightly comforted by the fact that Matias Esposito apparently wasn't seeking an organ transplant from Javier.

* * *

Javier tried to get to the cemetery to put something on his mother's and grandmother's graves at least four times a year: Mother's Day; their respective birthdays; and sometime in December before Christmas.

This unscheduled visit today, nowhere near any of those occasions, was because he was so rattled by Matias Esposito's reappearance in his life. He had remembered to bring flowers, which he placed on both their graves. His _abuela_ had been his mother's mother. Javier was raised by his mother and his _abuela_ after his father abandoned them. He placed the flowers on their headstones (they were buried side by side) and then hunkered down before their graves.

"I wish I knew what to do," he said quietly out loud. "I wish I knew why he was here. I wish you two had had the chance to tell him off. I wish you could have met Alexis." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "I'm all over the place here. I just...I don't know what to do."

"Javi?"

Even though he'd only heard it once before, Javier knew that voice.

He also knew it was _**very**_ bad form to swear like a drunk sailor on leave in a Catholic cemetery, in front of the graves of your very devout mother and grandmother.

He slowly stood up and turned around to face Matias Esposito. "Stalking me now?" he challenged. "Because for _**that**_ , I _**can**_ get a restraining order."

"I waited outside your apartment most of the day," Matias explained. "I saw you come back late this morning, and I was trying to get up the courage to talk to you-"

"I thought I made it clear that I have nothing to say to you," Javier interrupted coldly. "In case I didn't, though, I am now: I have nothing to say to you. Not now, not ever. And how dare you come _**here**_ , of all places. You left my mother. She wouldn't really talk about you, but on the rare occasion she did, I saw the sadness in her eyes, which leads me to believe that the divorce was **your** idea. You left her, you left me, you didn't bother to contact either one of us past one lousy phone call and a postcard."

Matias's face contorted then as more pain than usual suddenly shot through his chest. His breathing became very erratic. He couldn't get enough air, and once again, he had left his inhaler back in the Honda, and his supplemental oxygen at his motel. He hadn't wanted to hit Javier with this so soon, but now it looked like he had no choice.

"Julia...Julia raised a...loyal son," Matias managed to get out with difficulty. He splayed one hand across his chest, trying to will the pain away, trying to get control of his breathing, but it wasn't working.

"That's right, she did," Javier replied. "Her. Not you. I don't know what you want, I don't care what you want, I-"

Whatever Javier was going to say disintegrated as Matias fumbled blindly behind himself, looking for something to grab onto to keep himself upright. Javier took a long, hard look at the old man and realized he was in respiratory distress.

Matias collapsed, gasping for breath, his eyes wide and panicked. Cursing in his head, Javier pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed 911. "I need an ambulance at St. John Cemetery in Queens immediately. I have a 74-year-old Hispanic male in respiratory distress, clutching at his chest, who just collapsed in Section 15. My name is Javier Esposito, and I'm a Sergeant with the NYPD," he said when the operator answered.

After being assured the ambulance was on its way, he hung up and stuck his phone back in his pocket. He hunkered down next to Matias and said, "Just hang on. The ambulance is on its way, all right?" He had no jacket to put under Matias's head, and he was on autopilot right now, not wanting to touch him or move him in case it was a heart attack. Once again, this man had managed to stir up nearly every emotion inside him and throw them all in a high-speed blender.

Not even three minutes later, Javier heard the sirens signaling the ambulance's approach. He jumped up and flagged them down as they drove down the narrow cemetery lane, and the ambulance stopped, the paramedics jumping out with their equipment and a gurney and immediately tending to Matias.

"He's lucky you were here to call us," one of the paramedics said.

"Yeah. Lucky," Javier said as the paramedics lifted Matias onto the gurney and strapped him to it. "Which hospital are you going to?"

"St. John's Episcopal is the closest hospital to here," the second paramedic said. "Are you riding with us?"

"I have my car. I'll follow you," Javier said.

"Do you know this man's name?" the first paramedic asked after he and his partner had loaded Matias into the back of the ambulance.

"Matias," Javier said. "Matias Esposito."

"Got it," the paramedic said, scribbling something on a clipboard before he climbed into the back of the ambulance with Matias. The ambulance peeled out, lights and sirens wailing.

Javier said a silent goodbye to his mother and _abuela,_ and when he was safely inside his car, he leaned his head back against the headrest for a long moment before pulling out his phone again and calling Alexis.

When she answered, halfway through the second ring, before she got out more than a hello, he said simply, "Alexis, I need you."

"I'm on my way," she replied. "Where?"

"St. John's Episcopal Hospital in Queens," he told her. "It's Matias."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Alexis promised.

"I'll be in the ER," Javier said. Then, disconnecting the call, and knowing that Alexis would tell Beckett and Castle, he called Ryan. "Matias is headed to St. John's Episocopal Hospital in Queens," he said when Ryan answered. "Can you meet me there?"

"Yeah, I'll leave right now," Ryan replied.

"I'll be in the ER," Javier said. Then he disconnected the call, started the car and drove himself to the hospital to wait for his true family...and to find out exactly what was going on with Matias.


	66. Chapter 63

_**Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm for and interest in this story.**_

* * *

Alexis was in the elevator on her way up to the loft when Javier called her. She opted to keep going, but as soon as she walked in the front door and found Rick, Kate, Lily, and Martha all gathered in the living room, Martha holding Lily, who was smiling and gurgling at her parents and grandmother, all of whom were focused intently on the baby until they heard the door open. The adults all noticed the stricken look on Alexis's face, but before any of them could ask about it, Alexis said, "Javier just called me. He's in the ER of St. John's Episcopal Hospital with Matias, so I'm on my way there."

Rick and Kate exchanged a look, then looked at Martha. "Go," she said simply. "I've got Lily. He'll need all of you." She remembered well when Jackson Hunt showed up at the door bleeding with a bullet inside him, and how rattled she and Richard had both been; they had steadied each other, and then Katherine had arrived and her presence gave them both, especially Richard, even more support. Martha knew very little about Javier's father, only that they had been estranged for decades and the man had suddenly popped up in his son's life without warning, but most likely with some ulterior motive. She knew how her family's minds operated. And while Alexis was undoubtedly Javier's first call, and would be his greatest comfort, the return of a long- if not always-absent parent had to push Alexis's buttons, and Richard's as well, so they could be there for Javier, and Katherine could be there for all of them.

"Thank you, Mother," Rick said gratefully. He looked to Alexis. "Did he say what's going on?"

"No, but I have an idea," Alexis said, her gaze shifting away from her parents.

"I have no idea how long we'll be, Martha," Kate said.

"Take as long as you need," Martha said. "We'll be fine, won't we, Lily?" Lily gurgled.

"Thank you," Kate said. She bent and kissed Lily, telling her, "Be a good girl for Gram, Lily," and then kissed Martha's cheek.

Rick followed suit, kissing Lily, then his mother. "We'll call," he promised. "Be good, sweetpea. We love you."

"Of course, she'll be good," Martha said. "Give Javier my love when you see him."

After the trio had left, Martha shifted Lily to one arm, picked up the phone, and dialed a number. "Hello?" Jim Beckett said on the other end after two rings.

"Hello, Jim, it's Martha. I'm calling on behalf of a beautiful young lady who was wondering if you'd like to spend some time with her this afternoon. In the interests of full disclosure, I'll be here today. We're at Richard and Katherine's. They and Alexis just left to be with Javier, something of an emergency." Martha didn't know how much, if anything, Jim knew about Javier's father's sudden, out-of-the-blue return to his life, and she felt it wasn't her place to tell him.

"I'll be there in half an hour," Jim said.

"We'll be here," Martha said before ringing off. After hanging up the phone, she regarded Lily. "Now, you get to spend the afternoon with both your Gram _**and**_ your Grandpa. I believe that's what is called 'a win-win.'" Lily smiled up at Martha. "Exactly. Everybody's happy," Martha said, smiling back at her tiny granddaughter.

* * *

Rick had wondered aloud on the drive to the hospital how Javier and Matias had wound up at a hospital in Queens when Javier lived in Manhattan and Matias was staying at a motel in the Bronx. Alexis, tense and anxious and just wanting to get to Javier, hadn't considered that. Kate was sure Javi would tell them when they got to the hospital.

"Castles!" Kevin called out, figuring that was the easiest way to get their attention. Three heads whipped around to see him rushing towards them from across the parking lot. "All I know is Javi's here with his father."

"That's all we know too," Kate said.

"There's the ER entrance!" Alexis exclaimed. She began hurrying toward it, leaving her parents and Kevin to catch up.

Kevin and the Castles arrived in the ER at the same time to find Javier, his shirt rumpled, his hair disheveled, and his entire manner agitated. "Javier!" Alexis called. She rushed across the floor to him, flying into his arms. He caught her, holding onto her tightly, so relieved and grateful to see her, as she hugged him back. Then he saw Ryan, Beckett and Castle quickly approaching behind Alexis.

"Hey," he said to everyone over Alexis's shoulder. "Thanks for coming. Where's Lily?"

"There's nowhere else we'd be," Kate said, "and she's at home with Martha."

"So what's going on?" Kevin asked.

Javier released Alexis, who stood beside him, her arm wrapped around him, her hand resting on top of his shoulder. "He followed me," Javier said. "I went to the cemetery where my mom and _abuela_ are buried, and he showed up there. It's all kind of a blur. I was telling him I had nothing to say to him and all of a sudden, he started having trouble breathing and clutching at his chest. Then he collapsed. I went into work mode and dialed 911. I called Lex and Ryan before following the ambulance here, which is the closest hospital. I still don't know anything. I don't know if it was a heart attack or what."

"It might have been," Alexis mused.

Javier looked at her, surprised. "You sound like you know something."

"I do know something about your—about him," Alexis said, at a total loss as to what to call Matias, since she didn't feel he deserved to be referred to as Javier's dad or father.

"What do you know?" Javier asked, puzzled.

"And how did you find it out?" Kate asked. Everyone was looking at Alexis with great interest now.

Alexis didn't flinch. "When we were looking for information on him this morning, Kevin, you said that one of the few phone calls he had made was to a 24-hour pharmacy a few blocks from his motel," she said.

Kate, Rick, and Kevin exchanged looks all around. "Alexis, tell me you didn't," Kate said quietly, urgently.

Alexis looked the woman she had adopted as her mother right in the eye. "There was a guy my age working behind the pharmacy counter. I told him I wanted to know if my father-in-law's prescriptions were ready. He didn't question it, so I gave him the name, and he told me that there was one prescription that wasn't ready yet, Salmeterol, and that the instructions were to contact him by phone when it was ready. I said that was fine, and then I left."

"Alexis," Kevin said, "you **do** know that that's...well..."

"The word you're looking for is 'illegal,' Ryan," Kate supplied. "That was illegal, Alexis. It was a violation of HIPAA. Pharmacies are included in that. My god, if you got caught, you could have been arrested, gone to jail, at the very least had to pay a very hefty fine."

"I didn't say I was proud of doing it, Mom," Alexis said. "But I **had** to."

"Why?" Rick asked. "Why did you have to?" He was certain he knew what Alexis's answer would be, but he wanted to hear her explanation.

Alexis looked at Javier beside her before looking back at her father, her gaze also encompassing Kate and Kevin as well. "Javier is hurting. I see it in his eyes every time I look at him. I can't do anything to make that hurt go away, but we were all looking for answers this morning about why his father is back in his life after all these years, and what it is, exactly, that he wants from Javier. We didn't have anything solid to go on, and I went out to the motel to talk to him but he wasn't there, so when I was leaving, I passed the pharmacy, and yes, I went in and I asked about his prescription, and I know it was wrong, but I had to do **something,** and it was all I could think to do. And I would do it again." She knew that last part sounded defiant, but at the moment, she didn't care.

Rick and Kate exchanged a look now, having a silent conversation in the process before agreeing to talk about it in more depth later. "This does not go beyond the five of us," Kate said sternly. The others readily agreed.

Javier asked the burning question. "So what is he taking?"

Alexis focused her attention solely on Javier now. "Salmeterol," she replied. "It's a long-acting bronchodilator most commonly used to treat COPD."

Javier let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. "So he has COPD," he said.

"That's the likeliest scenario," Alexis agreed.

Kevin and Rick both had their phones out and were Googling COPD. "COPD can cause heart attacks," Rick reported.

"We don't know what stage he's in," Kevin said, looking up from his phone, "but end-stage COPD causes breathing complications, respiratory failure, and lung infections."

Javier gave a curt nod. "So he came back because he's dying," he said. He honestly didn't know how to feel about that. "And I still don't know if he's back because he wants to make amends or try to make some kind of peace with me, try to explain why he abandoned me...or if he's looking for me to pay his medical bills. Something tells me this is not an inexpensive disease."

Before anyone could respond to Javier, a young doctor, probably not much older than Alexis, came out. "Family of Matias Esposito?" he asked.

Javier stepped forward. "I'm his son," he said.

"I'm Dr. Kauzlarich," the man said. He had a stethoscope draped around his neck and reached out to shake Javier's hand. "As you know, your father has end-stage COPD."

"I just found out," Javier said. Off the doctor's look of surprise, Javier explained, "We've been estranged for several decades. He just turned up recently and I didn't know what he wanted. I guess I do now."

Dr. Kauzlarich fumbled to recover. "Well, ah...I..." He paused, then tried again. "He's resting comfortably now, but we have him on 100% oxygen. He gave us the name of his primary care physician in Miami, and we've already contacted him to get your father's records faxed up here. He was diagnosed four years ago, and he had part of his right lung removed last year because of cancer. The surgery and chemotherapy were successful, as far as it goes, but did nothing to arrest the progress of the COPD."

"When you say he has 'end-stage COPD,' what exactly does that mean?" Alexis asked.

"They're all family," Javier said when Dr. Kauzlarich looked at him questioningly. "There's nothing they can't hear."

"Basically it means that he's been living with this for a long time, and that the loss of part of his right lung makes the already difficult task of breathing that much more difficult for him," Dr. Kauzlarich replied. "Breathing can be either involuntary or voluntary. Given the state of his respiratory system, your father is having to work considerably harder at breathing voluntarily, and his lungs and heart are having to work considerably harder at breathing involuntarily. We'll be better able to gauge things once his records arrive, but for now, as I said, he's on oxygen and resting comfortably. However, it's an oxygen mask, so you won't be able to talk to him until tomorrow. At least, not so the two of you can have a conversation." Dr. Kauzlarich's beeper went off then. He looked at it, then said, "Excuse me, I'm being paged for another emergency. I'll check on your father before he's moved to ICU." Then the doctor hurried off.

Javier sighed and folded his hands, resting them on top of his head. Everyone was silent for a long moment. "I should go talk to him," Javier said, "explain what's going on."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Alexis offered.

"I think I gotta do this part by myself," he said honestly. "I swear I'm not shutting you out, I just...I don't even know what I'm feeling, what I'm supposed to be feeling. And now I'm gonna **have** to talk to him tomorrow. I just want to get this part over with. Wait for me?"

"Of course," Alexis said.

Javier went into the ER cubicle where Matias lay on a bed, hooked up to several monitors and with an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. "Your secret is out," he said by way of greeting. "You have COPD that's apparently in its end stages, and you had part of your right lung removed last year because you had cancer. You showed up in my life now because you're dying." Matias looked at Javier sadly, but Javier remained stoic. "Don't talk now. They're waiting for your medical records from Miami to get here, and you're gonna be here until at least tomorrow night. They'll be moving you to ICU in a while." They looked at each other for a long moment. "Well, you're getting what you wanted, I suppose, but this is a hell of a way to go about it. You and I are going to **have** to talk now. Well, tomorrow night." Matias looked hopeful at this. Javier jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "I'm leaving now. Make it easy on yourself and do what the doctors tell you to do. I'll be back tomorrow night and then...then, we're going to finally have to talk."

Javier turned and walked out of the cubicle to find Alexis, Ryan, Beckett and Castle all still waiting for him. "Let's go," he said. "I'm done here for today."

They all walked out together, silently. When they reached the parking lot, Javier clapped Kevin on the back. "Thanks for coming down here, bro," he said.

"I'll always have your back, Javi. You know that," Kevin replied. "If you need anything, just call."

Javier nodded. "I will," he said. Kevin said his goodbyes to the others and headed home.

"You're welcome to stay with us again tonight, Espo," Rick said.

"Thanks, Castle, but I have a lot of thinking to do before tomorrow night, and it's not gonna be easy, or pleasant," Javier replied. "I don't want my mood to affect Lily. I'm glad she'll never have to deal with anything like this."

Alexis looked both disappointed and worried. "Does that mean you want to be alone tonight?" she asked.

"I won't be very good company," Javier said.

"But you might need somebody," Alexis countered.

"Not 'somebody,'" he replied. "You." He pulled his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Alexis. "I've had a really draining day. Do you mind driving?"

"No," she said. She closed her hand around the keys, then looked at Rick and Kate. "I'll call you later, let you know if I'm going to be home tonight."

"Okay," Rick said. She went and hugged them both before returning to Javier's side, and Rick and Kate watched them head off together toward Javier's car.

When they had disappeared from sight, Kate said, "We should probably head home ourselves."

"Yeah," Rick agreed.

As they headed to Rick's car, Kate said, "Alexis really shouldn't have done that at the pharmacy."

"No, she shouldn't have," Rick agreed, "but I understand why she did it."

"Oh, I do too," Kate said. "She really loves him. And he really loves her."

"They're starting to remind me of us," Rick mused. "I honestly believe that Alexis loves Esposito enough that she'd break him out of jail."

"I'd get you out of jail," Kate said. "As I recall, I told you that once."

"I remember," Rick replied. They had reached the car now. "While we were working that case, Mother said to me that when it came down to it, if I was willing to break a woman out of jail, **that** is true love. And I would absolutely break you out of jail."

"You almost went to jail **with** me," Kate reminded him. "No matter how many times I tried to push you away, even if it was for your own safety, you wouldn't go."

"I couldn't," Rick said simply. "There aren't a lot of things I'm absolutely certain of, but one thing I know for sure, and I've known it since we met: I am meant to be by your side, loving you and taking care of you and having a family with you and having your back and making you happy...always."

Kate kissed Rick then, right there in the middle of the hospital parking lot. The kiss lingered, and when Kate pulled back, she touched her forehead to Rick's before pulling her head back to look into his eyes. "I came so close to being a cold, empty, narrow, unhappy woman," she said. "For a long time, I really thought that was how I'd end up. But it turns out, I was just waiting for you. And everything that happened before we met..." She paused, then looked at him with a smile as she remembered his words from a few years ago. "Everything I've ever done, every choice I've ever made, every terrible and wonderful thing that's ever happened to me, it's all led me to right here, this moment, this **life,** with you." Rick smiled back and kissed her again. "Now," Kate said, "let's go home, take care of our youngest daughter and get her put to bed for the night, see if our oldest daughter is coming home tonight or not, and then..." She trailed off with a suggestive grin and a wink.

Rick opened the car door for Kate, and while she settled in and buckled up, he walked around to the driver's side, got in, and after buckling up himself, started the car and drove home.

* * *

"Do you think I'm a good person?" Javier asked Alexis much later that night, when they were lying in his bed together with the lights off and the full moon shining through the window.

Alexis turned her head to look at him. "I don't **think** you're a good person, I **know** you're a good person," she said.

"When Matias collapsed, I went straight into cop mode. I didn't feel anything. He might as well have been a stranger," Javier said.

"He **is** a stranger to you," Alexis pointed out gently.

"Shouldn't I have felt **something** , though? I know he's my father. He could have died out there, and I didn't feel anything at all. I didn't even feel numb, or angry, or indifferent. There was just...nothing." He looked at her. "How would you have reacted if it had been you at the cemetery and Meredith collapsed in front of you?"

"Meredith wouldn't collapse at a cemetery unless she was crashing Martin Scorsese's funeral and trying to get the attention of other big-time directors and casting people who might be among the mourners," Alexis replied matter-of-factly.

"She's your mother," Javier pointed out.

"Only in the sense that she gave birth to me. She was never my mom. She was never even my mother, really, and there **is** a difference. **Kate** is my mom."

"So you wouldn't feel anything at all if she collapsed in front of you? Not at Scorsese's funeral, just if it happened in the middle of the sidewalk?"

"I'd make sure it was for real, and if it was, then I'd call an ambulance. I'd go to the hospital with her. Beyond that, I'd call whoever she wanted me to call, if there was anyone. But would I be beating myself up over our lack of relationship? No, I wouldn't. But our situations are different, Javier."

"He's dying," Javier said. "And I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about that."

"You're going to feel about it how you're going to feel about it. There's no wrong way to feel here."

He sighed. "I'm gonna get answers tomorrow, and I don't have any idea what those answers are gonna be, or what they're going to mean for me going forward."

"You won't be going forward alone," Alexis said, moving closer to him and wrapping her arms around him. "Whatever happens, whatever you feel, we're in this together. We'll deal with all of it together." She moved one hand up to cup his cheek, and he leaned into her touch.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," Alexis replied. "No matter what happens with Matias, no matter how you end up feeling about him, I'm going to be by your side through all of it."

"Ride or die, huh?" Javier asked, cracking his first smile of the entire day.

"Forever," Alexis said seriously.

"I'm gonna hold you to that," Javier said just as seriously.

"You'd better," Alexis replied before smiling back at him and leaning in to brush her lips across his.


	67. Chapter 64

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

The ICU in a strange hospital in a city he hadn't been back to in thirty years was as lonely as his motel room, Matias reflected. And late at night—at least Matias presumed it was late as night, since the number of visitors had significantly decreased, and he had seen a couple of new nurses at the nurses' station that he could see outside his room-was even lonelier than the motel. They still had him on oxygen, so he couldn't talk, not that he had anyone to talk to anyway.

Then a young man who was probably about Javier's age walked into his room and up to his bedside and stopped. Matias looked up at the man curiously. He didn't have a white coat on, so the man couldn't be a doctor, and he wasn't wearing scrubs, so he wasn't a nurse or an orderly either.

Then the man spoke. "You don't know me. My name is Kevin Ryan. I'm Javi's partner on the force...and his best friend. And I'm sure if you could talk to me, you'd be telling me to mind my own business, but you see, Javi **is** my business, because he's the best man I've ever known, and the best friend I've ever had. So when he's having a hard time, I want to do what I can to make it easier for him."

Kevin walked to the foot of the bed and stood, hands on his hips, staring at Matias head on and looking at him disgustedly, slipping effortlessly into the same mode he used on suspects in the interrogation room at the precinct. "I don't know the whole story, but I know enough. You left him when he was a little kid. Whatever your reasons were, they weren't good enough. He deserved better from you. He deserved more consideration. He deserved a dad. And you really missed out, because they don't come any better than Javier Esposito. I don't know what his decision is going to be regarding you going forward from here, but whatever it is, I will have his back. And I strongly suggest that whatever he decides, even if you don't agree with his decision or like his decision, you had damned well better **respect** his decision, and respect **him.** You can at least give him that much. For everything that you've never given him, you, at the very least, owe him the courtesy of respecting his decision about you. Are we clear on that?"

Matias managed a nod.

Kevin gave a single, curt nod back. "All right, then. I said what I came to say, so I'm leaving. You just make sure you remember what I said." And with that, he left.

Matias dozed fitfully on and off throughout the night. He was taken off the oxygen mask and given a nasal cannula just in time for a standard hospital breakfast of steel-cut oats, toast, and orange juice. He managed most of the oatmeal, half the toast, and all of the orange juice, and was just finishing up when he saw a man and woman walking down the hall and then heard who he presumed to be the man say, "Wait, that's him."

"Yeah, there's the card. 'M. Esposito,'" the woman replied. "If this were anyone else but Javi, it would be overstepping."

"But it **is** him," the man said.

"Right," the woman said.

They entered the room then, the woman clearly all business, with an underlying current of steel about her. The man's posture was rigid, his body language angry, his face impassive, but Matias knew that the impassive face was a mask for some serious anger.

"Matias Esposito," the woman said briskly.

"Yes," he said.

"I'm Kate Castle. I'm a friend of Javi's, and we worked together for many years," the woman said.

"And I'm Richard Castle, also a friend of Javi's and someone who worked with him for a long time," the man said, making a conscious effort not to clench his teeth. "You're not in the CIA, are you?"

Matias blinked. He hadn't been sure what to expect from these people, but that hadn't even entered his mind. "No," he said, "no, I'm not. Why do you ask?"

"Just making sure lightning isn't striking twice," Richard Castle replied. Matias had no idea what that meant, but seeing the fire in Mr. Castle's eyes, he opted not to ask about it. "So, you obviously didn't **have** to abandon your son in the interests of national security, or whatever it is those guys tell themselves. But the fact remains that you **did** abandon your son."

"Yes, I did, and I was wrong to do it," Matias said.

"Oh, you were wrong to do it, and you realize after all these years that you were wrong to do it," Mr. Castle said condescendingly. "Well, good for you. There's only one problem here: you missed most of his life, and you did it by your own choice! And now you're back, turning his world upside-down, and for what?"

Matias sensed that Mr. Castle was reacting this way not only out of loyalty to Javier, but because he had his own issues with his own father. Not having any idea what to say, he chose to say nothing at all.

Mrs. Castle spoke up then. "Javi means a great deal to both of us."

"You say you worked with Javier for many years," Matias said. "You were a _mujer policia_?" Matias was skeptical about this.

Kate picked up on his skepticism and was insulted by it. "You're damn right I was!" she exclaimed. "I was a detective, and a Captain, on the NYPD."

" _Lo siento_...I apologize," Matias said. "In my day, in my experience, women were not part of the _policia."_

Kate chose not to acknowledge that part of the conversation. "Your son is one of the best men I've ever known," Kate continued, "and that is in spite of your absence, and maybe even a little because of it." Her comment wounded Matias even as he acknowledged that he deserved the derision that he was getting from Javier's friends.

Kate continued. "As a parent myself, I can't fathom anything that would ever make me voluntarily walk out on my kids and never look back. Javi is family to me, to all of us, and he's been part of our family since long before he and Alexis became a couple. People who hurt my family in any way have to answer to me. If you only came back here to try and guilt Javi into accepting you into his life because you're dying, or because you want money, then when you get out of here, you can just go right back to Miami."

That got Matias's back up. "Is that so?" he asked angrily.

"Yes, 'that's so,'" Kate replied.

"We take family very seriously," Mr. Castle interjected then, "because we know firsthand its value...and the great pain that comes from its loss...and the emptiness inside that stays with you from childhood right on through almost middle age when you grow up without a father. You put a lot of effort into trying to fill that hole with other things, other people, other experiences, and sometimes you even manage to go extended periods of time without thinking about it, without actually feeling it. You wonder if it was something you said, something you did, the mere fact of your existence that made your father leave and never come back. That's what kids do in situations like that: they blame themselves, because they're learning how to try to make sense of the world as they grow up, but some things you just are never able to make sense out of. If you're lucky, you get answers someday. They may not be the answers you want, but after thirty or forty years, you **need** the answers, no matter how much you hate them. Javier needs answers from you. **Truthful** answers, no matter how painful or unpleasant they are, no matter how they make you look, because only when he has those answers can he truly begin to heal from your abandonment. So when he comes to see you, you are going to tell him the truth. For once in your life, you are going to put him and what he needs first." The way Mr. Castle said it brooked no argument.

"Did Javier send you here to tell me this, and his partner too, earlier?" Matias couldn't help himself from asking.

"The fact that you're even asking that question proves that you don't know Javi at all," Kate said. Rick just looked even more disgusted. She knew this was a sensitive issue for him, and she grabbed his hand, threading her fingers through his. Rick took his eyes off Matias and looked down at Kate's hand, her fingers knotted through his, and instantly began to relax, to come down from his anger and disgust. "For the record, no, he did not send us or Ryan here. He doesn't know we've been here. Whether or not you tell him we were here is up to you. But whatever you're going to tell him, it's going to be the truth. He needs that, and he deserves it."

"And that's exactly what you're going to give him," Rick said. "The truth. **All** of it. As my wife said, if you hurt Javier again, you'll answer to not only her, but **all** of us, because we **are** his family, and we're not going to stand by and watch you blow up his life again."

"That is not what I came here to do, Mr. Castle," Matias said.

"Then you won't have any problem with giving Javi the answers he needs from you," Kate concluded.

After the Castles left, Matias wondered about the character of his son, knowing that he had to have quite a sterling character to have these people so fiercely on his side.

It wasn't long after the Castles left that a young redheaded woman with such a head of steam worked up Matias was surprised it wasn't pouring from her ears came charging into his room, stopping at the foot of his bed with a deep scowl on her face, pointing at him, and exclaiming, "You!"

" _Madre de Dios_ , another one," Matias muttered, but the young woman didn't notice.

"You walked out on him when he was just a little boy," Alexis began angrily. "You at least did him the favor of not yo-yo-ing in and out of his life all these years, but when you left for 30 years, you left someone who loved you, someone who needed you, someone who spent too much time wondering if it was his fault you left."

"And you know this how?" Matias asked.

"I know this because I lived it myself!" Alexis exclaimed. "And I know this because even one minute is too long for any child to wonder if it's their fault their parent didn't want to be their parent! And I know this because I love him with everything in me, and I hate seeing him all tied up in knots over you dropping back into his life out of nowhere!" She raked her fingers through her hair.

"So you're Javier's girlfriend," Matias said.

"Yes, I am," Alexis replied. "And if you're not serious, truly serious, about making amends to him— **if** he is even open to that—then you should just go back where you came from, because you hurt him enough when he was a little boy, and he got by without you. He came to terms with not having a father as much as he could a long time ago. But now you're back, and you've stirred it all up for him again, and if you don't plan on being a part of his life, if he will **let** you be a part of his life, for whatever time you have left, then you don't need to be a part of his life at all. You've hurt him enough for one lifetime, and I'm not going to stand by and watch you hurt him again."

Matias wondered if Javier had any idea how much his friends and his girlfriend loved him, that they should all come here to Matias's hospital bed to read him variations of the riot act for abandoning his son as a child.

"What's your name?" Matias asked.

"Alexis Castle," Alexis replied, her chin coming up defensively.

Matias quickly put two and two together and realized that this girl must be the daughter of the policewoman and her husband with his own father issues that had been here just a short time ago. "He is lucky that you love him so much."

"If you have any love for him at all, you won't run out on him again," Alexis said.

"As you said, that's really up to Javier, isn't it?" Matias asked rhetorically. "I take it he doesn't know you're here?"

"No, he doesn't," Alexis said.

"Would you like to keep it that way?" Matias asked.

"Javier and I have no secrets from each other," Alexis said.

"He is very lucky to have you in his life," Matias said.

"It's not luck," Alexis said. "You don't build a successful relationship of any kind on luck. You build it on love and trust and knowing the other person is going to be there for you no matter what."

"I guess that's why I haven't had any successful relationships in my life, then," Matias mused. "Well, except one. I think." He paused, then looked up at Alexis again. "I will remember what you said," he assured her.

"See that you do," she replied before turning on her heel and walking out of Matias's room.

It wasn't until after dinner that Javier arrived, straight from work by the look of things. Matias spied Javier's badge on his belt, and he wore a black sport coat over a gray button-down shirt. Javier sat down in a chair but remained a good distance from Matias's bedside. The silence became too much for Matias to bear, so he finally spoke. "Hello."

"I don't know how to do this," Javier said without preamble. "I don't know how to be a son anymore. I don't know how to be **your** son. I never did."

"I don't know how to be your father," Matias replied. "Maybe that makes us even."

"Is that really what you think?" Javier asked. Matias didn't answer. "I know why you came back now. Why did you walk out on me thirty years ago?"

"I didn't know how to be your father," Matias repeated. "I didn't know how to be Julia's husband. I couldn't keep a job."

"What, were you some kind of addict?" Javier asked tersely.

"No," Matias replied. "I like a good drink now and then, yes. Had to give up my cigars when I was diagnosed with this." He waved a hand at his chest. "But I could hold my liquor. I knew when to stop drinking. What I couldn't do was read. Or write. At least, nothing beyond my name."

This news took Javier by surprise. "You're illiterate?" he asked.

"It's hard to keep a job when you can't read or write. I could at least fake it fairly well in Spanish, because that was my native tongue, but English… It took me years to learn how to read and write at the most basic levels. We fought all the time, Julia and I. She thought I was just a lazy bum. She thought there were other women."

"Weren't there?" Javier challenged. "I know you got remarried the same year you divorced Mama."

"All right, there was one other woman," Matias relented. "I'll never make sainthood, I know. Rosita was young and beautiful and we didn't fight. She was too young to be a mother, she said, and I was a lousy father. What could I give you? What could I teach you? So I took the easy way and left when I divorced your mother."

Javier digested this. "You divorced Rosita too."

"She divorced me. She found out my secret, and was ashamed of me, and said if I could lie for so long about something so important, she couldn't trust me not to lie about other things as well. It was easier to work in Miami. I mostly worked on the docks, and those kind of jobs didn't require a lot of reading and writing. I finally learned to read and write after Rosita left me. I'll never be a scholar, but I can read and write at a twelfth-grade level now. In both English and Spanish." Matias was proud of that last fact.

After a brief silence, Matias said, "You have quite a family. Your partner Kevin...your girlfriend Alexis...your old colleagues Richard and Kate...who, I gather, are also Alexis's parents...they all came to see me today, to warn me about doing right by you, the way I didn't when you were a boy. Tell you the truth, don't run out on you again, don't hurt you any more than I already have, respect your decision about whether to include me in your life or not, whatever that decision is. They let me have it from all sides...and it was nothing less than I had coming to me. You are blessed to have so many good people to care for you so much."

"Yes, I am," Javier agreed.

"I cannot make up for the years I wasn't there for you," Matias said. "To think otherwise would be foolish, and I try not to be a fool anymore. The decision is yours. I would like to get to know you, in whatever time I have left, Javier. But you have every right to tell me to go to hell and never bother you again, and if that is what you want, I will abide by your wishes. If I don't, your family made it very clear to me that I will answer to them."

Javier shifted in his chair. "I don't know that we can ever truly be father and son," he said. Matias felt his heart sink, although he couldn't blame Javier. "But I'm willing to get to know you, I guess, and let you get to know me. Maybe we don't define anything right now. And no promises. Those are too easily broken when it comes to you."

"I don't need a definition," Matias quickly agreed.

"So we start from scratch," Javier said, "and we just see what happens. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Matias said, unable to hide the smile on his face. Javier did not return the smile, but Matias couldn't help hoping that might happen in time.

* * *

As Javier's text message had requested, Alexis, Kate, Rick, and Kevin were all waiting at the loft for him. Alexis answered the door when Javier knocked quietly, mindful of not waking Lily.

Javier looked at the quartet for a long moment, his gaze roving from Alexis to Ryan to Beckett to Castle and back to Alexis before turning his attention to his friends, his family, again. "I was such a player for such a long time because I didn't want to trust anybody enough that they could break me the way my old man did when he left me," he said without preamble. "It was a lot easier to just keep it light and move on without any damage being done. Even my first partner Ike...well, you guys remember that, the whole dirty cop thing, the IA setup, how I thought for years he was dead. I lost him, I lost my mother and my _abuela…_ I was tired of people leaving me, even when it wasn't their choice, like my mom and _abuela._

"But then I got partnered with you, Beckett, and with you, Ryan...and you didn't leave me. And before I even consciously knew it, really, it occurred to me that I could trust you guys. That you'd be there, no matter what. And Castle, then you joined the team, and you were the same way from the start." He looked at Alexis. "I never thought I'd find anyone that I trusted enough with my heart, someone that I would love enough to put everything into the relationship and know that not only would I never leave them, but that they'd never leave me. But you changed all that for me, Alexis. You were the last thing I expected, and everything I never thought I'd have, and I love you more than life itself." He kissed her quickly, chastely, before taking everyone in with his gaze again. "And I know all of you went down to the hospital and gave Matias a piece of your minds about respecting my wishes and not abandoning me again. So thank you. Thank you for having my back."

"Anytime," Ryan said.

"Absolutely," Kate said.

"Definitely," Rick concluded. Alexis answered wordlessly, wrapping her arms around his waist and moving closer to his side.

"And since at least Castle will ask, as for Matias...We're going to get to know each other. I don't know if we'll ever really be father and son, but it's a start."

Castle, fittingly, was the one who spoke. "I hope it works out for you guys, Esposito," he said.

"You know somethin', Castle? So do I," Esposito replied as Alexis laid her head on his shoulder and Castle, Beckett, and Ryan gave him encouraging smiles.


	68. Chapter 65

_**Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support for this story.**_

* * *

It was a bright and sunny late July Saturday in New York City, promising to be hot and humid, but, while Lily spent the day being doted on by her besotted grandparents, her parents, big sister, and most of the rest of her extended family were celebrating Lanie and Alan's upcoming wedding at Coney Island and Luna Park.

Alexis rode with Javier, and everyone else—Kevin and Jenny; Gates and her husband Gerald; Lanie and Alan; Alan's parents, sister, and brother-in-law; and Lanie's parents—would meet there.

Martha and Jim were eager to have a whole day with Lily, and Kate and Rick said their goodbyes and promised to check on Lily a few times throughout the day. Jim was holding Lily and said, "Tell your parents that we'll be just fine, Lily Jo."

"Well, we'll call anyway," Kate said.

The drive to Coney Island was mostly silent. Rick didn't push Kate, but when they parked the car, he turned off the ignition and turned to face her. "Talk to me, Kate," he said gently, encouragingly.

Kate took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I just...I haven't been here since the day of my mom's funeral. And we just walked on the beach then, Dad and me. It was January, the place was deserted. That certainly won't be the case today." They could hear the screams from people on the roller coasters, the wheezing of the calliope from the carousel, the high-energy buzz of a Saturday summer crowd beginning to gather at Luna Park for the rides, games, and food. "This is Lanie and Alan's day. I can do this. You're here, and I can do anything with you by my side."

Rick smiled, reached across the console for her hand, brought it to his lips, and gently kissed it. "If there comes a point where it gets to be too much for you, all you have to do is say the word, Kate, and we'll leave."

"I really hope it doesn't come to that," Kate replied. "This is supposed to be a fun, great day for all of us, celebrating Lanie and Alan's upcoming wedding. It's in a couple of weeks."

"Alan and I had our last fittings yesterday," Rick replied.

"Lanie and I have ours next week," Kate said. "Now, we're supposed to meet the others on the boardwalk, so we'd better get going." She opened her car door, and Rick opened his, and they strolled to the boardwalk hand in hand to meet the others in front of the famous Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs on the boardwalk.

Lanie and Alan were already there, along with Alexis, Javier, Kevin, and Jenny. Javi was razzing Kevin because Kevin was wearing a fanny pack. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kevin said. "When you need sunscreen, or lose your sunglasses on a roller coaster later, Javi, don't come crying to me."

"Play nicely, boys," Kate mock scolded by way of greeting.

"Yes, Mom," Javi and Kevin replied in unison, followed by laughter.

"Kate! Castle!" Lanie called. "You remember my dad."

"Of course," Kate said. "It's good to see you again, Dr. Parish." She reached out to shake his hand.

Dr. Walter Parish smiled warmly and shook Kate's hand. "It's nice to see you again, De—no, wait, Lanie told me that you're not with the NYPD anymore. You're running for City Council, and you have a beautiful baby girl. She showed me pictures, and your daughter really **is** beautiful."

"Thank you," Kate replied. "And you remember my husband, Richard Castle."

"The writer," Lanie's father said as he shook Rick's hand. "It's nice to see you again, too."

"Likewise, Dr. Parish," Rick replied. "And where's your lovely wife?" Too late, he saw Alan's frantic look and totally unsubtle signal not to mention Lanie's mother.

"She doesn't think this is an appropriate venue for the party, and she's not happy that I'm not having a traditional bridal shower, so she decided not to come up today," Lanie said.

Rick inwardly winced. "I'm so sorry, Lanie," he said.

"I expected it," Lanie said. She was standing between her father and Alan, and she wrapped her arms around her father's waist and hugged him now. "I've got my dad here, though."

"I've never been to Coney Island, or to Luna Park," Walter Parish replied. "I'm excited. And they don't have Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs back home, but you know I love a good hot dog."

"Drenched with everything," Lanie said fondly as her father hugged her back.

"Rick, Kate, these are my parents, Dave and Sue Masters, and my sister and brother-in-law Liz and Chad Weston," Alan said then, as he introduced his parents, an attractive-looking couple in their early-to-mid-60s, Dave Masters in a golf shirt and cap and khaki cargo shorts, his gray hair close-cropped, his face clean-shaven, and Sue Masters in a pink polo shirt, white capris, and pink flip-flops revealing a flawless candy-apple-red pedicure, her ash-blonde hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail. Liz Masters Weston had dark hair like her brother, in a stylish bob, and wore a ready smile. Her husband Chad had thinning blonde hair and was wearing a gray t-shirt that declared "FEAR THE ACCOUNTANT," denim shorts, and battered white Nikes with a red swoosh that had seen much better days. "Mom, Dad, Liz, Chad," Alan continued, "Rick and Kate Castle, our best friends."

"It's so nice to meet you both," Sue said, stepping forward first to shake hands with Kate and then Rick.

"Alan talks about you all the time," Dave added, shaking Rick's hand with one hand and clapping him on the shoulder with the other. "It's nice to know he's finally found another guy to geek out with."

Standing behind his parents, Alan dropped his head into his hands. "Dad," Liz interrupted.

"What, is that not the right term? Has the lingo been updated since the '80s and '90s? Because I'm down with that," Dave said earnestly. "I'm totally down with that. I'm just really happy my boy finally has a homeslice." He smiled happily, proudly.

Liz snorted loudly. When everyone turned to stare at her, she coughed, then said, "Sorry. Adenoids."

Chad Weston saved the day. "Since I don't see the Wayback Machine anywhere around here, how 'bout we hit the rides?"

"Thank you, Chad," Alan said in an undertone.

"A few more seconds, and Pop would have been saying either 'damn skippy' or 'amped," Chad replied. "Just doing everybody a favor."

"We're still waiting for—oh, here they are," Lanie said. Victoria and Gerald Gates approached the group then. "Hello, Deputy Chief, Mr. Gates. We're so glad you could make it."

Victoria and Gerald were dressed as casually as everyone else, Victoria in a green tank top and denim capris, and Gerald in a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap and t-shirt and navy blue cargo shorts.

"Thank you for inviting us," Victoria said. "We haven't been to Coney Island in ages."

"All right, so what's the plan?" Alan said.

Everyone looked around at each other. "We should probably go on the rides first," Walter Parish said. "Then when it gets to the really hot part of the day, we can cool off in the arcade or get something to eat if we want to get out of the heat for a while."

The others quickly murmured their agreement, and they headed into Luna Park in one big group.

All of the men, even Lanie's and Alan's fathers, wanted to go on all of the roller coasters. Alan's sister Liz produced a paper bag and handed it to her husband Chad with a smirk. "You know your stomach can't take those drastic plunges," she said. "And since I don't want a repeat of Space Mountain when we went to Disney World last year, I'll pass on the roller coasters."

Lanie, Kate, Alexis, Jenny, and Victoria were game for the roller coasters, but Liz and Sue opted to sit them out. "You boys have fun," Sue said, kissing first Dave and then Alan. "My stomach has never liked roller coasters. I'll wait with Liz. I definitely want to go on the water rides. The drops aren't as deep and they don't go as fast as the roller coasters."

And so the group, minus Alan's mother and sister, went on all of the roller coasters first: the Coney Island Cyclone, the Thunderbolt, the Soarin' Eagle, the Steeplechase, and the Circus Coaster.

Alan's brother-in-law Chad did just fine on the Coney Island Cyclone, but Liz's prediction came true on the Thunderbolt. After the initial 90-degree vertical drop, at a speed of approximately 55 miles per hour, Chad, who was sharing a car with his father-in-law Dave, shouted, "Uh oh!"

"'Uh oh'?" Dave repeated. "I don't want to hear 'uh oh' right now, Chad!"

Alan and Lanie were seated directly in front of Dave and Chad; Rick and Kate were behind Dave and Chad, with Javier and Alexis behind Rick and Kate, Kevin and Jenny behind Javier and Alexis, Victoria and Gerald behind Kevin and Jenny, and Lanie's father in the last car by himself.

"Use the bag, Chad!" Alan shouted. "Use the bag!"

And so it was that Chad fumbled to get the paper bag open and managed to make it just in time to throw up for the duration of the 112-degree over-banked turn, and dry heave through the 100-foot vertical loop and the 80-foot zero-g roll both.

When the ride was over, it took Dave, Alan, and Lanie's father Walter to help the ashen-faced Chad out of the car and off the platform. Chad sat out the rest of the roller coasters, and Liz bought him a Sprite from a vendor and made him wait until it was slightly flat before he began sipping.

"Is your brother-in-law gonna be okay?" Rick asked Alan.

"Oh, yeah," Alan said. "He just always thinks he's going to conquer the roller coasters at any amusement park. He and Liz met in college, and the first time she brought him home to meet us, it was my spring break from school and we went to Six Flags in St. Louis. Chad threw up all over Liz on the Shock Wave. In his defense, we were turned upside-down seven times in three different ways at 65 miles per hour on that ride. But the fact that she just cleaned up as best she could in the ladies' room and bought a new t-shirt at the park, and then spent the rest of the day moving from bench to bench with him while the rest of us went on rides was when we knew she was going to marry him someday. I had just turned 14 a couple months before that, and even I knew it. My parents definitely knew it."

The others rode the rest of the roller coasters, by which time Chad had recovered sufficiently that he and Liz rejoined everyone else, along with Sue, for the Coney Island Raceway, at which Kevin skunked everyone as they each drove a go-kart solo over the 900-foot race course, complete with switchback curves and hairpin turns.

Javier, who finished in seventh place, behind Kevin, Kate, Rick, Victoria, Jenny, and Lanie, demanded of Kevin, "Where'd you learn to drive like that?"

Kevin just grinned. "I never told you that I worked at a go-kart track all through high school?" he said innocently.

"Next Halo night, you're goin' down, Ryan!" Javier called after Kevin as he and Jenny strolled away hand in hand.

On the Brooklyn Flyer, a ride comprised of double-seat swings, everyone but Lanie's dad coupled up. Before the ride started, Rick asked Kate, "How are you doing?"

She smiled at him, reaching over to squeeze his thigh. "I'm having a great time. Really."

The ride started, and before they knew it, they were 100 feet in the air, traveling in a circle and enjoying the view.

After the Brooklyn Flyer (and Kate's call to Jim, who reported that Lily had had her morning nap, tummy time, and now Martha was doing a dramatic reading of _Horton Hears a Who),_ it was on to the Wild River, the water ride where everyone sat single file in log-themed boats and soared through the winding troughs until they came to the 40-foot ledge, which the boats raced over, plunging everyone into headlong into the cooling splash pool below. Everyone exited Wild River drenched and laughing.

"As long as we're all already wet," Lanie reasoned, "we might as well go on Watermania."

Watermania was a ride consisting of several four-seater cars in a large pool. Each car was equipped with multiple water blasters, and when the ride started, it was soak or be soaked as everyone took aim at each other from their various cars in an epic water pistol battle. Much laughter and shrieking ensued, and what started out as a free-for-all morphed into the girls against the guys and finally, the couples against each other. Between Rick's decades of Laser Tag experience, and Kate's shooting skills honed over fifteen years on the NYPD, theirs was one of the few water battles that was pretty much a draw, both of them drenched and laughing their heads off by the time the ride was over.

Alexis and Javier had been fairly evenly matched as well, for pretty much the same reasons as Rick and Kate, but everyone else was varying degrees of soaked. Victoria was the clear winner against Gerald, and Chad may not have been able to handle the roller coasters, but Liz was so drenched that she squished when she walked and was wringing copious amounts of water out of her clothes. Jenny looked like a drowned rat but was quick to state that she didn't care because it had been so much fun, and Alan's parents and Lanie's father had ganged up on the newlyweds-to-be, so Alan and Lanie looked much worse than all of their respective parents and Jenny combined.

To give themselves time to dry as much as they could in the summer sun, everyone agreed it was time for lunch, and so they adjourned to Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs on the boardwalk, where everyone had a variety of hot dogs, corn dogs, chili dogs, fries, and lemonade.

After lunch, they headed off to play games. Rick won a gigantic teddy bear at Bazooka Blast, which boasted about its jumbo prizes. "We're gonna have to strap that thing to the car's roof to get it home," Kate said. "It's almost as tall as we are!" Indeed, the teddy bear had to be almost six feet tall. Kate wondered idly where in the world they would put it when they got it home.

"And totally worth it," Rick said, preening.

"Okay, somebody else has gotta win something, quick, or else Castle's gonna be bragging about that bear all day long," Ryan said.

"To the victor belong the spoils," Rick said simply. "And I think it'll fit in the car. At least, I hope it will, because we don't have any rope to tie it to the roof. If you'll all excuse me, I'm going to take the bear back to the car." After taking the bear back to the car, he called Martha, who assured him that Lily had had her lunch and Jim was rocking her to sleep for her afternoon nap. Everything was fine. When Rick returned to the others at the games, he quietly relayed his mother's message about Lily to Kate. They were both glad that Lily was doing so well under the care of her grandparents, and not suffering separation anxiety from either of them. Then they turned their attention to the games once more.

Ryan played Pong Pool, Whac a Mole, and Water Racer, winning one prize at each game (though none were as big as the ginormous teddy bear Rick won at Bazooka Blast), and having won one prize each for Jenny, Sarah Grace, and Nick pronounced himself done. As hard as he tried, Rick didn't win another prize that day, but when they left the games that were inside Luna Park for the air conditioning and electronic noises of the Luna Arcade, Victoria soundly beat Rick, Kate, Javier, Kevin, and Lanie all five at skeeball.

When Kate spied the interactive motorcycle racing game, she talked Rick into going head to head with her at the game, for which they sat side by side on motorcycles with regulation handlebars and seats. Seeing Kate so focused on the game, the long, lithe lines of her body mimicking the actions she took when she rode a real motorcycle, it didn't take long for Rick to completely crash and burn at his game, while Kate ran up a high score on hers. "If you hadn't spent so much time watching me, you might have survived your game, babe," she said with a knowing smirk.

"I'd rather watch you anytime," Rick replied.

"You're gonna have to work on that before we take that cross-country motorcycle ride," Kate told him.

After the arcade, everyone adjourned to Coney's Cones for their choice of gelato, sorbet, or coffee. Kate got the coffee gelato, and shared Rick's white chocolate macaroon gelato.

After Alexis and Javier had finished their desserts—lemon sorbet for Alexis, chocolate gelato for Javier—they went to check out one of the souvenir shops. Javier lingered over the baseball caps emblazoned with CONEY ISLAND. "I thought I'd pick one up for Matias," he said. Matias was back at his motel in the Bronx for the time being, and Javier had seen him twice since he had been released from the hospital. Alexis was going with him for their third meeting.

Javier carefully studied the navy blue baseball cap that said CONEY ISLAND in yellow letters, then shifted his gaze to the white baseball cap that said CONEY ISLAND in light blue letters. He picked up the white baseball cap. "He already has a dark baseball cap, that Marlins cap," Javier said.

Alexis smiled. "I think it's an excellent choice," she told him.

Rick and Kate bought coffee mugs, of course.

When everyone met up again, Alan said, "Lanie and I have a souvenir for all of you, in my car." They all trooped out to the parking lot, and Alan opened the trunk, which contained a large cardboard box. He opened the lid of the box to reveal a stack of t-shirts. The t-shirts were white, and they said in blue letters, since blue and white were his and Lanie's wedding colors:

PARISH-MASTERS PRE-WEDDING CELEBRATION

CONEY ISLAND

BROOKLYN, NY

JULY 29, 2017

"Now I know why you wanted our t-shirt sizes!" Jenny exclaimed.

"We have to get a picture," Alan's mom Sue said. "All of us together wearing the shirts before we head for home."

After the shirts had been distributed, and everyone had pulled them on over what they were already wearing, they all crowded together by the entrance gate to Luna Park. Uncertain that a selfie would work, Alan got one of the employees from Coney's Cones, who was headed on her break, to agree to take the picture for them on Alan's phone.

"Okay, everyone, big smiles," the teenager said as she framed the shot, making sure everyone was in it. She took three pictures, then returned Alan's phone to him with congratulations as he thanked her.

Everyone said their goodbyes and parted for the day. Alexis and Javier wanted some time to chill out at his place but promised to come over for dinner at eight. Everyone else went home, or back to their hotels, in the case of the Masters', Westons, and Lanie's father.

When they reached the car, Kate burst out laughing when she saw that the teddy bear Rick had won was so big that he had to lay it down across the back seat. Kate's laughter made Rick laugh too. As for Kate, she had purposely avoided the beach, and thankfully no one else had wanted to go down there, and once they were going on rides and shooting each other with water guns and playing games and hanging out eating and talking, Kate was so busy being present in the moment that she didn't have time to feel any sadness or remember walking the windswept beach that horrible and freezing January day she and her dad buried her mother.

"It was a great day," Kate said as they drove home.

"It really was," Rick agreed. "And I think I'm gonna stock up on Super Soakers before the big Labor Day weekend in the Hamptons. We can have an epic water gun battle all over the grounds and the beach." He looked so enthusiastic and excited about that prospect.

"Great idea," Kate approved. "But first, we have Lanie and Alan's wedding, and more campaign work."

"Yes, we do," Rick agreed. A year earlier, neither he nor Kate could have guessed this was where they would be, this is what their life would be, but they wouldn't have wanted their life to be any other way.


	69. Chapter 66

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

In all the years they had all lived in New York, no one, except for Lanie and Alan, of course, had ever been to or seen The Glasshouses, so when they got their first look at it the night before Lanie and Alan's wedding, Kate and Rick were in awe of the place.

Located in Chelsea Arts Tower, the venue boasted magnificent floor to ceiling windows which provided spectacular views of the Hudson River, Downtown and Midtown Manhattan. Lanie and Alan had rented Glasshouses 21, which was 3400 square feet of space and had a balcony that was quite probably the best vantage point in the entire city from which to see the sunset, the Hudson River, and breathtaking views of Downtown and Midtown Manhattan.

The rehearsal had been held at the site of the wedding, attended by the wedding party and parents only, followed by the rehearsal dinner at Tavern on the Green.

Now, at last, Lanie and Alan's wedding day was here, and everyone had gathered at Glasshouses 21 for the ceremony, which was being officiated by Pastor Moore, the senior pastor of Lanie's church.

Alan and Rick were in the area designated for the groom, resplendent in their tailored navy blue double breasted suits with matching vests. Alan wore a white button-down shirt and a solid navy silk necktie. Rick wore the French blue button-down shirt that Kate said brought out his eyes, and a solid navy silk necktie that matched Alan's. Alan was trying to pin his boutonniere, a single white rose backed by deep blue hydrangea that matched the flowers in Lanie's bridal bouquet, to his lapel, but his fingers were shaking too much to do it. "Ouch, I stuck myself!" Alan blurted.

Rick crossed the room and took the boutonniere and the pin from Alan. "I got it," he said. He made short work of pinning Alan's boutonniere to his jacket, making sure, as he had with his own, to pin it to the underside of Alan's lapel so the pin wouldn't show.

Alan looked down at his boutonniere and then up at Rick. "Thanks," he said. He clenched his shaking fingers into loose fists. "Were you this nervous when you and Kate got married?"

"No," Rick said. "Once I was sure I had the rings in my pocket, and I saw Kate standing there with her dad and smiling at me, any nerves I had completely disappeared."

"Speaking of rings," Alan began.

Rick reached into his right jacket pocket and removed Alan's wedding ring for Lanie. "I've got it right here," he said, "and Kate has Lanie's ring for you, which, trust me, she is guarding with her life."

Alan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Thank you for being my best man, Rick," he said earnestly. "I've never had a friend like you."

"I didn't bring my Disney songbook, Alan," Rick replied. Alan burst out laughing at this. Rick didn't think it was that funny, but he chalked it up to Alan's nerves. "Thanks for asking me to be your best man. This isn't something that I've ever done before. Comes from not having too many guy friends, I guess. Well, not having too many real friends, period, until Kate came into my life. Except for Alexis and Mother, she brought the rest of my family with her."

"Lanie did the same for me," Alan said. "I mean, I love my family, and they love me, but they live halfway across the country, so we don't see each other in person too often. And I have a couple of work friends, but work friends and **friend** friends are different. And you're the first real **friend** friend I've had in a long time. Thanks for standing up for me."

A knock came at the door then. "Come in," Alan said.

"Unless you're Lanie, because I don't want to face the wrath of her mother," Rick added. Although Mrs. Parish wasn't entirely happy that Lanie hadn't incorporated much of anything she (Mrs. Parish) wanted into the wedding, she was still relishing her role as the mother of the bride.

The door opened, and Kevin Ryan poked his head into the room. "It's just me, guys," he said. "Just got a text from Beckett asking me to tell you guys that we're ready to start, and you're supposed to get out there first, so once you're standing up front with the minister, I can let her know that it's showtime."

"Thanks, Ryan," Rick said. He clapped a hand on Alan's shoulder. "You ready?"

"I was born ready," Alan replied.

"Really?" Rick asked.

"No, not really, I've just always wanted to say that," Alan admitted. "But I am definitely ready to marry Lanie."

Kevin opened the door all the way, and Alan and Rick walked to the raised platform in front of the doors leading to the balcony, where Pastor Moore was standing. Kevin returned to his seat next to Jenny and pulled out his phone to send Beckett a text to let her know they were ready to begin.

When Kate's phone binged with an incoming text message, she picked it up from the table and read the message before tucking it into her small clutch bag, which she would be leaving in the room where she and Lanie had gotten ready until it was time for the reception. "That was Kevin. Alan and Rick are out front with Pastor Moore, so we're ready to begin." She picked up Lanie's round bouquet of white roses and deep blue hydrangeas and handed it to her. "Okay," Kate said, "your pearl necklace from Alan is your something new, the hydrangeas in your bouquet are your something blue, my earrings are your something borrowed, and the penny in your shoe is your something old." The penny in Lanie's shoe had been her mother's idea, and Lanie was just nervous enough that she gave in without a single objection when her mother made the suggestion.

Kate picked up her own bouquet, the white roses and deep blue hydrangea matching both Lanie's bouquet and Alan and Rick's boutonnieres, although Lanie's bouquet was much larger; Kate carried a simple nosegay, the same size as the bouquet she had carried at her own wedding, the only difference being the flowers.

"You have the ring, right?" Lanie asked anxiously.

Kate held her up her bouquet, revealing Alan's wedding ring carefully tied to one of the small blue ribbons attached to the bottom of the bouquet. "I've got it," she said. "You're going to take Alan's breath away, Lanie."

Lanie's wedding dress was simple but elegant, an A-line v-neck white satin knee length dress with sleeves made of white lace, which also overlaid the bodice. A white satin ribbon sash was at her waist, and the dress had a simple zipper in the back. Her hair was down, loose, and a crown of baby white rosebuds and deep blue hydrangea matching her bouquet was perched on top of her head. White three-inch heels edged in gold completed Lanie's bridal ensemble.

Kate's matron of honor dress was knee length, like Lanie's, but there the similarities ended. Her dress was the same shade of blue as Rick's and Alan's neckties, but was made of mesh fabric and had spaghetti straps and a zipper in the back. Her low heels had been dyed to match her dress.

"Part of me still can't believe I'm actually getting married," Lanie said. "Were you nervous when you and Castle got married?"

"No," Kate said. "I felt like I'd been waiting all my life for that moment, and when it arrived, when I was standing there holding my dad's arm and looking at Rick, I knew that I was about to do the most right thing I've ever done." She paused. "Are you nervous? Or having cold feet?"

"No," Lanie assured Kate. "I'm...well, I'm amazed. Amazed that I love Alan so much, and that he loves me so much, and that we're about to get married." Lanie beamed at Kate, lit from within by her love for Alan. "Seeing you and Castle all these years, watching you finally get it right, and fight for each other, and really make a life together… I've learned a lot about marriage from you two. Part of me never thought I'd do this."

"I remember that feeling," Kate said.

"Well, **this** feeling is a whole lot better," Lanie said.

"Yes, it is," Kate agreed. She and Lanie hugged then, carefully, so as not to wrinkle their dresses or smudge their makeup.

Lanie's mother and father entered the room then, Lanie's father also in a navy blue suit, minus the vest, and a boutonniere of white roses and deep blue hydrangeas, and with a navy blue-and-white striped necktie. Her mother, in a sky blue dress (Alan's mother wore royal blue), with a corsage of white roses and blue delphiniums pinned to her dress, smiled sincerely. "You look beautiful," she told her daughter.

"Thank you, Mama," Lanie replied. "So do you."

The strains of _Canon in D Major_ being played on an acoustic guitar reached them then. "Oh, that's my cue!" Melinda Parish exclaimed. She and Alan's mother Sue and sister Liz would be seated to this music. Melinda carefully hugged Lanie so as not to wrinkle her dress or smudge her makeup. "I love you, Lanie," she said as she drew back. "Even though this is not the kind of wedding I would have chosen for you, well...it wasn't my decision to make. And Alan is a wonderful young man who loves you very much. I'm very happy for you and proud of you."

"Thank you, Mama. I love you too," Lanie said.

Out front, Alan tried not to fidget as Chad escorted Alan's mother down the aisle to sit between Dave and Liz, whom he had already escorted down the aisle. Chad then went back and escorted Lanie's mother to sit between the empty chair where Walter Parish would sit after walking Lanie down the aisle and Lanie's Aunt Holly, Melinda's sister.

Kate stood at the door watching as the mothers were escorted down the aisle and seated, and then Chad took his seat next to Liz. The music changed then, to Clarke's _Trumpet Voluntary,_ also on the acoustic guitar. "It's our turn," Kate said, turning away from the door to meet Lanie's eager gaze. "You ready?"

"Yes," Lanie said, her face shining with her joy and her love for Alan. "Let's go get me married."

Lanie and Walter followed Kate out of the room, and everyone turned to watch Kate process down the aisle. Rick only had eyes for her, and they exchanged a smile, and Kate winked at her husband, making his grin widen. Alan was watching anxiously for his first glimpse of his bride, and as soon as Kate stepped up onto the platform and turned with everyone else to watch as Lanie marched down the aisle on her father's arm, Lanie and Walter appeared at the head of the aisle. The look on Alan's face when he got his first look at her was one of mingled awe, love, and joy.

Upon reaching the platform, Walter let go of Lanie's arm, kissed her on the cheek, then put her hand in Alan's. "Be happy," he said softly.

"We will," Lanie said. "I love you, Daddy." Walter, his eyes brimming with tears, mouthed "Love you too" to Lanie, then went and took his seat next to his wife.

The guests sat down, and the guitarist silenced his instrument. "Dearly beloved," Pastor Moore said, "we are gathered here today to witness and bless the union of Lanie and Alan in holy matrimony. The bride and groom would now like to exchange their own vows."

Lanie handed Kate her bouquet and then turned to face Alan, taking his hands in hers. "I've always had goals, aspirations, things I wanted to do," Lanie began. "But when I met you, Alan, I learned what it was to dream. I learned that it is most definitely possible to have the really important things, like love and trust and companionship. I promise to be your best friend, your love, your navigator, your consoler, and your wife. And most of all, I promise you myself, all of me, for the rest of my life."

Alan squeezed Lanie's hands. "Most people wouldn't consider a two-day period in which they almost died three times one of the best times of their lives, but it's one of the best times of mine, because that was when I met you," he said. "The doctor at the hospital told me I was the luckiest man who ever lived. Of course, she added that I was lucky because I kept on living even after I died. But what made me the luckiest man who ever lived was meeting you.

"I promise to encourage and support you in all ways, to be your best friend, your love, your consoler, and your husband, and to help you shoulder our challenges, because I know there's nothing we can't handle if we stand and face it together. And most of all, I promise you myself, all of me, for the rest of my life."

"Alan, will you have Lanie to be your wedded wife?" Pastor Moore asked then. "Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her for as long as you both shall live?"

"I will," Alan replied. He accepted Lanie's ring from Rick and slipped it onto her finger.

"Lanie, will you have Alan to be your wedded husband? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him for as long as you both shall live?"

"I will," Lanie replied, taking Alan's ring from Kate and putting it on his left hand.

"Lanie and Alan have declared their consent before God and this company, by the joining of hands, the exchange of vows, and the giving and receiving of rings. By the power vested in me by the state of New York, I pronounce that they are husband and wife. Alan, you may kiss your bride."

Alan and Lanie were both teary-eyed and wearing mile-wide grins as they reached for one another and shared a lingering first kiss as a married couple.

The guitarist played Mendelssohn's _Wedding March_ on his acoustic guitar as Lanie and Alan broke the kiss. Lanie took her bouquet back from Kate, linked her arm through Alan's, and they stepped off the platform and walked up the aisle as the guitarist continued playing and the guests applauded.

When Lanie and Alan were halfway up the aisle, Rick extended his arm to Kate, and she linked her arm through his and they followed Lanie and Alan up the aisle.

The reception started right away, since the reception was also being held at Glasshouses 21. It was the most epic party any of them had been to since the belated wedding reception that had been held at The Old Haunt for Rick and Kate almost a year before.

The guitarist was only for the ceremony. Lanie and Alan had hired a DJ for their reception, and the wedding photographer took what felt like a million pictures in every possible combination. Lanie and Alan were both hugged and fussed over by both sets of parents, each couple welcoming their new in-law to the family, and Liz and Chad happy to have Lanie for a sister-in-law. Lanie and Alan had their first dance to "I Finally Found Someone"-the song they had sung at karaoke at the belated wedding reception everyone had thrown for Kate and Rick last year. Everyone had dinner and wedding cake, and tore up the dance floor, dancing to both fast songs like Earth, Wind and Fire's "September" and slow songs like "Marry Me" by Train. Everyone danced, laughed, ate and drank, and congratulated the newlyweds.

"It was a lovely wedding," Victoria said, shaking Alan's hand and surprising Lanie with a hug.

"Congratulations," Gerald added.

After the Gates' had left the head table to return to the dance floor, Perlmutter tentatively approached, a half-full glass of bourbon in his hand. "Congratulations, Dr. Parish," he said.

"Thank you, Sidney," Lanie replied. "And thank you for coming."

"Well, you know, open bar, no dead bodies..." Perlmutter said with a shrug. He looked at Alan then. "You know what she does for a living, so if you don't treat her right, she has the means to make you suffer greatly."

Alan blinked, then said, "It's a good thing we don't have to worry about that, because I'm always going to treat her right."

"Yes, well, see that you do," Perlmutter said.

"I think that was Perlmutter's way of warning Alan," Rick said, surprised. "I didn't know he had it in him." He and Kate had been standing and talking to Lanie and Alan when Perlmutter approached to offer his congratulations.

"That's because he never really liked you all that much," Lanie retorted, but she softened her retort with a smile.

"I see Perlmutter's headed back to the bar," Javier said as he and Alexis approached, Kevin and Jenny beside them. "What'd you say to him, Castle?"

"Nothing," Rick insisted.

"It was a beautiful wedding," Jenny enthused. She hugged Lanie, then Alan. "Congratluations, you guys."

"May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live," Kevin said, hugging Lanie, and shaking Alan's hand. "That's the shortest Irish wedding toast I could find."

"You have gems like that in your pocket and you couldn't help me with my best man toast?" Rick asked.

"You didn't ask me to help," Kevin replied. "Besides, you're a professional writer."

"I'm really happy for both of you," Alexis said. "Congratulations, and I wish you a lifetime of happiness."

"Thank you, Alexis," Lanie said as they hugged, and then Alan shook Alexis's hand.

Javier looked at Lanie. "This kind of happiness looks really good on you," he told her.

Lanie smiled. "Right back at you, Javi," she said, looking from Javier to Alexis.

Javier and Lanie hugged, and then Javier regarded Alan. "Be good to her," he said. "She deserves the best."

"She'll have it," Alan promised. Then he and Javier shook hands.

The DJ then announced that it was time for the karaoke portion of the evening, by special request of the groom.

Kate didn't want to get up and sing in front of everyone, but Rick and Alan brought the house down on their duet of The Proclaimers' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)," complete with horrible Scottish accents, and really hamming it up by taking the microphones to their table and serenading Kate and Lanie directly.

Not to be outdone, Kevin and Javier teamed up to duet on Daft Punk's "Get Lucky," complete with the dance routine that won them a trophy two years earlier.

Alan's parents sang "I Got You Babe," and Lanie's parents surprised everyone with their rendition of "Solid as a Rock," which they dedicated to the newlyweds. Everyone was surprised to see Lanie's mother so loosened up, especially Lanie. The others declined to sing karaoke, although Alexis and Jenny got into a good-natured debate with Kate and Lanie over whether Javier and Kevin, or Rick and Alan, had done the better job on their song.

Then it was time for Kate and Rick to give their toasts. "Lanie and I have been friends for a long time," Kate said. "And once upon a time, we were married to our careers. And we both pretty much thought that was how it would stay. But happily, we were wrong...although our careers led to both of us meeting our husbands, so maybe it's fitting to say that we're married partly _**because**_ of our careers.

"In all seriousness, though, I can tell you, Lanie, that it's been my experience that the best feeling in the world is knowing that you have someone who loves you and that you love, someone who knows you better than you know yourself and someone that you know better than they know themselves, and that you will be there for each other through everything life throws at you." Kate raised her glass. "To Lanie and Alan: a lifetime of love, happiness, and perseverance."

"To Lanie and Alan," everyone chorused.

Then it was Rick's turn. "My reputation as a wordsmith precedes me," he began, "but I don't know if I could possibly top what Kate said in her toast, or what Ryan said in the receiving line, so I'm not going to try. I will say, though, that Alan, you have chosen a strong and amazing woman to be your wife. And Lanie, you have a really great guy for a husband. And the two of you and Kate and I will be attending many, **many** Comic-Cons together in the future, starting with this year's Comic-Con in a few months." Lanie rolled her eyes at this while Alan shot a fist into the air and grinned in triumph.

"Love is truly life's greatest mystery," Rick continued, "and the people who are most blessed are the ones who marry the person they never want to stop learning about and growing with and loving. You are about to embark on the greatest adventure of your lives, and I ask everyone here to raise a glass and join me in wishing Lanie and Alan all the best on their journey."

The music played on, and the couples took turns going out on the balcony to see the city. The DJ announced the last dance of the evening before Lanie and Alan's departure, and Kate and Rick were on the balcony for it, darkness having fallen slowly over the city.

The balcony doors were open and they could hear the song. They had been looking out over the city, Rick standing behind Kate, his arms wrapped around her waist from behind, but she turned into his arms, and then they were slowly swaying to the song, looking into each other's eyes, as the words of the song reached them.

" _Nobody knows you the way that I know you_

 _Look in my eyes, I will never desert you_

 _And just say the word, we'll take on the world..."_

"I used to think I had to take on the world alone," Kate mused softly. "I'm really glad that's not the case anymore."

"Me too," Rick said, kissing her forehead before resting his cheek against hers as they moved closer together, swaying in the perfect summer night.

" _You and I, we were made to thrive_

 _And I am your future, I am your past_

 _Never forget we were built to last..."_

"The campaign's really going to kick into high gear now. The primary is coming up fast," Kate said.

"Whatever happens," Rick said, drawing back so he could look at her, "you've got this, Kate, and I've got your back."

Kate smiled the smile she reserved for Rick alone before leaning in to kiss him.

Alexis and Javier interrupted them to let them know that Lanie and Alan were leaving, so Kate and Rick went back inside, the song having ended, to see Lanie and Alan off, along with everyone else.

And when they returned home, with Alexis in tow, and said their good nights to the sleeping Lily and the happy-to-be-called-upon-to-babysit Jim (Martha's latest acting class was putting on a workshop performance of _Death of a Salesman)_ , as they got ready for bed, Kate finished washing her face as Rick was flossing. She surprised him by pulling the floss out of his mouth and stretching up to give him a sizzling kiss. When she broke the kiss, she pressed her forehead to his for the space of a few heartbeats, then drew back to look into his eyes once more. "Thanks for taking on the world with me, Rick."

He smiled back and slipped an arm around her waist, pulling her against him. "Always," he replied before dipping his head to return her kiss.


	70. Chapter 67

**_To everyone affected by Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and the wildfires, stay safe!_**

 _ **Thank you to all who are reading, and those of you kind enough to take the time to leave reviews, and the guests who leave reviews. Knowing that you like my interpretation of the Castle family's story means a lot to me. Your enthusiasm for this story is truly a gift to me.**  
_

* * *

The rest of August sped by. Kate dove into campaigning head first, with Rick and the rest of their family right beside her. Lily even made appearances at a few of Kate's campaign events, the smaller ones, since Kate didn't want to either overwhelm Lily or expose her to a bunch of strangers.

Everyone spent the Labor Day weekend at the Hamptons house. Rick, Kate, and Lily had the luxury of getting away a day earlier than everyone else, and Lily, almost four months old and increasingly curious about the world around her, was staying awake for longer periods of time during the day and sleeping longer during the night.

After arriving early Friday afternoon, Lily got her first real exposure to the pool. Kate and Rick took turns with her in the water. Lily, already a big fan of bathtime, screeched, squealed, and babbled happily as she splashed her hands and kicked her feet in the water, all while held in the secure arms of either her mommy or her daddy. "Looks like we have a water baby," Rick said after Lily let loose with a long, excited string of baby babble, punctuated by her splashing him in the face.

Kate beamed. "I think you're right," she said. "Lily, do you want to swim with Mommy for a while?" They were in the shallow end of the pool, of course, and Lily watched Kate move through the water towards Lily and Rick, fascinated. Kate took Lily from Rick, and Lily happily resumed her splashing and kicking.

Lily was not as big a fan of the sand, however, when they went out on the beach. The tiny grains of sand irritated her, making her fuss as she shook her hands and kicked her feet, trying to remove the offensive grains of sand, and when her brow knit in frustration and anger the same way Kate's brow knit when she was frustrated and angry, Rick said, "Uh oh. Lily's about to go mini-Detective Beckett in the box with an uncooperative suspect here. She's already got the look."

Kate picked Lily up and did her best to brush off as much of the sand that was stuck to the soles of her tiny feet and in between her toes as possible. "Okay, sweetie, okay, we'll get that awful sand off of you." She looked at Rick, then back at Lily. "I looked like this?"

"Way more intimidating," Rick said as he hurriedly gathered up the beach blankets and the few toys he had brought out. "But she absolutely looked like you." His arms full of beach supplies, he said brightly, as they headed for the house, "Maybe this means you won't wear bikinis when you get older. What do you say, Sweetpea?"

Kate rolled her eyes as they entered the house. "'She loves the pool. Of course she's going to wear bikinis when she gets older."

Rick groaned as he dropped the beach gear in a corner of the foyer. "At least I'll have your Uncle Kevin and Uncle Javi to back me up, because I'm not about to have a pack of rabid teenage boys sniffing around you in a bikini someday, Lily."

Kate laughed. "That's a long way off, babe," she said. They climbed the stairs and headed to the master suite, where Rick hurried ahead to the en suite bathroom to run a bath for Lily while Kate pulled a turquoise blue onesie printed with smiling gray-and-pink elephants that had been a gift from her father and a fresh diaper from Lily's diaper bag, laying them out on the bed before carrying Lily into the bathroom, undressing her, and settling her in the tub. Kate and Rick both knelt at the tub, working together to bathe Lily, who resumed her splashing once she was clean of all the sand, and the sticky sunscreen residue, that had been bothering her so much. Kate quickly washed Lily's hair, and then Rick had a towel at the ready, which he wrapped Lily in after Kate lifted the clean baby from the tub and handed her off to her daddy.

After Lily was dressed, and Kate had combed her hair, she was much more content. They knew, then, that Lily loved the pool, but was not yet ready for the beach.

Jim, Martha, Alexis, and Javier made it up on Friday night, while the Ryans, Lanie and Alan, and the Gateses arrived late Saturday morning. Lanie and Alan, just recently back from their honeymoon in Bora Bora, still had that newlywed glow about them. They grilled lunch on Saturday, went out to dinner as a big group on Saturday night, spent Sunday splitting the time between the pool and the beach (except for Rick, Kate, and Lily, who stuck to the pool), and Jim and Martha baby-sat Lily, Nick, and Sarah Grace on Sunday night while all the couples had a Date Night.

Everyone was in agreement, though, that the epic Super Soaker battle of Labor Day 2017 was the highlight of the weekend, the game beginning with people splitting off into teams—Jim and Martha wisely deciding to stay inside with the napping Lily and Nick Ryan as Kate, Rick, Alexis, Javier, Kevin, Jenny, Sarah Grace, Lanie, Alan, Victoria, and Gerald ran all over the deck and the yard spraying each other, having split off into pairs, except for the Ryans, who were a trio. Sarah Grace squealed delightedly when she got her Uncle Javi right in the face with her Super Soaker, and Kevin paid for doubling over with laughter and dropping his own Super Soaker when Javi spluttered and spat out water, then shook himself like a dog coming in from the rain, and Alexis and Javi both opened up on Kevin, which led to Jenny, with able assistance from Sarah Grace, opening up on Alexis and Javi.

After the Ryans, Javi and Alexis had emptied their Super Soakers, everyone filled up again for another round, this one a free-for-all that left everyone soaked and laughing. Victoria took both pride and pleasure in getting the jump on Ryan and Esposito and blasting them but good with her Super Soaker.

Having learned their lesson regarding Lily, Rick and Kate had a CD of city sounds made before coming up to the Hamptons again for the Labor Day weekend, and it worked very well in helping Lily sleep.

Upon returning to the city after the Labor Day weekend, Kate's campaign kicked into high gear, as she faced a debate with the other candidates for City Council, and also reconnected with Madison, who started coming around to Kate's campaign office, showing up at as many of Kate's campaign events as she could, and starting to spend time at the Castle family loft.

Alexis started law school at Columbia and was soon up to her eyebrows in the stresses and the neverending reams of paper generated by a first-year law student, but she carved out time for her parents, grandmother and sister, and time for Javier.

Javier saw or spoke on the phone with Matias once a week every week. Alexis went with him one Sunday afternoon to have a late lunch with Matias.

Lanie and Alan happily settled into married life.

Lily turned four months old and started to babble more, trying to have conversations when people talked to her, even though she could only make a few sort-of-intelligible sounds. She was also fascinated with textures, and most of her books and toys went into her mouth at some point, kicking the vigilance factor among her family up quite a few notches.

Life moved forward for everyone. And with Kate's place on the November ballot secured, things were about to get a lot busier, as her campaign headed into its home stretch.

* * *

The ballroom of the Soho Grand Hotel, located in Manhattan's City Council District 1, was decked out with red, white, and blue balloons, bunting, and streamers, and a giant KATE BECKETT: FOR A GREATER, SAFER NEW YORK CITY banner hanging at the front of the room. A major campaign event was about to take place.

Madison Queller, decked out in a white t-shirt that said KATE BECKETT FOR NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL in red and blue letters over her skinny jeans and strappy sandals, had assigned herself as the unofficial greeter at the doors, as people arrived in a fairly steady stream. Kate had honed her stump speech over the past several months, never sounding canned or rehearsed, although Madison knew that Kate rehearsed as much as she could. She had her talking points down, and couldn't have kept the passion out of her voice if she had tried. People responded to Kate because she wasn't just another politician, but more importantly, because she connected to them on their level, and her background as a decorated NYPD homicide detective and precinct captain was unparalleled. She was committed to serving District 1 in the same manner that she had served the city when she was with the NYPD, still focused on justice, but in a broader way, with crime prevention being one of the platforms on which she was running. She had been doing her research, and, if elected, she would have to serve on three of the City Council's committees. Fire and Criminal Justice Services was a given, but it was more difficult for her to narrow the remaining field of committees to only two. Standards and Ethics...Women's Issues...Juvenile Justice...Public Safety...Civil Rights...State and Federal Legislation… It was a real dilemma for Kate, but one that she was putting off, for the time being, until she was certain she won the District 1 seat in early November.

Rick and Kate were talking on the stage, away from the podium and microphone, of course. Kate's dad was there as well, wearing a t-shirt that matched Madison's as well as one of the straw boater hats and a campaign button. Castle's mom was at their place with Lily. Alexis and her boyfriend Javier, a detective who used to work with Kate and Castle, was there, as were his partner Kevin and Kevin's wife Jenny, and Lanie the medical examiner and her new husband Alan, and all of them were also wearing KATE BECKETT FOR NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL t-shirts. The only other person wearing a boater besides Madison and Jim Beckett was Kevin.

Volunteers milled around, handing out buttons and boaters and offering t-shirts and miniature pennants on sticks that proclaimed Kate's candidacy.

Madison had been talking to an elderly couple, the Goldbergs, spry and active in their mid-70s who had supported Kate's run for City Council since her first campaign event, when she noticed a brooding man, probably in his late forties, wearing a navy blue suit and a tie of alternating navy blue and sky blue stripes, standing against the wall just inside the entrance to the ballroom with his hands on his hips, surveying the scene while trying to look like he wasn't surveying the scene. Even if his body language hadn't been screaming, "Stay away from me," he still would have been the most attractive-looking man Madison had ever seen, with his dark hair beginning to gray at the temples, brown eyes, and chiseled jaw.

But Madison hadn't gotten where she was in her life without being persistent. So she confidently strode over to the man after the Goldbergs had gone on their way and said, "Can I interest you in a t-shirt, pennant, hat, or button?"

The man looked surprised that she had come up to him and spoken to him. "No, thank you," he said briskly, all business. Madison stood there regarding him, and it was only years of practice that kept him from squirming under her intensive gaze. "Okay, a button," he relented a moment later. She noticed the American flag pin he wore on the lapel of his suit.

"I don't think I've seen you at any of Kate's campaign events before now," Madison continued.

"This is the first one I've made it to," the man admitted. "Been busy. Work."

"What do you do?" Madison asked.

"I'm with Homeland Security," the man replied. "I worked a case with Beckett and Castle years ago. I've been keeping up with them in the news ever since. Finally got a free night, and knew there'd be a campaign event here, so I thought I'd come down."

Madison smiled, but the man's face remained an inscrutable mask. "I go back a long time with Kate. We were best friends in high school, and I was involved in a case she and Castle worked years ago too, though not the same one as you, because I would remember you if we had met before now. I recently reconnected with her and Castle. I'm Madison Queller." She held out her hand for the man to shake.

His grip was firm but not crushing. He shook her hand as he replied, "Agent Mark Fallon, Department of Homeland Security."

"Well, Agent Fallon," Madison said, "why don't you come with me? I'll get you that button, and you can say hello to Kate and Castle."

Agent Fallon regarded Madison thoughtfully, tilting his head for a few seconds before saying, "If you insist."

"Oh, I insist," Madison said seriously. "Just follow me."

Mark followed Madison through the growing throng of people. He recognized the two detectives who had been part of Beckett's team years ago, although he couldn't recall their names. "Hey, Kate, Castle, I found a blast from your past!" Madison announced when they were within earshot of the duo.

"Should we be worried?" Rick cracked.

"He says he's with Homeland Security, so I don't think so," Madison replied.

Kate and Rick looked and were surprised to see the man standing behind Madison. "Agent Fallon!" Kate exclaimed. "This is an unexpected surprise."

Mark smiled, one of his rare, genuine smiles, the briefest flash of even white teeth before resuming his stern, forbidding demeanor. "At least it's not for the same reason as last time," he said, proffering his hand to first Kate and then Castle. "Congratulations on your marriage, your baby, and the City Council run. Government can use people like you, Captain Beckett, although you're not a Captain anymore," he said. Off their twin looks of shock as they shook hands all around, he said, "I read the papers. I've kept up with you guys down through the years." He gave just the barest hint of a sly smile. "I knew after we pulled you two out of that deep freeze, it would only be a matter of time before you figured it out. I'm glad you did."

Kate and Rick looked at each other. "So are we," Kate said.

"Most definitely," Rick agreed.

Madison watched Agent Fallon's...Mark's, she corrected herself...interaction with Kate and Castle with great interest. He was obviously a complex man; so stern and forbidding on the surface, clearly someone that you crossed at your own peril, not entirely comfortable in his own skin, but his smiles and congratulations for Kate and Castle were sincere, and carried an unmistakable underlying current of warmth.

And though his smiles were brief, probably only measurable in microseconds, that inscrutable mask of his slipped, for those microseconds, and Madison got a glimpse of the man behind the mask. Her eagle eyes noticed he wore no wedding ring. Of course, that didn't mean there wasn't a girlfriend, or even a boyfriend, but her gut instinct was that Agent Mark Fallon was single and unattached. And if that gut instinct was right, Madison thought, maybe she could get the buttoned-up Homeland Security Agent to loosen up a bit on his downtime.

Kate recognized the look in Madison's eyes, but a cursory glance at Agent Fallon's left hand answered Kate's question: clearly, there wasn't anyone in his life. She was certain of it, and not only because of the lack of a wedding ring. She had been in his shoes once. She knew that kind of lonely solitude all too well, and was grateful every day that she had finally been able to leave it behind her for good. Sixteen years later, Mark Fallon clearly wasn't there yet. And Kate understood that. If not for Rick, she'd still be treading the same path Mark Fallon was on. On principle, Kate didn't object to the possibility of Madison coaxing Mark Fallon into a date (realistically, Kate knew that Madison would be the one doing the asking, and the pursuing). Stopping Madison from going into Pepe Le Pew mode was the key here. Not that Madison wouldn't take "no" for an answer, if that was the answer Mark chose to give, but Madison needed some crucial background information here. Was it butting in? Well, yes. But Kate didn't want Madison to get hurt, especially if Mark Fallon was doing what Kate did during her own solitary years, and having brief relationships that couldn't even really be called relationships because they went nowhere. She lusted after or sometimes even liked, the men, but she went in each time knowing that nothing would ultimately come of those liaisons.

Madison excused herself then, returning a moment later with a campaign button. "Here you go," she said, handing the button to Agent Fallon with her brightest, most flirtatious smile.

He nodded once, shortly, curtly. "Thank you," he said, affixing the button to the lapel of his suit jacket, directly under his American flag pin.

Madison's smile lost its flirtatious quality and dimmed just enough for Kate to notice, and thankfully, Alexis, Javi, Kevin, and Jenny chose that moment to approach. She recovered admirably by asking, "So, what's that you were saying about pulling Kate and Castle out of a deep freeze? I've never heard that story."

Javi and Kevin also remembered Agent Fallon, and after re-introducing themselves, and introducing Alexis and Jenny to Fallon, Javi and Kevin told the story of how they and Fallon had found Beckett and Castle mildly hypothermic, unconscious and wrapped in each other's arms, on that case years ago. "They weren't just wrapped up together like that to keep warm, we all knew that," Kevin said. Lanie and Alan, Victoria and Gerald, and Jim Beckett had all drifted over to join the group by the time Kevin got to that part.

"Yeah, it just took them a while longer to admit it to each other," Javi added.

Kate pulled Madison aside while Rick recounted his disarming of the dirty bomb by yanking out all the wires at the same time when time had run out, thereby saving the city, to the others, and said, "Maddie, about Agent Fallon-"

"Do you know his deal?" Madison asked interestedly, excitedly.

"Madison, he's a 9/11 widower," Kate said quietly, seriously, so only Madison could hear her. "His wife was in one of the Twin Towers that day. They were on the phone together when it collapsed."

Madison's heart twisted painfully in her chest as she looked over at Mark Fallon. Well, that certainly explained things. "Oh my god," Madison whispered.

"I'm not telling you not to have coffee with the man," Kate continued, "and I can't say for certain that there isn't anyone else, but I just don't want **you** to get hurt. And don't chase after him like you're Pepe Le Pew and he's a black cat that got a white stripe of shoe polish or paint down his back."

"Hey, I have matured somewhat since high school," Madison said defensively. "But I get your point." She looked at Agent Mark Fallon speculatively. Yes, he was the most attractive-looking man she had ever seen. Complex, too. Madison Queller did not date the equivalent of male bimbos...anymore. He had been forever scarred by an unthinkable tragedy. Some people chose not to move on completely after losing someone they loved. Madison and Kate had lost touch originally after Kate's mother's funeral, but Madison, while not knowing the nitty gritty details, knew that Kate had hunkered down and not completely committed herself to moving forward with her own life until Castle came into it many years later.

She wasn't looking to be Mark Fallon's Castle.

But a cup of coffee didn't mean she was looking for a lifetime commitment from the man.

The event began then, and Kate addressed the crowd to thunderous ovations and roars of approval, vowing to work as hard for the residents of New York City as a Councilwoman as she had as a cop if they elected her. Madison had one ear on Kate's speech, and the rest of her attention was focused on Mark Fallon. He was not a loud, enthusiastic participant among the crowd, instead listening intently to every word Kate said, and saving his applause for the end of her speech.

Before the event broke up, Madison found Mark Fallon again in the crowd. He had noticed her as soon as he had walked into the ballroom; he wasn't completely dead inside, and only a dead man would have failed to notice Madison Queller.

She was attractive, and he knew she was flirting with him. He hadn't flirted in so long, he had forgotten how flirting even went, and women usually took one look at the stoic, brusque, all-business, hands-off demeanor he projected as a Homeland Security Agent and didn't bother trying to make any kind of personal connection with him. Many flirted, as Madison had, but some of them were much more obvious about it, and all of them shut down completely and quickly after very few preliminaries. Madison hadn't entirely shut down. She didn't seem put off by the emotional suit of armor he wore. She reminded him of a flashing yellow traffic light: proceed with caution.

He hadn't really been out there, emotionally speaking, since the early '90s. And he honestly had no idea if he even wanted to take that kind of risk again with anyone, ever.

But what had come unexpectedly to him was the flutter of feeling, there and gone in the time it takes to blink once, or snap your fingers, he got when Madison had smiled at him with her eyes bright as she handed him a KATE BECKETT FOR CITY COUNCIL campaign button.

It was the first time he had felt anything like that since August 4, 1992, the first time he and Kim met.

So with the event breaking up around them, the crush of people heading for the exits, in the middle of the crowd, when Madison found him again, holding a t-shirt that matched the one she was wearing in one hand, and what looked like a business card in the other, he planted his feet so as not to be swept away by the crush of people all around. "I guessed at the size," she said, holding out the t-shirt. "Extra large?"

"That'll work," he replied, taking the shirt from her and draping it over one shoulder. "Thank you."

Then she extended her other hand, the one that held her business card. "If you'd like to get a cup of coffee sometime, or you're looking for a restaurant reservation, I own Q3..." she began.

And he saw it then, just the slightest hint of uncertainty, as if she wasn't sure this was the best idea in the world, but she saw more reasons to do it than reasons not to do it.

Kim was gone, and she was never coming back. He knew that all too painfully well. It had been sixteen years since he had lost her, an anniversary that loomed large for him every year. It had taken ten years for him to stop getting blackout drunk on September 11. It had been five years since he had taken to drinking a toast to Kim and their life together with a single glass of the finest single malt Scotch he could find, and marking the anniversary that way, along with a visit to Kim's grave with a bouquet of peonies, her favorite flower; his in-laws had always been grateful that she had been found, that they had been able to give her a proper burial, which is something so many September 11 survivors did not get with their loved ones. He had never been able to look at it quite that way. With or without her body, with or without an actual grave, she was gone, and she was never coming back, and that wouldn't change.

Before he could analyze it too closely, or overthink it, he accepted her business card, tucked it into his shirt pocket, and removed his wallet from his hip pocket, flipping it open and pulling out a business card of his own. Then he removed a pen from the breast pocket of his suit jacket, and scribbled his personal cell number on the blank back of his own business card before extending it to her. "My personal number's on the back," he said. "Direct office extension is on the front. My schedule can be crazy, but I do drink coffee."

"Same here," Madison replied. "I mean, I also have a crazy schedule, and I also drink coffee." She paused a beat, looking at his personal number. "Is that a-" she started to say.

"It's an eight," he said. "Sorry. My handwriting's not the best."

"An eight. Got it," Madison said. "So, I'll call you in a few days?"

"Sure, if you want to," Mark said.

"I want to," Madison replied.

Kate and Rick watched the exchange between Madison and Mark Fallon, Kate admiring Madison's obvious restraint. "Madison's trying to pick up Mark Fallon?" Rick said.

"I don't know if she's so much picking him up as just reaching out to him," Kate mused. "And just reaching out can make all the difference in the life of someone who's been shattered by grief for a long time." After Madison and Mark Fallon left, separately, and they had said their good nights to everyone else, Kate put her arm through Rick's. "Let's go home, babe. Lily might still be awake when we get there, and I want to read _Pat the Bunny_ to her if she is. That's her favorite lately."

"Sweetpea does love to give the bunny a rub," Rick reflected as they left the ballroom, and when they got home, after Martha said her good nights, they read Lily _Pat the Bunny_ , and she listened as Mommy read to her about Paul and Judy, giving the bunny a good rub. By the time they got to the part where Lily was supposed to feel Daddy's scratchy face in the book, she was too tired to do what she usually did, which was feel Rick's scratchy face before feeling the scratchy face of the daddy in the book. She reached up to Rick's jaw for one sleepy pat before snuggling down against his chest and falling fast asleep. Kate finished the book quietly, and Lily was sound asleep by then.

After he and Kate settled Lily in her crib with "good night"s and "I love you"s, and her night light on, when they returned to their own bedroom and got ready for bed, as they settled themselves beneath the covers, Kate turned out the lights and then snuggled down against Rick's chest in the same spot Lily had occupied just a short time ago. She felt Rick's grin and lifted her head to look at him, finding him grinning like a jack-o-lantern into the darkness.

"I've been waiting to say it," he said eagerly.

"To say what?" Kate asked, although she had a pretty good idea what Rick was about to say.

Rick gestured to his chest, to the area right over his heart, grinned at Kate, and said, "Like mother, like daughter."

She and Lily did both love to snuggle up with Rick and lay their cheeks against his chest, right over his beating heart. So the only response Kate could make to this was to lean in and kiss her husband before settling herself in his arms, her cheek against his chest, right over his heart once more, to sleep.


	71. Chapter 68

_**Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

Mark Fallon still hated paperwork, even after all the years he'd had to do it as part of his job. He was somewhat distracted but very grateful, then, when his cell phone rang. Picking it up from the corner of his desk without looking at the screen, he answered, "Fallon."

"Hi. This is Madison Queller," the voice on the other end replied. "We met a few nights ago at Kate Beckett's City Council campaign event?"

"Yes," Mark replied, "I remember you." He shifted his focus from his paperwork to the phone. "It's good to hear from you."

"I was calling about that cup of coffee," Madison said.

"I'm not maxed out on my caffeine intake for the day," Mark replied.

"Neither am I," Madison replied. "Would 6:00 work for you?"

"Six is fine," Mark said. "Where?"

"There's a place near my restaurant," Madison said.

"You own a restaurant?" Mark asked, impressed.

"Q3," Madison said. "We have a second location now, up in Fairfield, Connecticut, but I'm at the one in Midtown. My favorite coffee shop is a few blocks West of the restaurant." She gave Mark the address, and he pulled a notepad closer and scribbled down the address she gave him. "Meet you there at six?" she asked.

"I'll be there," Mark assured her.

"Okay. I'll see you then," Madison said.

"See you then," Mark echoed before ending the call.

He set his phone down and brushed at his jaw. It was a little after 2:30 PM now. _Get a grip, Fallon, it's a cup of coffee. You don't have to shave for it_ , he mentally reprimanded himself. Still, this was his first...he hesitated to call it a "date." He hadn't really dated very much since Kim's death, and never seriously. A dinner here, a movie there, though he was no monk. He was basically a sexual camel, really; once or twice every six or seven months was enough for him, especially without any kind of attachment. Lust always burned out fast. Once he had scratched that particular itch, he was ready to move on.

But he couldn't deny there was something different about Madison Queller. She wasn't put off by his demeanor. But it wasn't about a challenge for her. He knew that instinctively.

He had been cloaked in an emotional suit of armor for sixteen years, so decimated by his wife's death that he didn't dare let anyone else get close to him again. He survived losing Kim, and there were times when it felt like he had survived losing her against his will, because in a very real way, his life had ended on September 11, 2001, as well—the life he had known, loved, and been building with Kim for nine years. He had a very different life without Kim. Emptier? Hell yes. Lonelier? Lonely beat the alternative, as far as he was concerned. If he didn't put himself out there, he couldn't get hurt. And he never wanted to hurt again the way he had hurt that morning all those years ago when he lost his connection to Kim, when he heard nothing but static over the phone, when he heard Mr. Stanhope's secretary cry out, "Oh my god, the second Tower of the World Trade Center just collapsed!"

He didn't view Madison Queller as a challenge either. It had been a while, but he honestly wasn't looking to get into her pants. She intrigued him precisely because she hadn't been scared away by the image he projected to the world. The last time there hadn't been a woman who was bothered by what was politely termed his standoffish behavior was Kim...and that's because back then, he hadn't been standoffish.

Mark returned to his paperwork, since his supervisor was one of those Company wonks who insisted on paperwork being finished on time. He had just finished it up when his phone binged, signaling an incoming text message.

The text was from Madison Queller.

" _I'm so sorry, Mark, but there's a crisis here work. I can't get away. I swear I'm not standing you up, but two of my servers had to leave b/c one is sick and the other one's mother was just in a serious car crash and is headed to the hospital. Can I have a raincheck, please?"_

Mark was surprised at what he felt after reading the text: he felt disappointed. He had actually been looking forward to having coffee with Madison to end his workday.

But in the next instant, a thought occurred to him. He quickly sent Madison a short reply: _"Sure, no problem."_

Then he did a quick Google search on his computer, during which Madison texted him back, _"Thanks. I'm REALLY sorry."_

After getting the information he needed, Mark texted back, _"It's all right."_

He finished his paperwork, then grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair, pocketed his phone, and headed out.

Twenty minutes later, he was at Q3 in midtown Manhattan. The restaurant was packed, but Mark was undeterred. "Good evening, sir. Table for one?" the maitre'd asked when Mark reached the podium.

"Two, actually," he said. "I don't have a reservation. Is that all right?" He hadn't thought far enough ahead; if he needed a reservation, he was sunk.

The maitre'd checked the book on his podium. "We have one table for two left in the back," he replied.

"That's perfect. I'll take it," Mark said. "And I really appreciate this."

"If you'll follow me, sir," the maitre'd said. Mark followed him to the back of the restaurant, and when they arrived at the table, Mark reached out his hand to shake.

"Again, I really appreciate this. Thank you very much," Mark said as he shook hands with the maitre'd. The maitre'd looked down at his hand after Mark ended the handshake and saw a $20 bill there.

"Thank _**you**_ , sir," the maitre'd replied before pocketing the twenty and leaving.

When Mark's server arrived with menus, he said, "Is your boss still here? The owner and manager, Madison Queller?"

"Yes," the young woman replied, perplexed.

"Do you know how she takes her coffee?" Mark asked next.

"Um...yes," the server replied, still puzzled.

"Good," Mark said. "Please bring me two cups of your finest coffee, one black, and the other fixed however Madison likes it best, and then after you've brought the coffee out here, go back and tell Madison that the guy at Table whatever-number-this-is wants to speak to her personally, but don't tell her anything else about me, okay?"

"Okay," the server said. She returned a couple of minutes later with two steaming cups of coffee, setting one in front of Mark and the other at the empty place across from him.

When she returned to the kitchen, she asked one of her fellow servers, who was carrying a tray full of plates and drinks for his customers, "Hey, Eddie, have you seen The Boss Lady?"

"Back there," he said, jerking his chin in the direction of the back of the kitchen.

"Thanks," she replied. She went back into the kitchen and found Madison in the back, thanking another server, Jasmine, for coming in to help cover while Mateo was at the hospital with his family. "Hey, Boss Lady?" she said.

"Courtney, what can I do for you?" Madison asked her young employee.

"The guy at Table 19 is insisting on speaking directly to the manager," Courtney replied, carefully schooling her features so as not to give anything away.

"On my way," Madison said, bustling out of the kitchen and heading to the back of the restaurant.

Mark saw Madison approaching, striding purposefully across the restaurant towards him, and he got to his feet, quickly buttoning his jacket.

When Madison realized Mark Fallon was the guy at Table 19, she stopped in her tracks. "Mark?" she said, surprised.

"At the risk of appearing too forward, I decided to collect on that raincheck you mentioned," Mark replied. "Since we couldn't meet at your favorite coffee shop, I had your server bring a cup of coffee fixed the way you like it." He walked around the table to pull out Madison's chair for her.

More than a little floored, Madison sat down. Mark gently pushed her chair in, then resumed his own seat. "I take my coffee black," Madison said. "My whole staff knows that."

Mark took a sip of his own coffee, then replaced the cup in its own saucer. "I take my coffee black too," he said. "And this is very good coffee."

"Thank you," Madison said. Mark Fallon was definitely an enigma. Thanks to Kate, she knew he had good reason to be closed off, but he had sought her out to keep their coffee date, and managed to surprise her in the process.

Concern flickered across Mark's face for a few seconds. "Do you have time for a cup of coffee? Or does the crisis still need your attention?"

Madison smiled. "I have time," she said. "Everything is under control." She settled herself more comfortably in her chair and picked up her coffee cup. "So, you know a bit about my day. How was your day?" she asked. "Or are you allowed to tell me?"

Mark resumed his seat across the table. "Paperwork," he said. "Not anyone's favorite part of the job by any means, but something that has to be done." And so Madison and Mark compared notes on their respective work days as they had their coffee.

When Mark was getting ready to leave an hour later, he said, "Is it all right if I call you?"

"I'd like that," Madison said. When she smiled at him, he smiled back. It was the same genuine smile he had given Kate and Castle at the campaign event days earlier, but it lasted a few seconds longer this time.

"All right, then," Mark said. He took Madison's hand and squeezed it once, quickly, and surprisingly (to her) gently. "I'll call you tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night," Madison said as she watched him disappear through Q3, out the door, and into the night.

* * *

"We are going to have the best costumes here!" Rick exclaimed as he and Kate got out of the car.

"Considering how many Wonder Women, Princess Leias and General Leias I've already seen, at least we'll stand out," Kate mused, straightening the long skirt of her red dress. She looked Rick up and down. "I still want to know where you found a pair of boots like that, and if they make them for women and in my size," she said, gesturing to his feet.

Rick's answer was forestalled by his phone binging, announcing an incoming text. He pulled the phone from his hip pocket and read the screen. "Alan. He and Lanie are already here and waiting for us inside," Rick said. He and Kate made their way into the Javits Center then, where New York Comic-Con 2017 was being held.

"Well, if there's a murder here this year, we won't have to deal with it," Kate said as they entered the noisy, crowded convention center.

"Alan has been bragging about his and Lanie's super-secret costumes for weeks. You really have no idea what Lanie and Alan are dressed as?" Rick asked for the hundredth time.

"None," Kate replied. "All I've gotten from Lanie are complaints about having to dress up for this."

"Thank you," Rick said. Kate tilted her head slightly, giving her husband a quizzical look. "For going along with this. It's no _Nebula 9_ , I know..."

"You've been very good about not making fun of _Nebula 9_ since I asked you not to do that," Kate said. "I understand why you like this show, and in some ways, this costume is even better than Lieutenant Chloe's was."

"No argument here," Rick said, giving Kate a very appreciative look.

"Rick! Kate!" They heard Alan calling them then.

When Rick and Kate turned in the direction of Alan's voice, and they caught sight of Alan and Lanie and saw what they were wearing, their faces fell. Lanie and Alan wore similar expressions of shock and dismay.

"Those are your super-secret costumes?" Rick asked. "You're kidding!"

"How did we do this?" Alan asked.

"You insisted on keeping everything top secret, that's how," Lanie said.

"I had no idea Rick and Kate were going as Captain Mal and Inara from _Firefly_!" Alan defended himself.

"We were the ones who insisted on keeping the costumes secret," Rick said. "So this one is on us guys."

It was true: Rick and Alan were both dressed as Captain Mal Reynolds, and Kate and Lanie were both decked out as Inara Serra, from Joss Whedon's _Firefly_ , a favorite show of both Rick and Alan.

"We could have come as Princess Leia and Han Solo," Lanie said. "I actually found a tutorial at YouTube on how to do my hair in those ridiculous ear-covering buns from the original _Star Wars_

movie and spent a week practicing how to do it, but you were all, 'Everyone's going to come as Leia and Han this year, as a tribute to Carrie Fisher. We'll be the only Mal and Inara there.'"

Kate burst out laughing then. Alan looked confused, and Rick wondered exactly what Kate was laughing at. "Lanie," Kate said as she recovered herself, "it could be a lot worse."

"How?" Lanie wanted to know.

"Full body makeup," Kate said. "Ripped fishnets like that gaggle of Harley Quinns over there." She gestured to a quintet of people dressed as Harley Quinn from _Suicide Squad._

"Oh, my...Two of those Harley Quinns have ZZ Top beards!" Lanie exclaimed. Thankfully, no one heard her in the din except Alan, Kate and Rick.

"Any costume that involves massive cleavage spilling over or a corset," Kate continued. "And as badass as Princess Leia was in all the _Star Wars_ movies, right up to being General Leia Organa, she had very unfortunate hairdos...and do **not** get me started on that gold bikini."

"Yes, seriously, **don't** get her started on the gold bikini," Rick chimed in, very familiar with Kate's views on that particular Princess Leia costume.

"So we wore the same costumes," Kate said. "It's not as bad as all that, really. There are a lot of Leias here, like Alan said, those Harley Quinns, and a veritable sea of Wonder Women. This isn't constricting, it doesn't exploit or objectify us as women, and we didn't have to paint our skin blue, green, or gold."

Lanie sighed. "You have a point," she said. She looked at Alan then. "But if we come to this thing again next year, I'm picking our costumes!"

"Whatever you say," Alan replied.

Rick glanced at his watch. "I hate to break up the debate," he said, "but the Joss Whedon panel is starting in approximately ten minutes."

"We'll finish this discussion later," Lanie told Alan.

"Yes, dear," Alan replied dutifully.

Lanie walked beside Kate, leaving Alan and Rick to walk next to each other. "I still bet we're the only ones at the Whedon panel dressed from _Firefly,"_ he said.

"That's a good bet," Rick replied. "I went to one other Whedon panel years ago. I thought I had walked into the auditions for _Buffy the Vampire Slayer._ And with this being _Buffy_ 's twentieth-anniversary year-"

"Any chance David Boreanaz might be a surprise guest?" Alan cracked. "Lanie might forgive me if she gets a live Angel sighting."

"Lanie likes Angel?" Rick asked, surprised.

"Well, she's not really into Buffy or Willow," Alan said dryly.

"Do you and Castle have different costumes for Halloween?" Lanie asked Kate.

"Rick insisted," Kate replied. "You know what a production he makes out of Halloween, so re-using our Comic Con costumes was never an option."

"Well, thank goodness for that," Lanie said. "Because Alan and I are going to be wearing these on Halloween. At least we won't match you at the Halloween party. That would really be embarrassing."

When they arrived at the panel, they were indeed surrounded by a sea of Buffys, Willows, Angels, and Spikes, as well as several _Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D._ characters.

As they settled into their seats, no one else in the audience paid any attention to the two Mals and two Inaras sitting together.

Kate paid more attention to Rick's giddy reactions than she did to the panel itself, and she smiled to see him so clearly excited.

Lanie wasn't into sci-fi or panels or conventions at all, but seeing how much Alan was enjoying himself, the way he hung on the panel's every word, the way his eyes lit up, and how happy he was to be there, she realized that this was important to him, a very big deal, and okay, yes, it was embarrassing to her that she and Alan had shown up dressed identically to Kate and Castle, but on the other hand, no one else here seemed to notice or care.

When the panel was over, before they left the hall, Lanie leaned over and kissed Alan. "Wow," he said when she broke the kiss. "What was that for?"

"An apology for being so difficult earlier. This means a lot to you," she gestured all around her, "and I didn't really get that before. Watching you these past couple of hours...I do."

"I know this isn't really your thing," Alan said. "And I'm sorry David Boreanaz wasn't here. I know he's the only thing that made _Buffy_ worth watching for you."

"Not the only thing," Lanie said. "Spending all that time with you was the main reason I binge watched _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ with you."

Alan pulled his phone out of pocket. "Just so you know, I'm not a completely clueless nerd." He tapped the keypad, then handed the phone to Lanie.

She read the phone, then looked at Alan in surprise. "The Berkshires?" she asked.

"Confirmed reservation for next weekend for Mr. and Mrs. Alan Masters," Alan replied. "You mentioned several months ago that you've always wanted to see the Berkshires in the fall. Comic-Con was for me. The Berkshires are for you."

Lanie threw her arms around Alan and hugged him, and he hugged her back.

In the meantime, Rick and Kate checked on Lily (she was happily playing at home with Alexis and Javier), and then Kate said, "So, where to next?"

"Souvenirs, of course," Rick said. "I promised Alexis I'd bring her something back, and we have to find something for Lily."

They found a Wonder Woman t-shirt for Alexis, and a Wonder Woman onesie for Lily, although the designs didn't match.

"Do you think Lily will want to come here someday?" Rick asked after they had made their purchases.

"It wouldn't surprise me at all," Kate said. "I believe that's one of your dreams. Family Comic-Con visits."

"My dreams do have this magical way of coming true," Rick mused. "I'm reminded of that all over again when I wake up with you every morning."

Kate leaned closer so she could speak directly into Rick's ear. "You were already getting lucky tonight," she said, "but just for that, I'll do _Firefly_ cosplay."

Rick looked at Kate earnestly. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't want or need any cosplay. I only want to make love with Kate Beckett Castle, because **you** , Kate... **you** are my ultimate fantasy, and you always will be."

Kate could only respond to that by kissing Rick, in the middle of the overcrowded Comic-Con floor, so that's what she did.


	72. Chapter 69

_**Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

Since Halloween fell on a Tuesday, no one was going to be in 'party all night' mode since they had work and classes the next day, but it was Lily's first Halloween, and Rick was determined that it would be memorable, even if Lily herself wouldn't have any firsthand memories of the holiday.

Kate and Rick had gone back and forth on their costumes, and they had finally agreed on 1950s-themed costumes. Kate was rocking a red-and-black-plaid poodle skirt with a black poodle on it with a black belt around her waist and a black long-sleeved scoop-necked sweater. Instead of saddle shoes and white bobby socks, however, she was wearing black flats with fishnet stockings—thigh-high with the seams up the back, which were common in the fifties. Rick hadn't seen that part of her ensemble yet, since he had been tending to Lily while Kate was getting ready, so he was in for a surprise at the end of the night. Her hair was fixed in a ponytail, tied with a black scarf, and she wore the pendant necklace Rick had given her for her first Mother's Day as a mom, with Lily's and Alexis's birthstones in it.

She exited their bedroom just in time to see Rick descending the stairs, holding Lily, who was dressed in her little pea in the pod costume, her sweet little face shining under the hood on the costume, which Kate was encouraged to see Lily was leaving on instead of trying to take it off her head. The costume covered Lily, her feet inside the sleep-sack-like costume, which was all dark green, the three peas on the front of the costume a lighter shade of green than the rest of the costume. Lily waved her hands and gurgled, reaching out for Kate as she met Rick at the bottom of the stairs.

"Wow," Rick said as he took in Kate's costume. "Wanna go steady with me?"

"What, are you gonna give me your letterman's jacket?" Kate quipped as she beamed and then made a funny face at Lily as she took Lily from Rick.

"If I had a letterman's jacket, I would happily give it to you," Rick replied. "But they don't give those out to actual men of letters. I never had the athletic ability to earn one of those."

"Well, you've given me yourself, two amazing daughters, and a life I never thought I'd have. That beats a letterman's jacket any day," Kate replied. "And you, Lily...You are seriously adorable in this costume."

"She is, isn't she?" Rick said rhetorically as he smoothed his palm over the back of Lily's covered head. "Speaking of costumes, I'd better get ready. Everyone will be here soon."

The annual Castle Halloween party was limited to family only this year, although Rick had spent most of the week decorating the loft, and all of the food and drinks were prepared, waiting in the refrigerator to be set out once the guests did arrive, along with a massive bowl of candy by the front door for any trick-or-treaters.

Lily was fascinated by Kate's necklace and her tiny fingers went right to the pendant. "Ah ah ah," Kate said. Deftly shifting Lily to one arm, she tucked the pendant beneath her sweater. Lily scrunched up her face, unhappy at Mommy hiding the shiny thing she wanted to play with. "I had to do that, sweetie, so you didn't put it in your mouth." At the mention of her mouth, Lily jammed one of her little fists in her mouth. "And you just proved my point." She carried Lily to the kitchen to double-check that the refreshments were ready. Then they returned to the living room. Lily looked all around at the decorations, still seeming more puzzled by all the pumpkins, ghosts, skeletons, witches, cauldrons, and miles of fake spider webs. "Daddy goes all out for the holidays. Just wait until Christmas. I'm looking forward to your reaction to all the lights and ornaments on the Christmas tree," Kate said. Lily was still gumming her fist, but her eyes were focused on Kate. "I think you're really listening to what I'm saying," Kate mused. "You're amazing, Lily. And I love you more than I knew it was possible for any human being to love." She kissed Lily's forehead.

Rick emerged from the bedroom then dressed as a quintessential '50s greaser—black leather jacket unzipped over a plain white crewneck t-shirt that was tucked into dark blue Levi's, a black leather belt at the waist, the cuffs of the jeans rolled up to show off his black-and-white Chuck Taylor Converse high-tops. His hair was slicked back with plenty of product. "You look great, babe," she said.

"Great, or hot?" Rick asked.

"Great **and** hot," Kate replied. The doorbell rang then. The three of them went to answer it together. Alexis and Javier were standing on the other side, dressed as Buttercup and Westley from _The Princess Bride._ Alexis, wisely deciding not to give her dad a heart attack by showing up in Buttercup's wedding attire, was wearing a copy of Buttercup's red dress from the movie, while Javier cut a dashing figure in Westley's Dread Pirate Roberts costume, complete with mask, plastic sword, and a mustache he had grown specifically for the occasion.

"You guys look great!" Kate exclaimed when she saw them.

"Thank you," Alexis replied. "So do you." She smiled at Lily. "Oh my gosh, you're the cutest thing I've ever seen, Lily! Peas in a pod for Sweetpea." She looked at Kate now. "Dad dressed me up as a pumpkin for my first Halloween."

"I had to continue the tradition," Rick replied as he hugged Alexis, then exchanged back slaps with Javi.

Alan and Lanie arrived next, in their Comic-Con costumes of Captain Mal and Inara from _Firefly_. Then Martha arrived, dressed as Grizabella from _Cats,_ complete with full face makeup. Lily tilted her head and quizzically studied this giant cat who had Gram's voice, not quite understanding why the cat sounded like Gram.

There was no such confusion with Grandpa Jim, who showed up in a navy blue sweater over his dress shirt and gray slacks. "No costume, Jim?" Rick asked. He'd been wondering what Jim would come up with.

"I didn't know they were a requirement," Jim said somewhat ruefully.

"I forgot this is technically your first Castle Halloween, Dad," Kate said apologetically.

"You guys look great," Jim said. "All of you." He grinned at Lily. "And you, Lily Jo, are the cutest little pea in a pod in the world." He started to reach for her, then stopped himself and asked Kate, "May I?"

"Of course," Kate said. Lily was already reaching out for Grandpa, the only person who looked the same as he usually did.

"So, Castle," Javier said, "when are Richie, Potsie, and Ralph Malph getting here? Is Arnold's Drive-In catering this shindig?"

"Very funny," Rick said.

Their conversation was cut off when the doorbell rang again. Rick crossed the foyer to open the door to reveal the entire Ryan family, Sarah Grace in a mini police officer's blue uniform complete with toy gold badge, and a pair of brown rabbit ears strapped to her head, with whiskers drawn onto her cheeks, and Nick standing beside his sister as a cute little Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, the hat sitting at a jaunty angle on his blond head. Jenny was dressed identically to Sarah Grace, police officer uniform, badge, rabbit ears, whiskers and all, while Kevin wore a short-sleeved green dress shirt untucked over khakis, a navy blue tie with angled pink stripes with the knot loosened, and a pair of what looked like fox ears perched atop his head.

"Trick or treat!" the Ryan family chorused, Nick and Sarah Grace holding up their little plastic jack-o-lanterns.

"Great costumes, guys!" Rick said. "But I only know who Nick is."

"I'm Officer Judy Hopps from _Zootopia_!" Sarah Grace exclaimed. "She's a cop like my daddy, and I want to be a cop like my daddy and Uncle Javi and Aunt Kate when I grow up. And Mommy's dressed like Officer Judy Hopps too!"

Rick looked at Kevin. "So that makes you..."

"Nick Wilde, bad boy fox turned good guy police officer," Ryan replied. "You guys haven't seen _Zootopia_? You should. Seriously, Disney movies aren't just for kids."

"I'm sure we'll be seeing the entire Disney animated complement in just a few years," Kate said as she stepped forward. She pulled two peppermint patties from the candy bowl, dropped one in Sarah Grace's plastic jack-o-lantern and the other in Nick's.

"What do you say?" Jenny prompted the kids in a singsong voice.

"Thank you, Aunt Kate," Sarah Grace said.

"Tank oo, Aun' Kate," Nick echoed his big sister.

"Ooh!" Sarah Grace exclaimed, looking around at all the decorations. "It's Halloween in here, Mommy, Daddy!"

"It sure is," Kevin agreed. He scooped up Nick in one arm and Sarah Grace in the other and carried his laughing, squealing children over the threshold, Jenny at his side.

Everyone oohed and aahed over Sarah Grace and Nick, and Sarah Grace was almost beside herself at all of the adults' costumes, and at Lily's peas in the pod costume.

The doorbell rang again, and when Kate answered it, Sarah Grace's eyes grew as large as saucers and she gasped and dropped her plastic jack-o-lantern, spilling Halloween candy all over the floor. "It's Belle and the Beast!" she exclaimed in a whisper.

Standing outside the Castles' door were Victoria and Gerald Gates, resplendent in their costumes, Victoria in Belle's formal yellow gown and gloves, while Gerald had gone the extra mile by wearing not only the Beast's furry face and tail, and his fangs, but also the formal blue tailcoat and waistcoat with gold embroidery, dark blue trousers, and white lace cravat.

"If we were having a contest, you'd be the hands down winners," Rick said. "Excellent costumes."

"Thank you, Castle," Victoria replied as Gerald ushered her into the loft ahead of him. Taking in his greaser costume, she said, "So, when are Bowser and the rest of Sha Na Na getting here?" The adults all laughed at that. "You laugh, but I'm serious. Getting Sha Na Na to perform at his Halloween party would be a very Castle thing to do," Victoria pointed out. They all had to agree that she was right.

Sarah Grace honestly did not recognize Victoria and Gerald. Their costumes were that good, along with the fact that she and Nick didn't see them quite as often as Lily did. They were familiar to Lily, although she wasn't entirely sure why. Mommy and Daddy were dressed very differently than she had ever seen them dressed before, and everyone was wearing strange clothes except for Grandpa Jim, but they were all still familiar to her. She just didn't know why everyone but Grandpa Jim was dressed so differently.

"I don't actually know the guys in Sha Na Na," Rick admitted.

"Well, it's still a great party, Castle," Lanie said. The others agreed.

"And next year, I'll be in costume," Jim promised.

Everyone ate and drank and talked and posed for pictures together in every possible grouping imaginable. Kevin and Jenny had taken their kids to the Halloween trunk-or-treat event at their parish church before coming to the party, so when Nick fell asleep on Jenny's shoulder and Sarah Grace began to crash from her sugar high, they said good night and took their kids home to get them to bed.

Lily got fussy, ready for her bedtime feeding, and for her feet to be free of her costume, so that was everyone else's cue to leave. Alexis and Javier, Martha, and Victoria and Gerald had other parties to go to (Rick and Kate's party was much earlier than usual because of Lily), Lanie and Alan were obviously faking tiredness so they could be alone together, and Jim had an early day in court the next day.

After Lily was changed into a fresh diaper and a black sleeper dotted with orange pumpkins, Kate nursed her. Kate had taken off her shoes and pendant but was still wearing the rest of her costume. Rick removed his leather jacket and Chuck Taylors and sat propped against the headboard of their bed with Kate while she nursed Lily. "I think Lily thought we were all very strange tonight," he reflected.

"Except my dad," Kate agreed. Lily unlatched, and Kate gently lifted Lily up over her shoulder, patting and rubbing her back until she burped, then lowering her to nestle in her arm. "It was only her first Halloween. She'll get more into it when she's a little older."

"I can't wait to see what she thinks of Christmas. That'll really be something—all the lights, and the colors, and the shiny decorations and ornaments," Rick said.

"I said the same thing to Lily earlier, while you were getting ready," Kate said. She smiled at him. "You've made the holidays magical for me. I know you'll do the same thing for Lily."

"We both will," Rick said. "That's the other thing I can't wait to see: you watching Lily enjoy Christmas. I have a lifetime of those memories with Alexis. And now you get to make those memories with Lily."

"I hadn't thought about that part of it yet," Kate said.

"Seeing the wonder in Lily's eyes...Although this year, she'll probably be much more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes than the toys, but that will come. Watching your kid filled with awe and wonder and just pure joy at Christmas...I'm really glad I get to do that again, and this time I get to do it with you."

Lily sighed softly then. "She's asleep," Kate whispered. "We'd better get her in her crib."

They settled Lily in her crib with wishes of sweet dreams and declarations of love, and then returned to their bedroom. "Trick or treat?" Kate asked.

Rick looked at her, puzzled. "Run that by me again?" he asked.

"It's Halloween night," she said. "So do you want a trick, or a treat?"

"Definitely a treat," Rick said. He knew she was up to something, but he wasn't sure what...until she removed her skirt and did a slow spin. His mouth went dry when he saw the seams in her stockings, the garters holding them in place, and the black lace panties she'd been wearing under her poodle skirt.

Standing beside their bed, dumbstruck all over again at the fact that the very beautiful, very sexy Kate Beckett was his wife, Rick could only watch as she moved into his personal space, tugging his t-shirt free from the waistband of his jeans, unbuckling his belt, removing it, and tossing it aside, and then unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. When she slid a hand inside his boxers, he pulled her flush against him, and they tumbled onto the bed, happily getting lost in each other far into the night.

* * *

On Election Night 2017, the whole family gathered once again at the loft, this time not in costume, to watch the local election returns. The City Council seat for which Kate was running was hotly contested, and all of the local reporters and pundits had predicted it would go down to the wire.

Madison was part of the group this time, and she had brought a ton of food from Q3, which everyone mostly just picked at. Kevin and Jenny had left Sarah Grace and Nick at home with Jenny's parents baby-sitting, and Kate kept leaving the room to check on Lily, who was sleeping soundly.

"When John F. Kennedy was waiting for the results in the 1960 Presidential election, it finally got late enough that he went to bed," Jim told everyone. "Of course, he had his brother Bobby to stay up all night waiting for the election returns. They sent little Caroline in to wake her father the next morning by telling him, 'Good morning, Mr. President.'"

Kate returned in time to hear her dad relate this historical anecdote. "I'm not headed to D.C., Dad," she said. She wasn't having second thoughts about pursuing this path, exactly, but she was fighting the memories of the last time she'd been in D.C. for work, and how much she had ultimately hated it. She didn't like gray areas as a rule, Rick could have died there, and she had stumbled into LokSat there. She did want to serve the city of New York, and work her way up to serving the whole state of New York. But was it possible that the United States Senate would be the same disaster that the FBI was?

There was no way to know until she was in it. Unbidden, the memory of a case she and Rick had worked a few years ago came to her: Simon Doyle, the suspect who claimed to be a time traveler, and who had said that Rick's biography blurb in his future novels would read, "Richard Castle lives in New York with his wife, Senator Beckett, and their three children."

Kate would never be as quick to believe those kinds of things as Rick would always be, but she **had** been approached to run for the Senate once already. Of course that was the New York **State** Senate. Being a State Senator would be an excellent way to serve the people of New York and she'd never have to set foot in D.C. again.

Jim Beckett saw the look in his daughter's eyes, saw that the wheels were spinning at about a million miles an hour, and knew that he had inadvertently let loose a caged tiger.

When Kate excused herself again to check on Lily, Alexis looked at Rick worriedly and said, "Is Mom okay?"

Rick was trying to figure out if he should go after Kate or not. "She's nervous about the outcome of the election," he said. And her father's President Kennedy anecdote had probably gotten Kate thinking about D.C.-a town that neither she nor he was very fond of after their last experience there.

Not only did Washington, D.C. have bad memories for both of them, but the man ultimately responsible for the murder of her mother was a United States Senator. Not that every U.S. Senator was a murdering crime lord on the take, but Kate had fought for so long and so hard to get justice for her mom, and the fact that Bracken had been a U.S. Senator was not exactly a ringing endorsement for Kate to become one. The State Senate had wanted her, though...and Rick was sure they still did. Kate had spent her adult life serving and protecting the people of New York City, getting justice for those who needed it, being a voice for those people who could no longer speak for themselves. Serving the whole state of New York as a State Senator in Albany was something she would definitely be passionate about, if that was what she ultimately chose to do. She had said at the beginning of the process of running for City Council that this was the first step, that she wanted to work her way up through the ranks, the same way she had at the NYPD.

Jim excused himself from the living room while everyone else was watching the election returns and talking amongst themselves. When Rick saw that Jim was headed upstairs, he decided to stay where he was. He and Kate could talk later.

Jim found Kate standing at Lily's crib, watching her sleep, but he also knew his daughter well enough to know that she was still having one hell of an argument with herself. "I should have thought before I spoke," he said softly, so as not to wake the baby. "The last time you worked in D.C., you hated it."

"I really did," Kate said, not taking her eyes off Lily. "There are too many gray areas, too many good old boys and backroom deals, and that's not who I am. It will never be who I am. And Rick and I could have..." She trailed off, unable to complete the sentence, unwilling to revisit those dark times again. They had survived, they were happy and healthy and together, they had Lily, and that was what mattered most.

"So you don't go to D.C. again," Jim said. "You've done very well serving the people of New York right here. You're just changing the capacity in which you'll be serving them. The State Senate asked you to run once. They'll ask you again someday, I'm sure of it."

"That's a long way away, Dad. I don't even know if I'm going to win this City Council seat," Kate said, finally looking from her daughter to her father.

"It's still close, but you're up 54% to 48%," Jim replied.

"That could change," Kate said.

"It could," Jim agreed. "And you could pull out in front and win by a landslide."

Kate remembered an old Bugs Bunny cartoon she had seen as a kid then, where Bugs fell in love with the electronic rabbit at the dog track and singlehandedly took out all of the dogs who were chasing the rabbit, not knowing she wasn't a real bunny. The dogs had all had names that had been played for puns, like Pneumatic Tire, Father's Mustache, and Motorman's Glove. When Bugs had jumped on Pneumatic Tire's back and covered his eyes, the guy calling the race had gone insane, screaming into his microphone about how the dog couldn't see, and when Bugs ran the dog face first into a wall, the man had shouted, "Pneumatic Tire is flat!" She snorted then, trying to stifle a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Jim asked.

"I was just remembering something from when I was a kid, an old Bugs Bunny cartoon," she said.

"The dog track, right?" Jim said. Then he quoted the announcer: "'Father's Mustache looks a little droopy.'"

"Yeah," Kate said, surprised. "How did you know?"

"My darling Katie, who do you think introduced you to Looney Tunes in the first place?" Jim asked with a fond smile. "I took a week off work to help your mom because you were such a terrible patient when you got the chicken pox when you were three years old, and we were in front of the TV for hours watching _Sesame Street, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Looney Tunes_ , and _The Flintstones._ " His smile widened at the memory. "Johanna said that _Looney Tunes_ and _The Flintstones_ were more for me than for you. And you did sleep through _The Flintstones_ , for the most part. But you liked _Looney Tunes_."

"I did," Kate agreed. "I was remembering Pneumatic Tire."

"Crashed face first into the wall," Jim recalled. "And the announcer went crazy, shouting-"

"'Pneumatic Tire is flat!'" father and daughter said in unison.

"I don't believe for a second that you're going to get flattened like Pneumatic Tire. But whatever happens tonight," Jim said, "and wherever the professional road takes you in the future, I love you, Katie, and I'm so proud of you. And so is your mom."

Kate hugged her father then. "I love you too, Dad," she said, "and I'm proud of you too."

They heard muted exclamations coming from downstairs. "I think that's a good sign," Jim said as he broke the embrace.

Then Rick appeared in the doorway. "You really should come downstairs now, Kate," he said. His eyes were dancing, and he was doing a very poor job of trying to conceal the smile on his face.

Kate kissed her fingertips and gently touched them to Lily's forehead before heading downstairs with Rick and her father.

Javi and Alexis were pouring sparkling cider into champagne flutes (everyone had work the next day, and Kate and Jim weren't drinking at all). "You're just in time!" Martha exclaimed. Kevin reached for the remote and turned the TV volume up as high as he dared.

"...and with 96% of the precincts reporting, we are officially calling the District 1 City Council race in Manhattan for Kate Beckett," the TV announcer said.

Kate was surrounded then, as everyone crowded around her. She felt Rick's hands on her shoulders, his lips on the crown of her head. Then Lanie and Alexis were hugging her at the same time, talking over each other as they said, "You did it! I knew you would!" and Kate had one arm around Alexis and the other around Lanie.

Javi and Kevin were next, and Javi put a glass of sparkling cider in Kate's hand before hugging her and saying, "Congratulations, Kate."

"Thanks, Javi," Kate replied.

"Councilwoman Beckett," Kevin pronounced. "That has a nice ring to it."

"It really does," Jenny agreed, and then she, Kevin and Javi all hugged Kate.

Martha swooped in for a big hug next. "You'll get all those bozo politicians at City Hall straightened out in no time," she said.

"I'd hate to be a moron on one of your committees," Kevin agreed.

Alan raised his glass. "Here's to finally having the kind of representative we need at City Hall," he said.

"I'll drink to that," Victoria added.

"Way to go, Becks," Maddie said.

"That's my girl," Jim said proudly.

"I couldn't have done it without you," Kate said, looking around at everyone. "All of you. You are all my family, and you have all shaped my life and changed my life for the better. And this is new territory for me, but I'm looking forward to the adventure."

Rick raised his glass then. "To Kate," he said. "To the adventure. And to our family."

Everyone raised their glasses, some of them clinked glasses, and then they were sipping the cider.

After everyone else had gone home, when they were finally alone, Rick asked Kate, "Any second thoughts?"

"Not exactly," Kate said. "Cold feet, I think. Remembering D.C. Not wanting anything even **remotely** like that to happen again. I'll do my best as a Councilwoman, but the furthest I will ever go is the State Senate. I couldn't hack it in Washington. I'm not one for backroom deals and political games. I didn't like that stuff at the FBI. I don't even want to think about how much worse it is in the U.S. Senate." She shuddered, remembering Bracken, then quickly shut down that train of thought.

"I wasn't all that impressed with D.C. either, and I'm not just saying that because I almost died down there," he replied. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "We've worked hard to banish the darkness that place brought into our lives."

"I'm not letting that darkness touch us, or our family, ever again," Kate said fiercely.

"So we won't," Rick replied, rubbing her back soothingly.

In a calmer voice, Kate continued, "New York is my home. I can do a lot for the city of New York."

"You absolutely can," he agreed.

"I'm happy," she told him earnestly, seriously. "I'm living a life of sustained happiness. That's what matters most to me. You and Lily and Alexis and our whole family. And being a Councilwoman really will be a new adventure. I may not advance beyond the City Council. I don't know yet."

"There's time to figure all of that out," Rick said. "Although there is a two-term limit for City Council members."

"Are you going to write that political thriller now?" she asked, reminding him of what he had said when she was first approached to run for State Senate.

"No," he said. "I'm kicking around a few ideas outside the murder mystery genre, though. I might start on that soon. Well, soonish. It's November. We have a lot of occasions coming up. Your birthday, our anniversary, Thanksgiving, then it'll be Lily's first Christmas, New Year's Eve..."

"Our life," Kate said. "Our life grows around us every day. It gets bigger, and becomes more, and it's all just...I love you. I really, **really** love you, and I love our life, and whatever changes come our way, I **promise** you that you and Lily and Alexis, you will always come first with me."

"I really, **really** love you too," he said, brushing an errant stand of hair behind her ear. "And you're right about our life. When I open my eyes every morning and you're the first thing I see, I marvel all over again that this is real, that we're together and married and we have Lily, and Alexis, and if nothing else ever went right in my life, the three of you, and Mother, and our family of friends...you'd be enough."

"I don't know if you'll be able to attend all the City Council meetings," Kate said.

"If Lily and I can't be there, you'll tell us about them afterwards," Rick told her. "Councilwoman Beckett...Ryan was right, it **does** have a nice ring to it."

Kate smiled. "It does," she agreed right before they kissed.


	73. Chapter 70

_**Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support for this story. And a special thank you to guest reviewers and new readers ndhbfan, Kate Smith, and Dorothy, whom I cannot answer personally. I'm glad you're enjoying the story and that you took the time to read and review. I hope everyone continues enjoying the story.**_

* * *

"I'm sorry I'm late," Alexis said as she rushed to the table. She quickly, chastely kissed Javier hello, rested a hand on Matias's shoulder for a few seconds, and then sat down, letting her purse and backpack drop to the floor beside her chair and carefully setting down the messenger bag containing her laptop beneath her chair. "I had to talk to my Civil Procedure professor. That final is going to be a killer."

"Ah, that's right, you are in law school," Matias said.

"Civil Procedure is the bane of my existence right now," Alexis said.

Javier reached over and took her hand in his. "You'll get it," he assured her. "I'll help you study, if you want."

"You didn't have to wait for me to order," Alexis said as Matias lifted a hand to hail the waiter.

"We wanted to," Javier assured her.

Things were civil between him and Matias. They spoke on the phone a few times a week, met for meals occasionally, like tonight, and Alexis followed Javier's lead, treating Matias civilly and with respect, but not getting too familiar. She knew the pain of parental abandonment too well, although she did give Matias credit for being honest with Javier, no matter the situation or its consequences.

"I'm gonna have to start studying for finals over Thanksgiving break," Alexis said. "These are gonna be the toughest finals I've ever taken."

Javier felt uncomfortable on the inside, but since Alexis had brought it up, he felt compelled to turn to Matias and say, "So, about Thanksgiving..."

"I already have plans," Matias said.

Javier and Alexis were both surprised. "You already have plans?" Javier echoed, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.

"Yes," Matias said. "My friend Walter, he grew up in Brooklyn, and his son and his family still live there. I've spent the past several Thanksgivings with Walter and his family. They alternate years—sometimes Walter and I would come up to Brooklyn, other times Simon and his family would come to Miami. And I'm sure the two of you have plans for the holiday as well."

Javier and Alexis would be spending Thanksgiving with Rick, Kate, Lily, Martha, and Jim, as they had done last year. "We do," Javier said. Deep down, he felt relieved that he didn't have to go through Thanksgiving trying to make more out of his and Matias's so-called relationship than there was. They were cordial to each other. Javier made sure Matias followed doctor's orders and ate three meals a day. Matias didn't push Javier harder than Javier was ready to be pushed, and he respected Alexis for so solidly standing beside Javier. Matias knew they would get married someday, but he also knew the chances were excellent that he wouldn't be around to see it happen. Matias was just grateful that he had been able to establish contact and some sort of relationship with Javier before the end came for him.

They ordered their meals, and Alexis surprised Javier and Matias both by ordering in flawless Spanish. (They were at a Mexican restaurant.) "A woman of many talents," Matias said, toasting Alexis with his water glass.

"She certainly is," Javier agreed, looking at Alexis with his heart in his eyes. " _No me_ _dijiste que hablas español,"_ he said to her. ["You didn't tell me you speak Spanish."]

" _No preguntaste_ ," she replied with a grin. ["You didn't ask."]

Javier chuckled. " _Me atrapaste,"_ he said. ["You got me there."]

Matias watched them and felt at peace. He had never truly done right by his son, he knew that. But in spite of that, and maybe even a little bit because of it, Javier had grown into a fine man, and he had the love of a good woman whom Matias instinctively knew would never leave him. Javier also had an extended family in Alexis's parents and his detective partner, Kevin Ryan. Matias remembered how all of them had given him a piece of their respective minds when he had first returned to Javier's life. Javier was blessed to have a family that loved him very much. Now, facing the end of his own life, Matias was relieved to know that this was the case. Over all the years they had been apart, Matias had wanted, and prayed, for Javier to be a better man, and a happier man, than he, Matias, was. Now Matias knew that that prayer had been answered. He couldn't ask for anything more.

Alexis noticed that Matias was staring at her and Javier, but she wasn't sure if he was actually seeing them or not. "Matias? Are you all right?" she asked.

Matias smiled. "Yes, Alexis," he assured her. He then focused on her and Javi together. "All is right with the world from where I'm sitting."

Javier and Alexis exchanged a look, not completely certain what Matias meant by that. But their waiter returned with their dinners then, and everyone's attention shifted to their food. Matias never did elaborate on his comment, and neither Javier nor Alexis asked him to elaborate before the evening ended.

* * *

Mark and Madison had been talking on the phone and texting since Madison had called Mark a few days after one of Kate's last campaign events and he had surprised her when she'd had to cancel their coffee date at the last minute, because of work crises and Mark had shown up at her restaurant Q3 to keep their coffee date.

Madison had asked Mark what he was doing for Thanksgiving a couple of weeks before the holiday. "I'm going to Boston to see my mom and stepdad," he had replied.

"I didn't know you had a stepdad," Madison said.

Mark nodded once. "My dad died when I in college. Brain aneurysm. No signs until right before it happened. Mom married Coach five years later."

"Coach?" Madison asked.

"The man's entire life is football," Mark replied dryly. "He's one of those 'Football is life, everything else is just details' guys. I mean, I like football, I catch the Giants whenever I can, but football is Coach's religion. He played in college, didn't make the pros, and became a high-school football coach."

"Oh, like _Friday Night Lights_ ," Madison said.

Mark laughed shortly, mirthlessly. "Not exactly," he said. "I call him 'Coach' because he insists that what I call him. Everyone has to call him 'Coach' except my mother. And he is one mean son of a bitch, but he's won a lot of state championships, so they keep him around. He never gets physical with his players, but I went to a practice once, at my mother's suggestion, to 'help' him shortly after they were married. No one helps The Coach, first off. Secondly, I couldn't take the way he was talking to a bunch of 16- and 17-year-old boys. They were _**not**_ all worthless sacks of shit who got winded tying their shoes and couldn't catch a football if their hands had Krazy Glue on them. But that's one of his favorite insults."

"And your mother's okay with this?" Madison asked, surprised.

Mark lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. "The Coach is the polar opposite of my dad in every possible way. Looks, temperament, everything. But he treats her right, or at least that's what she says. I hope she's telling me the truth. They go on a cruise every Christmas with some of his old football buddies, so I go there for Thanksgiving. It's one day, because I always come back on Friday. That's really not so bad, since most people are shopping or still with their families the day after Thanksgiving. I fly up Wednesday night. I can handle a day and two nights. Coach is always watching football on Thanksgiving anyway. We eat in front of the TV."

"That doesn't sound like much of a Thanksgiving," Madison reflected. "Of course, I'm going to be working, so I guess I'm not having much of a Thanksgiving either. I work every year. We're all booked up for the holiday."

"Do you ever take any holidays off?" Mark asked her.

"Christmas Day and New Year's Day," Madison replied. "That's pretty much it."

"Yeah, I work a lot too," he said. "There've been a few New Year's Days I've gone into work. Never on Christmas, though. Usually I just stay home. Call my mom on her cruise, make sure she got my gift. But first I gotta get through Thanksgiving."

"I hope it's a good day for you," Madison said.

"I'll settle for peaceful," Mark replied. "I've had to learn to fake interest in the Dallas Cowboys. Coach's favorite team. They're America's team, according to him. No other team is any damned good."

"I'll bet that's a direct quote from The Coach himself," Madison said.

"How did you know?" Mark asked sarcastically.

"So what time do you come back on Friday?" Madison asked.

"I always fly JetBlue, and take the first flight out of Logan I can get," Mark replied. "I fly out around noon, as long as I can get a seat, and I'm at JFK by 1:30 at the latest."

"Have a safe trip," Madison told him.

"Thanks. And even though you're working, you have a happy Thanksgiving," Mark replied.

It was a couple of minutes before 1 PM the day after Thanksgiving, and Madison was waiting at JFK Airport for Mark's flight to land. He hadn't given her specific flight information, but the JetBlue website had let her know that there was, indeed, a JetBlue flight out of Logan Airport in Boston nonstop to JFK in New York that departed Boston at noon. Arrival time at JFK was 1:14 PM, barring any delays. According to the board, there were no delays.

When Mark walked into the mostly deserted terminal, he was surprised to see Madison standing there. "Madison?" he asked.

"Surprise!" Madison exclaimed as she approached him. "I don't know what the cab situation is like, but you won't have to worry about that, because I'm here to give you a ride home, or wherever it is you're going."

"You didn't have to do this," Mark said.

"I know I didn't _**have**_ to," Madison replied. "I _**wanted**_ to. One of the perks of being your own boss is that you can take the day off. And after yesterday, I decided I had earned it. Baggage claim is over here."

Unconsciously, she linked her arm through Mark's. He looked at her arm through his, then looked back up at her, but all he said was, "That's one place I don't have to go." He held up the overnight bag he was carrying in his other hand. "I travel light. I didn't need much."

They headed outside in companionable silence, Madison's arm still linked through Mark's. When they were in the parking lot, Mark said, "How'd you know which flight I'd be on?"

"You said a couple of weeks ago that you always fly JetBlue," Madison reminded him, "and that you always fly out of Boston around noon. A quick visit to the World Wide Web, and process of elimination told me this was where and when you'd come in."

Mark nodded. "I appreciate this," he said. "Thank you."

"My car's over here," she replied. Madison's car was a silver Lincoln Continental, a few years old but in excellent condition. Mark stowed his bag in the trunk, and got into the passenger side as Madison started the car.

Something was happening between him and Madison. Mark knew that.

He just wasn't sure what that "something" was, exactly, or where it was leading.

He only knew if he didn't follow it wherever it led, he would regret it, and he'd had enough regrets to last him a lifetime.

For her part, Madison also knew something was happening, and, like Mark, she wasn't sure exactly what it was either.

Madison had never really done _**serious**_ in relationships. And when she met Mark at Kate's campaign event, she was attracted by his good looks, and by the challenge he presented.

But she somehow felt that Mark Fallon was not a man who did casual relationships. Casual would mean nothing to a man like Mark. So in that sense, since losing his wife, Mark probably _**had**_ done casual, because casual meant no strings, no commitments, nothing serious, and everyone moves along with no hard feelings when it's over.

No, Mark Fallon was the kind of man a woman got serious about.

And for the first time in her life, Madison found herself wanting to get serious about a man. Specifically, she wanted to get serious about Mark Fallon. But she wasn't sure if Mark wanted to get serious about her, or if he even could.

Mark hadn't opened up to Madison about his wife, at least not yet. And that was all right. They'd only known each other not even two months yet. Madison wasn't going to push. She had never been through a loss like that, but she remembered telling Kate at her mom's funeral that she'd be there if Kate ever wanted to talk. Then she hadn't seen or heard from Kate until Kate and Castle showed up after the murder of her chef, several years later. Madison wasn't going to make that mistake with Mark. He would tell her about his wife when he was ready, and in the meantime, she was fine with waiting. She would follow this wherever it led, even though at the moment, she had no idea exactly where that was. She was, however, beginning to get some ideas about where she wanted it to lead.

"So," Madison said as she drove through the parking lot, "where do you live?"

"Lower East Side, Ludlow Street," Mark replied.

Madison pulled out of the JFK Airport parking lot. "So," she said, "I know I can get there via the Grand Central Parkway and the FDR Drive."

Mark usually took a slightly shorter route, a straight shot down I-495W, even though it had toll booths. But a few extra minutes in Madison's company was not something he would complain about at all. "You're the driver," he said.

"So how was your Thanksgiving with your mom and The Coach?" Madison asked.

"Business as usual," Mark replied. "They're going to the Bahamas for Christmas this year."

Madison took a deep breath, trying not to be obvious about it, at least not so obvious that Mark would notice, and said, "So, since you're going to be alone on Christmas, and I'm going to be alone on Christmas, would you like to have dinner together?"

"You said your restaurant's closed on Christmas Day," Mark said. _Great. Sound like a stupid 15-year-old, why don't you,_ he chided himself.

"It is," Madison replied. "Even though I run the restaurant, I actually do know how to cook, and pretty well, if I do say so myself."

"I'm not too bad myself," Mark said. "A necessity when you get tired of takeout. I get enough of that when I'm working."

"Do you have any Christmas specialties?" Madison asked.

"Scalloped potatoes," Mark replied. "From scratch."

Madison gave a low whistle. "That's impressive," she said. "Which do you prefer—ham or turkey?"

"I eat both," Mark said, "but for Christmas, I've gotta go with ham."

"I happen to make an excellent glazed ham," Madison said.

"I think we have a menu," Mark said.

"The beginnings of one, at least," Madison said.

They spent the rest of the drive to Mark's apartment debating mashed potatoes vs. sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce vs. cranberry salad, and what kind of dressing to make, after discovering they both liked dressing with their ham just as much as they did with turkey, and when they arrived on Ludlow Street, Mark said, "123, that's me."

Madison pulled up to the curb and put her car in Park. "Here we are," she announced. "Front door service. Or, well, as close as I could get."

Mark nodded. "I appreciate it, Madison. Thank you."

Madison had just popped the trunk so Mark could get his bag, but he made no move to get out of the car. She turned to look at him, and he was looking at her, and then he leaned across the console and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks," he said again. "I'll talk to you later."

Madison was so stunned that Mark had kissed her cheek that it wasn't until Mark was out of the car and headed back to the trunk to remove his overnight bag that she realized she hadn't reacted. Luckily, Mark leaned down, and Madison fumbled to roll down the passenger side window. "I'll talk to you later," she echoed, hoping she didn't sound too thrown or too lame.

Mark smiled at her, a real, full smile that lasted several seconds, maybe even a full minute. "'Til then," he said.

Madison watched him enter his building, and after he had disappeared from her view, she put her car in gear and went back to her own apartment, smiling the whole way home at the kiss on the cheek from Mark.

* * *

The day after Thanksgiving, Lily sat in her swing and watched in amazement as Mommy, Daddy, Alexis, and Gram brought out all sorts of bright and shiny things and put them up everywhere. Daddy called the giant green thing "the Christmas tree," and Lily babbled almost nonstop and waved her arms around as she watched Mommy, Daddy, Alexis, and Gram hang a lot of shiny, dangly things on the Christmas tree, which glowed with lots of lights in all the different colors, the ones that her family told her about and read to her about but that she didn't know the names of herself yet. She wanted to hang the shiny, dangly things from the Christmas tree with everyone else, and she was trying to let them know that, but they weren't understanding her.

At least, she thought they weren't understanding her until Daddy reached down and lifted her out of her swing, swooping her up and flying her through the air as he walked over to the Christmas tree. "Do you have it?" he asked Mommy.

Mommy held up a dangly thing, and Lily's eyes focused on it. "Right here," Mommy said, and then she smiled right at Lily.

"This is a big moment, Lily," Daddy said. "This is your first Christmas, and this is your very first Christmas ornament."

Kate was holding a pink glass ball inscribed in white script 'Baby's First Christmas 2017.'

Rick shifted Lily in his arms so that her back and her little bottom were resting against his chest, his arm wrapped tightly around her middle. He looked at Kate. "Ready?" he asked her.

"Ready," she said with a smile. Kate stretched up to hang the ornament on the tree, and Rick rested his hand atop hers so they hung the ornament together, on the branch next to the branch that held the glass red heart ornament that proclaimed "Our First Christmas Rick & Kate 2014" that Rick had surprised Kate with for their first married Christmas.

Lily was enthralled by the pretty tree with all the lights and shiny, dangly ornaments. She fell asleep in Mommy's arms staring at it.

It was a little after 3 AM when Lily awoke, fussing because the pretty tree with all the lights and shiny, dangly ornaments was nowhere in her sight. Hearing her over the nursery monitor, Kate yawned, stretched, and went upstairs. Lily didn't need a diaper change at the moment and didn't seem to want to nurse, though, so Kate brought her downstairs, almost colliding with Rick, who was on the second step. "What's the matter with Sweetpea?" he asked.

"I don't know," Kate said. "She doesn't seem to want to eat, and she didn't need a diaper change." She put Lily up over her shoulder as she ascended into the living room and began to walk back and forth in front of the coffee table. "What's the matter, sweet girl, huh?" she asked Lily, brushing her lips to Lily's forehead and confirming that Lily had no fever.

Rick went over and turned the Christmas tree on, and as soon as Lily caught sight of the lights on the tree, and the way they shined off the ornaments, she immediately stopped crying, as if a switch had been flipped. "No way," Kate said, shifting Lily in her arms so she could look into the baby's now calm, happy face.

Rick walked over to Kate holding Lily. "What?" he asked.

"As soon as you turned on the tree lights, she stopped crying," Kate pointed out.

They both looked at their daughter in the dim light of the room. She was looking at the Christmas tree intently, happily cooing as she shoved a few fingers in her mouth.

"That's my girl," Rick said happily.

"Getting up to feed her or change her diaper at three in the morning is one thing," Kate said, "but getting up to stare at the Christmas tree? Seriously?"

"It's all my fault, I know," Rick said, but he didn't sound the least bit repentant. "It's the Castle in her. She loves Christmas."

Kate sat down on the couch, Lily in her arms. "I really didn't think this would start until you could walk and talk, Lily."

Rick sat down next to them. "I'll take her if you want to go back to bed," he said seriously.

Kate leaned back against the couch. "She might want to nurse in a little while," she said. "It's okay." She looked at Lily. "Are you planning on making this an every-night thing between now and Christmas?" she asked the baby.

"Well, she can't on Christmas Eve. Santa won't come until she's asleep," Rick pointed out.

"We're in for years of this, aren't we?" Kate mused. "Probably all of our kids are going to be like this." Before Rick could say anything, Kate continued, "And I wouldn't want it any other way." She looked at Lily, who was still gazing raptly at the Christmas tree. "Because you, Lily, are the best reason in the world to lose sleep. And you being so excited for Christmas that you want to get up at 3 AM to stare at the Christmas tree is magical to me, because I never looked at Christmas before the way I do since your daddy and I got together, and for you to see Christmas that way all your life is magical, and what I want for you."

Rick put his arm around Kate's shoulders and gently pulled her and Lily against his side, then pulled the plaid flannel throw off the back of the couch and draped it over their laps. Kate rested her cheek against Rick's shoulder, and Lily didn't take her eyes off the tree.

"Mother and I never had trees as big as this one when I was growing up," Rick said softly, "but I went through a phase where I used to camp out under the Christmas tree in my sleeping bag when I was a little boy. I started when I was four and kept it up until I was at my first boarding school, so I couldn't do that anymore."

"That's just so you," Kate said fondly. "Well, if Lily decides to do that in a few years, at least I'll know she comes by it honestly. And someday she'll have company under that tree. But can we make it a rule that the kids both, or all, have to be at least four before they can start camping out under the Christmas tree in their sleeping bags?"

"Yes, absolutely," Rick said, his heart so full of love for Kate and for Lily and for Lily's future younger sibling(s) and for Christmas that he thought it would burst.

"All right, then," Kate replied. "In the meantime, the three of us will sit here and enjoy Lily's first Christmas tree together."

Lily cooed and looked up at her mommy and daddy looking at her as if to say she agreed with them before turning her attention once more to the pretty tree.

And mother, father, and baby daughter eventually fell asleep together on the couch by the light of Lily's first Christmas tree, Lily nestled against Kate's chest, and Kate and Lily both wrapped up in Rick's arms.


	74. Chapter 71

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

After a solid week of consecutive nights of being awakened sometime during the night by a crying Lily who would then only go back to sleep when in the presence of the Christmas tree, Rick finally strung some Christmas lights on the wall above her crib, and much to his and Kate's mutual relief, it worked. Lily went back to her regular sleep schedule, and when she did awaken for a feeding or a diaper change, she was able to enjoy the Christmas lights in her own room.

The leadup to Christmas was a crazy busy time for everyone. Kate called and invited Madison to spend Christmas Day with them, but Madison declined, informing Kate that she already had plans. "You're not working on Christmas Day, are you?" Kate asked. "Because I've done that. It's a terrible way to spend Christmas, Maddie."

"No, I'm not working," Maddie replied. "I'm having dinner with Mark."

"Mark Fallon?" Kate asked, surprised.

"Yes," Maddie said. "We've been talking and texting and we've had a couple of coffee dates, and I picked him up at the airport when he came back from his mom and stepdad's after Thanksgiving-"

"Whoa, _**you**_ picked a guy up at the airport after Thanksgiving? The woman who, the last I knew, never went beyond five dates with _**any**_ man, is making airport pickups?" Kate asked incredulously.

"He's different, Becks," Maddie said seriously. "He's different from any other man I've never known. We haven't even kissed yet. Well, he kissed me on the cheek before he got out of my car that day, but it hasn't gone beyond that."

Kate was floored. "You're really serious about him," she said, amazed.

"I really could be," Maddie agreed. "I never wanted to get serious about anybody. But Mark… Mark is the kind of guy a woman gets serious about. He doesn't deserve anything less. And this is new to me, because I've never had a relationship like this before. The only thing I know is that it _**is**_ a relationship. And I don't know where it's going, or what it all means. I like being with Mark. I can be myself with him. His schedule is as insane as mine, so it doesn't faze him. I don't think he's had a real Christmas in years. I know I haven't. So we're gonna get together and cook Christmas dinner together at my place. I have the better kitchen. Not that I've seen his, but I'm taking him at his word."

"Well, if you guys want to come over here after you've had your dinner, you're welcome. We're having an open house, pretty much, Christmas Day afternoon and evening," Kate said.

"We might take you up on that," Madison said. Kate noticed Madison's use of 'we.'

"Great," Kate replied. "And if I don't talk to you before then, Merry Christmas, Maddie."

"You too, Kate," Madison said. "And Castle and Lily and Alexis and your dad and Castle's mom. You have quite a family."

"I really do," Kate reflected. At that exact moment, Rick came downstairs carrying Lily, fresh from her bath and dressed in a white fleece footed sleeper with Santa Clauses all over it.

"I have to get going," Madison said.

"Hot date with Mark?" Kate teased.

"No, catering an office holiday party tonight," Madison replied.

"Well, we're getting ready to watch _A Charlie Brown Christmas_ as a family," Kate replied. The front door opened then, Alexis removing her key from the lock as she entered the loft. "Alexis just walked in, and Lily's fresh from her bath. I'll talk to you soon."

"Talk to you soon, Kate," Maddie echoed before ringing off. Kate ended the call, put her phone on vibrate, and welcomed hugs in succession from Alexis, Lily, who laid her head on Kate's shoulder, and Rick, who added a kiss to the crown of Kate's head.

"I called for the pizza in the cab. It should be here soon," Alexis said after returning from putting her things away in her bedroom. At that moment, the pizza arrived.

Kate settled Lily in her swing while Rick brought the pizza to the coffee table. Alexis brought napkins, waters and sodas from the refrigerator, and then Rick tuned the TV to the correct channel. Lily loved all the music, gurgling and babbling and waving her arms and kicking her feet. She was a little young to really focus on the cartoon, but the music was a big hit with her. Rick, Kate, and Alexis all three had grown up watching _A Charlie Brown Christmas_ every December; there hadn't been a single Christmas of Alexis's life that she and Rick hadn't watched it together.

On one of the commercial breaks, Rick lifted Lily out of her swing so she could snuggle up on the couch with him, Kate, and Alexis for the remainder of the show. "Are there any other Christmas cartoons we should do this with?" Kate asked. She had only started really paying attention to Christmas again in the past few years, since getting together with Rick, and her knowledge of Christmas cartoons ended around 1990.

Rick and Alexis exchanged a look. "I'm not sure," Rick mused. "They change most of them from year to year. Some of the older cartoons don't get shown at all anymore. Well, they still show _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,_ but I can't stand that one."

Kate looked at Rick, surprised. "You can't stand _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_?" she asked. "We're talking about the same _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_ , right?"

"The Rankin-Bass stop-motion puppet version where everyone but Rudolph's mother, Clarice, and Hermey treated Rudolph like reindeer droppings," Rick replied.

"That's the one!" Kate exclaimed. "I can't stand it either!"

"You can't?" Rick asked, amazed.

"No," Kate said strongly. "I saw it for the first and only time when I was five, and I was so angry at everybody who was so mean to Rudolph. My mom and dad had to work **really** hard to get me to go and see Santa Claus after that."

"Me too!" Rick exclaimed. "Of course, Rudolph's dad being ashamed of his nose and covering it with dirt pushed all kinds of buttons with me as a kid. It's the only Christmas special in history that portrays Santa as a complete...well, you know."

"Oh, I know. Even at the age of five, it really bothered me that Santa said that Rudolph wouldn't make the sleigh team unless his shiny nose faded away. And then, when there's the big blizzard and whiteout conditions, Santa goes and tells Rudolph he **has** to lead the sleigh team or else none of the kids in the world would get any presents. He was using Rudolph for the very reason he rejected him earlier. That message is just all kinds of wrong to be sending to kids," Kate said.

"Absolutely," Rick agreed.

"And as if that wasn't bad enough, you also had all the other elves being mean to Hermey because he wanted to be a dentist instead of making toys," Kate said.

"Yes!" Rick exclaimed. "And the Misfit Toys made me sad."

"Me too," Kate said. "I was cheering when Rudolph and Hermey ran away from everyone who was so horrible to them."

"And there again, after running away, when they came back, yeah, everybody apologized. But they had to, because it was a kids' show, and not just any kids' show, but a Christmas kids' show. And even then, that head elf guy sounded like he was begrudgingly letting Hermey open his dentist office after Christmas."

"He did," Kate agreed.

Alexis had lifted Lily into her arms from Rick's lap while Kate and Rick were dissecting _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer._ Lily looked up at her big sister, and Alexis looked down at Lily and said, "They do this all the time. If you haven't gotten used to it yet, Lily, you will."

 _A Charlie Brown Christmas_ returned from commercial and concluded then, ending Rick and Kate's conversation about _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_ , and shortly after the family had finished watching it together, Lily fell asleep on Alexis's shoulder. Rick and Kate accompanied Alexis upstairs to get Lily settled for the night.

When they returned downstairs, as they cleaned up from their dinner, Alexis said, "I have a confession to make."

"Should we be sitting down for this?" Rick asked.

"I watched _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_ over at Paige's house when I was six," she replied, "and I didn't like it either, for all the same reasons you and Mom mentioned." Her phone rang then, and she looked at the screen. "And on that note, good night." She quickly hugged Rick, then Kate, and they heard her answer the phone as she hurried upstairs, "Hi, did you get a break in the case?" so they knew she was talking to Javier.

"So you don't like _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_ either," Rick said when they were alone.

"No, I like Rudolph, it's most of the other characters I have a problem with," Kate said, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Well, Alexis is in her room on the phone with Esposito, and Lily is in her room sound asleep," Rick mused. "Whatever shall we do with ourselves?"

"Mmm, I have a few ideas," Kate said, leaning in to kiss him, nipping lightly at his jaw.

"Tell me more," Rick said as he pulled her flush against him.

"It'd be more fun if I showed you," Kate said, threading her fingers through his and pulling him towards their bedroom.

"Lead the way," Rick said as they all but dashed into their bedroom, muffling their laughter with kisses before collapsing onto their bed in a tangle of limbs, and their laughter soon gave way to passion.

* * *

Mark and Madison enjoyed their Christmas dinner together around 1 PM, after spending most of the morning cooking together in Madison's kitchen. Madison had an artificial 5-foot tree ("I'm not really home enough to keep a real tree alive, and I find Christmas lights both beautiful and soothing," she had told Mark when he complimented the tree upon his arrival.)

After dinner, Mark excused himself and went for his coat. Madison was initially confused, since she had thought their dinner had gone well, if a little light on conversation—not in an awkward way, but she sensed that Mark had something on his mind and she was giving him plenty of space and time to bring it up.

Madison followed Mark to her living room, to the coat rack by her front door. He was reaching into one of the pockets and he removed a small package wrapped in red-and-green-striped wrapping paper with a red bow on it. He turned to her with a shy smile and said, "We never said whether or not we were exchanging gifts, but I saw this and I thought, if you didn't want to consider it a Christmas gift, you could consider it a hostess gift." He extended the package to her. "Merry Christmas, Maddie."

Madison took the box and eagerly ripped off the bow and tore into the wrapping paper. The box was stamped with the Hallmark logo, and when Madison opened it, she found a beautiful porcelain snowflake ornament with silver filigree between the points of the snowflake, and silver glitter on the snowflake. Attached to the top of the snowflake was a white silk ribbon which held a small charm engraved '2017,' with a hole in the top for an ornament hook to hang the snowflake on the Christmas tree.

"Mark, it's beautiful," Madison replied. "Thank you." She went to the desk in a corner of the living room, where she had put her extra ornament hooks, removed one, threaded it through the hole at the top of the charm, and then went and put the ornament on the Christmas tree. Then she opened the large rolltop of the desk and removed a package slightly larger than the one Mark had just given her, wrapped in gold foil. She closed the rolltop and crossed the room to where Mark was standing by the Christmas tree and held the package out to him. "I got you something too, and it'll have to be considered a Christmas present. Merry Christmas, Mark."

Mark opened his present from Madison. It was a black leather trifold wallet that Mark silently stared a hole through for a long, silent minute. "I noticed the last time we had coffee that your wallet was looking a little...well, ratty," Madison said. "I wasn't sure if getting you something New York Giants-related would be welcomed or not, because of The Coach, so I went with the wallet. If you don't like it, though, I kept the receipt, so you can return it and get a different wallet, or get something else entirely. I-"

Mark looked up from the wallet to meet Madison's gaze and interrupted her. "It's a great wallet," he said. "And you're right, I do need a new one. I like this one very much. Thank you." He swallowed hard and replaced the wallet in its box. "I've been putting this off," he said, "and it doesn't really feel like an appropriate conversation to have on Christmas Day, but I haven't been sure how to bring it up, and you just gave me an ideal opening."

Madison sat down on the couch, and Mark sat down next to her, still holding the wallet in its box in his hands. "There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna come right out and say it," Mark began. He looked into Madison's eyes and said, "I was married, Maddie. My wife died on September 11, 2001. She worked for Fiduciary Trust Company at 2 World Trade Center—the South Tower. She was in Trust and Estate Administration. We were on the phone together when she rode the South Tower down when it collapsed at 9:59 AM that morning." He set the box with his new wallet from Madison on the coffee table, then reached into the hip pocket of his navy blue Dockers and pulled out his current (ratty) wallet. He flipped it open and removed a picture of a pretty, smiling auburn-haired woman and held it out to her. "This is Kim, my wife. We were together for nine years, married for six of them. No kids. She was my college sweetheart, and my first real love."

"She's beautiful," Madison said, studying the picture of Kim carefully before returning it to Mark, who carefully slid it back into its plastic sheath in the wallet before putting the wallet back in his pocket out of habit.

"She was," Mark agreed, "inside and out." He blew out a breath. He rarely talked about Kim with anyone but his in-laws, her family, since he was still close to them; she had been their only child. But he knew he needed to tell Madison what he was about to tell her.

"Mark, before you go any further, I have to tell you something," Madison said. "The night we met, at Kate's campaign event? I thought you were handsome and attractive. I still think that. And I was interested in pursuing you. Kate pulled me aside and told me that you were a 9/11 widower, but she didn't give me any details. So I knew this already, and I didn't say anything because I didn't think it was my place to say anything, and I hope you won't be mad at Kate for telling me. She didn't want me scaring you off by being too aggressive."

Mark absorbed this, then nodded once. "I'm not mad," he said. "I appreciate you giving me the time and the chance to tell you myself. There's a reason I'm telling you this now, though. I've been trying to work up to it since the day after Thanksgiving, when you surprised me by waiting at the airport when I got in from Boston. I just...It's still hard for me to talk about Kim with very many people." He was looking at her intently now. "But I want to talk about her with you because...okay, in the last sixteen years, I haven't been a monk. But I never had a real relationship with anyone else. There were women, but it was just sex. No real substance. No strings. And these women knew that going in, so there were no hard feelings when it was over. I didn't want anything more."

He shifted on the couch, clearly nervous, but feeling things he hadn't felt in sixteen years, and determined to see this conversation, difficult as it was for him, through to the end. He was looking deeply into Madison's eyes, and her eyes were locked on his. Her own heart was pounding, and she hoped her pounding heart wasn't obvious to Mark.

"I don't know how to do it anymore," Mark said. "Be in a real relationship. I never thought I'd have the need to know how to do that again. After Kim died, I went back to school. I worked all day at my computer systems analyst job, and took courses at night to get my degree in Criminal Justice. Within two weeks of getting that degree, I was working for the Department of Homeland Security. And I've been all about the job for the last ten years.

"And then I met you, Maddie. And I wasn't looking for anything. I sure wasn't looking for anything serious. Hell, I don't even know how to flirt anymore, and I knew you were flirting with me the night we met, but you weren't put off or scared off by me. You're the first woman who hasn't headed for the hills after trying to flirt with me in a decade and a half. And even though I wasn't looking for anything, I found something. I found _**you**_ , Madison." He swallowed hard, their eyes still locked. "I don't know how to be in a real relationship anymore," he repeated. "But I want to try and figure it out...with you, if you want that too, because this, us, this is _**something**_ , and it's going _**somewhere**_ , and I don't know _**where**_ , but I know that I want to find out. I like being with you, Maddie. I like talking to you and having coffee with you and I'd like to spend New Year's Eve with you, and if you're working, if I can be there, I'll hang out in a corner all night. I'll put on a waiter's uniform and hawk trays of champagne and hors d'oeuvres if I can just be with you at midnight when the New Year comes in, because for the first time in sixteen years, I'm looking forward to the New Year, and that's because of you." He paused, then said, "That's it. That's all I have to say."

Madison took a deep breath and then she spoke. "I've never had a really serious relationship. Well, not since high school anyway, and it was only...you know...high school serious. We were going to different colleges thousands of miles apart, so we broke up, and I never saw him again. I've always kept things casual. I've been all about my job too, and when I met you, you intrigued me, and I wasn't looking for anything serious either, but I found it. At least, I think it has the potential to be serious. And I know that I want it to have the potential to be serious. Because you...Mark, you're not the kind of man who does anything less than serious. And I want to give this a try too. I'm not any better at being in a real relationship than you are. And it's been a lot longer than I'd like to admit since I've been in one. Longer than you. But you're different. Good different. I want us to try, and to see where this is going, because you're right: there's something here, between us, and I don't know where it's going either, but I want to find out. I want us to find out. And you don't have to hawk champagne and hors d'oeuvres on New Year's Eve. I'm taking the night off. So we have a week to figure out what we're going to do for New Year's Eve." Madison paused. "Wow. You're the first real New Year's Eve date I've had since I was seventeen."

"As long as there's no pressure," Mark quipped.

Madison laughed at that. Mark smiled, more than just a flash of a smile, and a real and genuine smile that made Madison's heart pound even harder. "Maddie?" he asked.

"Yes, Mark?"

"I'd really like to kiss you right now."

"I'd really like it if you kissed me right now."

Mark moved closer, and Madison met him in the middle of the couch. He framed her face in his hands, and her hands went to his shoulders. He touched his lips to hers, gently at first, and she responded in kind. The kiss deepened slowly, gradually, and when the need for oxygen forced them to stop kissing, they pulled apart slowly, struggling to catch their breath. "This is the merriest Christmas I've had in seventeen years," Mark said softly.

"Me too," Madison replied before initiating their second kiss.

* * *

As he had the year before, Jim spent the night at the loft on Christmas Eve. So did Javier. Lily sensed the excitement, so neither she nor her parents got much sleep that night, and they were up for the day at 6 AM on Christmas morning. Rick tapped out a quick text to Martha, letting her know they were awake and would hold Lily off on opening presents as long as they could.

"I smell coffee," Kate said as she finished changing Lily's diaper and then zipping up her footie pajamas that made her look like a miniature elf. Rick was wearing a red t-shirt with a Santa Claus hat and two thumbs pointing upward emblazoned with the words "THIS GUY LOVES CHRISTMAS." with his flannel sleep pants.

Kate was similarly attired, having found a t-shirt at The Disney Store that she hadn't been able to resist buying. Her shirt was white and proclaimed in red cursive letters, "Happiness is Castle (with the 'a' in the shape of a castle), Lights and Hot Coffee," which she had surprised Rick with the night before, wearing it with a pair of gray yoga pants for pajamas.

"Maybe one of Santa's elves stayed behind to surprise us," Rick said.

Kate just smiled before picking Lily up from the changing table and carrying her downstairs. Rick followed them, and they found Jim in the kitchen in his bathrobe, pajamas and slippers, pouring cups of coffee. "Merry Christmas, Katie, Rick," he greeted them with a smile. He looked at Lily in Kate's arms and his face lit up. "And a very merry first Christmas to you, Lily Jo."

Alexis and Javier came downstairs then, Alexis in light blue pajamas with Christmas trees in red, white, green, pink, and purple all over them, and Esposito in a plain long-sleeved gray t-shirt and red plaid pajama pants.

"It's Christmas, Lily!" Rick exclaimed. They headed into the living room, Rick carrying their mugs of coffee, Kate carrying Lily, Jim right on Kate's heels, and Alexis and Javier trailing after the others.

When Lily saw the Christmas tree, sparkling and shiny, and the sea of wrapped presents beneath it, her little mouth made a perfectly round 'O' and then she started babbling excitedly, "Ah ya ya ya!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide and shining as she looked from the tree to Mommy and then Daddy.

"Oh yeah, Lily's definitely a Castle," Alexis said.

The front door flew open then, and Martha entered with a flourish. "Merry Christmas, everyone!" she exclaimed. She carried an overnight bag along with her purse, and wore green loungewear pajamas and black ballet slippers beneath her overcoat, having hailed the first cab she could after receiving Richard's text message, so determined was she not to miss her youngest granddaughter's first Christmas.

Lily was able to sit up on her own, and everyone gathered around her on the floor, Kate grabbing a throw pillow from the sofa to sit behind Lily. "Everyone was obviously very good this year," Martha remarked.

Rick grabbed a medium-sized package wrapped in candy-cane-striped paper. "Okay, Sweetpea, are you ready to open your first Christmas present?" he asked. He set the gift in front of Lily, and she looked from the package to Mommy and Daddy with wide eyes.

Kate reached out and tore off a large strip of the wrapping paper. Lily watched her mommy raptly. "You can do it, sweetie," she said.

Lily reached out and tugged at the paper, and a small piece came off in her hand. Kate and Rick helped her unwrap the gift the rest of the way, revealing a small tower with several stacking rings in different colors.

Lily caught on to the general idea immediately, and her family members took turns putting wrapped presents in front of her and helping her open them. She babbled excitedly as she ripped the wrapping paper off everything from bath toys to teething rings to stuffed animals to a playmat to a bouncer to Baby's First Blocks to a sit-to-stand learning walker to cloth and board books, all of which were a big hit.

All of the adults were much more interested in helping Lily with her presents than in opening their own, and agreed to wait until Lily was down for her morning nap to open their presents. Jim opened some of Lily's new toys, and everyone exclaimed over her presents.

While Rick was making a big batch of pancakes for breakfast, Kate stole up behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest and resting her chin on his shoulder. "Merry Christmas, babe," she said.

He expertly flipped the pancakes before turning his head to meet her waiting kiss. "Merry Christmas, Kate."

Javier and Alexis were up on the couch now, snuggled together, while Jim and Martha helped Lily play with her stacking rings.

"Lily has given Christmas back to my dad," Kate said. "You have this way of making things better, making dreams into reality...for me, for my dad, for Lily and Alexis."

"We make things better for each other," Rick replied. He turned away from the stove to wrap his arms around her. "Your heart, your love, you...You are the best gift of my life, Kate. Every day."

They were kissing when Alexis exclaimed teasingly, "Hey, the pancakes are burning!"

"Oh, well, that's just the first batch. The first batch never turns out well," Rick said after he and Kate reluctantly stopped kissing.

"Ga yah yah!" Lily exclaimed.

"You tell 'em, Lily," Javier said, amused.

After Rick had scraped the burnt pancakes into the trash and started another batch, Kate tugged at his shirt. When he turned his head to look at her, she leaned in and whispered in his ear, "You're the best gift of my life too, Rick. Every day."

He stole a quick kiss before turning his attention back to the pancakes so that this second batch didn't burn.


	75. Chapter 72

_**Thank you all for your continued interest in and enthusiasm for this story. And a special shout-out to my guest reviewers, to whom I am not able to respond personally. Thank you for taking the time to leave reviews.**_

* * *

After breakfast, and after everyone was dressed, the adults took turns exchanging presents while alternating between helping Lily finish opening her gifts and playing with Lily and her new toys. Lily was most interested in the wrapping paper, so she got to help with the wrapping paper removal on most of the bigger presents. Javier was afraid to let Lily help open his gift to Alexis—a new charm for her charm bracelet, the Scales of Justice—because he thought Lily might put it in her mouth, so Jim distracted Lily with his gift from her. Lily eagerly ripped the elf-covered wrapping paper off the gift, and when Jim opened the box, he saw a frame inside which rested a heavy piece of card stock with a tiny handprint in pink paint in the middle, with the words "My fingers may be small, but I can still wrap Grandpa around them. Love, your Lily Jo, Christmas 2017" written in pink and green print and divided as evenly as possible above and below Lily's handprint.

Jim looked up from the gift to beam at his granddaughter besottedly. "That's exactly right, Lily Jo." Then he picked her up and deposited her in his lap, giving her a smacking kiss on the cheek. She patted his jaw, scrunching up her face distastefully at his beard stubble, which made Jim laugh heartily.

"Yeah, Lily's not a big fan of stubble, even in _Pat the Bunny_ ," Kate said, marveling, as she always did, at seeing her dad in full grandpa mode.

"Like mother, like daughter," Jim and Rick said in unison.

"Ah, so your decision to remain clean-shaven is because of Katie too," Jim said to Rick.

"Well, at first, it was to impress her. I was pretty scruffy-looking on our first case, and I figured shaping up my appearance was the first step in showing her that I wanted to be serious about her," Rick admitted.

Kate recalled the subtle change in Rick's appearance between their first case together and their second. "You shaved because of me?" she asked.

"You do like my ruggedly handsome face better without facial hair," Rick pointed out.

"True," Kate agreed.

"It's a Beckett woman trait. Johanna never liked me with facial hair either," Jim reflected.

"I remember that short-lived mustache of yours, Dad," Kate replied. "Neither Mom nor I liked it. You didn't look like you with it."

"Johanna said it was like kissing a scrub brush," Jim remembered, and instead of pain in his eyes, there was the bittersweet joy of a fond memory of his beloved wife.

"It's also a Castle woman trait," Alexis said. "I much prefer a clean-shaven face to one covered with a mustache or a goatee or a beard. Although I admit, part of that influence came from a different source than Dad." Rick and Kate exchanged a look, knowing Alexis was referring to Pi.

"Well, that's good to know," Javier said, running a hand down his own freshly shaved jawline.

After Christmas dinner, Martha suggested a carol sing and wouldn't take no for an answer. So the family gathered around the piano as Martha played and sang their way through "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Jingle Bells" (with Martha doing a wicked and seamless segue into "Jingle Bell Rock" from the end of the song), "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," "White Christmas," "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," "Silver Bells," and they ended with "Silent Night."

After the carol sing, the others said their goodbyes; Jim was headed to the cabin the next morning until New Year's Day, Alexis and Javier were meeting Matias for Chinese food, and Martha was ready to head home. Christmas phone calls came in for Kate and Rick from Lanie and Alan, who were spending Christmas in the Chicago suburbs with Alan's family, and had gotten the news that Alan's sister and brother-in-law were expecting a baby in the spring; Kevin and Jenny, who were exhausted after spending half the day with Kevin's family and the other half with Jenny's but promised to come by the next day and see the family; Victoria and Gerald, who also promised to stop by and see the family the next day; and Kate got a text from Madison that she would talk to her soon, but she and Mark wouldn't be coming by Christmas evening.

It had been a busy but wonderful Christmas, and Kate was almost as tired as Lily. Rick had given Kate a first edition of the very first comic book Elektra appeared in, the January 1981 issue of _Daredevil_ , along with a new briefcase for her City Council work, and a pair of diamond earrings for Christmas.

Kate had gotten a first edition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes book, _A Study in Scarlet,_ for Rick, along with new Laser Tag gear for him and Alexis, and an external hard drive for his laptop, since he had been talking about getting one because he needed more space for his computer.

Rick and Kate had leftovers for dinner, Kate nursed Lily, and then Rick cleaned up the kitchen and, on returning to the living room, he sank down on the couch and watched and listened as Kate sat on the floor by the Christmas tree, playing with Lily. Kate handed Lily her differently shaped blocks and gently coached her on which shape block went into which hole in the lid of the block bucket, cheering Lily on when she got it right, and covering Lily's tiny hand with her own to direct the block to the correct slot when Lily didn't and explaining why the block fit in that particular slot.

Kate was so tired that she actually fell asleep before Lily, right there on the floor by the Christmas tree. Rick got up, picked up Lily, and put her in her swing. "I'll be right back, I'm just gonna carry Mommy to bed, Lily," he stage whispered. Lily, facing the Christmas tree, babbled almost absently at her daddy, so enthralled by the Christmas tree was she.

Rick carefully picked Kate up and carried her to their bed. Laying her down gently on her side of the bed, he made quick work of undressing her, slipping one of her sleep shirts over her head before pulling the covers over her, leaning down to press a quick, gentle kiss to her lips, and whispering, "Sweet dreams, Kate. I love you."

He returned to the living room to find Lily still staring happily at the Christmas tree. He picked her up out of her swing, which he hadn't started, and sat down with her on the couch, facing the tree. "You got Mommy to fall asleep for the night," he said. "She played and ate so much today, with you and all of us. Mommy loves Christmas again, and you love Christmas too. You're really gonna miss the pretty tree when we take it down next week, but this is a yearly thing, so it'll be back next year. And Mommy and I get to have all our Christmases with you from now on, Sweetpea. This was your first one, but I promise, I'm going to do everything I can to make them all magical for you."

Lily, feeling tired herself, snuggled up close to her daddy and let his warm arms and his heartbeat and his voice soothe her. "You're amazing, Lily. Every bit as amazing as your mommy. I love watching you and Mommy together. I love it when it's the three of us. I love it when our whole big family is together. I love it when as much of our family as possible is together, like we were today. And I love it when it's just you and me, like right now." Lily snuffled and whimpered a little, sticking a finger in her mouth to rub at her sore gums; teething had begun, but they weren't into the worst of it yet. Rick noticed and said, "Here," as he slipped his finger into her mouth and gently rubbed her gums. "Is that better?" Lily gnawed on his finger furiously in answer, and he said, "Okay, then. Daddy at your service."

Lily babbled a little bit, then resumed gnawing on her daddy's finger, and Rick said, "I hate teething, because I know how much pain it causes you, and I hate it when you're in pain. I want to make everything better for you. Some things, I can't spare you from, though...like the teething. I couldn't spare Alexis from it, either. But I'll do everything I can to make you feel better. I absolutely will." Lily had fallen asleep, lulled to sleep by her father's heartbeat, the pressure of his finger on her sore gums, and the timbre of his voice.

Rick sat holding Lily until he was sure she was soundly asleep. Then he carefully carried her upstairs, and, without waking her up—Lily was a very sound sleeper—changed her diaper and changed her into a red-green-and-white-striped sleeper. He stood at her crib and watched her sleep for a few minutes, marveling at how she was the best parts of himself and Kate, but already so much her own little person, loaded with a personality uniquely her own. That part didn't surprise him; she was half-Beckett and half-Castle, plus a direct descendant of Martha Rodgers, whose picture belonged in the dictionary next to the word 'personality.'

Lily's first Christmas had been a great success. After leaning down to kiss Lily good night and whisper her wishes of sweet dreams and tell her how much he loved her, he quietly stole downstairs, locked up, then headed to his and Kate's bedroom. After washing his hands and brushing his teeth, and changing into his pajamas, he got into bed beside Kate, who rolled over, snuggling into him, her head resting on his shoulder, and said sleepily, "You're the best, Rick. I love you."

Kate instantly fell back to sleep again, lying on her side, her head on Rick's shoulder, her arm thrown across his stomach. He turned his head to kiss her forehead and said into the quiet darkness, "I love you too, Kate," before he wound down enough for sleep to claim him as well.

* * *

2017 ended with everyone off in different directions. Although Mark did not have to carry trays of champagne and hors d'oeuvres, he did spend New Year's Eve at Q3, which was packed to the rafters, with Madison. They would look back comically on the fact that at midnight, Madison was stuck in the kitchen putting out a fire (figuratively, not literally) regarding a misplaced engagement ring (which was found in a glass of champagne instead of on top of the chocolate cake as the nervous prospective groom had requested), while Mark was literally standing in line for the men's room, because that's how busy Q3 was. So he and Maddie didn't get to kiss until 12:03 AM, but as Mark said, and Madison heartily agreed with him, "Better late than never."

Alexis and Javier spent the evening with Matias, taking him out to dinner, but deciding to refrain from returning to Times Square after what had happened the year before, the story of which they had shared with Matias over dinner. When their evening was interrupted by a call from work for Javier, which he excused himself to take, and Alexis and Matias were alone, Matias said to Alexis, "Javier loves you very much."

"I love him very much," Alexis replied.

"Yes, you do," Matias said with a nod. "I never in my life looked at a woman the way Javier looks at you." He laid his hand on Alexis's forearm. "Promise me you'll take care of him, and love him, for the rest of your lives, Alexis. It's important to me. I don't want him to end up like me." His gaze was laser-focused on her, his words pleading in a way she had never heard from him before.

Alexis was a bit taken aback by the intensity of Matias's plea, but, while the steps Javier was taking with Matias were small, and not at all hurried, his COPD obviously meant that Matias was closer to the end of his life than having an unlimited amount of time with which to build some kind of relationship with his son, and Alexis could understand Matias wanting reassurance that Javier wouldn't end up all alone, the way Matias himself had, even though their circumstances were vastly different.

"I promise," Alexis said, and she both and saw Matias visibly relax after she uttered those two simple words that held a world of meaning to both of them, for different reasons. Alexis knew she would be spending the rest of her life with Javier. They hadn't had any formal discussions about it, but they both knew they were in this for the rest of their lives. Alexis wanted with Javier what her dad had found with Kate, the woman she considered her mother, and what Kevin had found with Jenny. She had a feeling that Javier was waiting until she was through with law school to bring up marriage, and that was fine with her. Law school was tough, but she was tougher. The love and support of her whole family was helping Alexis make it through more than anything else; she had already seen a couple of her classmates flame out and leave school, unable to handle the massive amounts of information and the pressure cooker of stress. Alexis was determined that that wasn't going to be her, that she would graduate with her J.D. and become a lawyer and put the bad guys away.

Javier returned then, looking both put out and apologetic. "Body drop," he said, "Ryan and Lanie are on their way, and they're not any happier about it than I am."

"It's your job," Alexis said.

"The scene is secure, according to Hastings, and she's down there with the uniforms already, so thankfully we're not far from your motel, Matias. I'll have time to drop you off, and then you can drop me off, Lex, before you head home."

"I'm going back to your place," Alexis replied, "so I'll be there when you get home. I turned the place into Santa's Workshop with the decorations, so I'll help you take them down tomorrow."

Javier paid for dinner, and when they returned to the motel, he and Alexis both walked Matias back to his room. "It's about 35 minutes early, but Happy New Year, Matias," Alexis said when they were standing outside the door to Matias's room.

"Happy New Year to you too, Alexis," Matias replied. He surprised her by hugging her, the first time they had hugged. Alexis hesitated only a few seconds before hugging him back.

Then, although they had only progressed to a handshake basis at the beginning of December, Matias turned to Javier and hugged him tightly, surprising him. _"Te quiero, a mi hijo. Estar seguro." (_ "I love you, my son. Be safe.")

Javier couldn't say it back yet, couldn't tell Matias he loved him yet. He honestly wasn't sure if he ever would be able to say that. He just knew he didn't hate Matias anymore. So he responded, " _Lo haré y te perdono, Matías." (_ "I will, and I forgive you, Matias.")

When Matias released Javier, his eyes were wet with tears, but the biggest, brightest smile possible graced his whole face. "Thank you," he said thickly, swallowing hard. He clasped Javier's shoulder. "Thank you, Javier."

After Matias was safely inside, Javier's phone buzzed in his pocket. A text from Ryan, he was certain of that without even looking at it. "We'd better get going," Alexis said. She knew not to push Javier on what he had said to his father, but she also knew that forgiving Matias was the biggest step Javier had taken regarding his father yet.

When they arrived at the crime scene, Javier put the car in Park, and he turned to face Alexis for a kiss, but she was already out of the car. Confused, he got out of the car to find her standing there next to the driver's side door. Before he could ask her what was going on, she said, "Because we won't be together at midnight, we're gonna have to celebrate the New Year a little early." She wound her arms around his neck. "Happy New Year, Javier."

He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Happy New Year, Alexis," he said before he gave her a kiss that lingered until Ryan and Lanie, who arrived one right after the other, started busting their chops.

"I thought significant others were banned from crime scenes after Kate and Castle left the 12th," Lanie said. "If I'd known this was an option, I would have brought Alan with me, instead of leaving him at home with the Christopher Reeve _Superman_ movies."

"Make out on your own time, you guys. Javi, you're on the clock," Ryan said.

"Oh, like you wouldn't be kissing Jenny if she were here," Javi retorted.

"Yeah, but Jenny's _ **not**_ here, and it's freezing out here, so let's get to work already. I'd rather not have to freeze any longer than absolutely necessary," Ryan said.

"All right, all right," Javi said. He gave Alexis one more quick kiss. "Text me when you get back to my place so I know you made it there safely, okay?"

"I will," Alexis said. "I love you. Lanie, Kevin," she called, "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Alexis," Lanie said.

"Happy New Year, Alexis," Kevin echoed.

When Alexis reached Javier's apartment, before she even shed her coat, she texted Javier that she was safely at his place, and he texted back that he was glad to hear it and would be home soon.

Martha was out for the evening with a bunch of her theater friends, Victoria and Gerald were attending a New Year's party for 1PP employees, and Jim was still up at his cabin. Alexis, after texting Javier and shedding her coat, hat, gloves, and shoes, called Rick's cell phone to wish him and Kate and Lily a Happy New Year. It was 12:15 AM by this time.

"Javier got called to a crime scene, along with Kevin and Lanie," Alexis replied.

"I don't miss that," Kate said, since they were on speakerphone with Alexis on Rick's phone.

"Neither do I," Rick agreed.

"I'll be home around lunchtime tomorrow," Alexis said.

"Okay, we'll see you then, pumpkin," Rick said. "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year," Kate added again.

"Happy New Year to you guys," Alexis replied.

After they had exchanged "good night"s and "I love you"s, Rick ended the call and replaced his phone on the bedside table. Then he turned back to face Kate; they were relaxing in bed, having ordered in Thai food, put Lily to bed hours ago, and checked on her twice, and then made love. They'd been talking and kissing in the afterglow, when Alexis called.

"I spent a lot of New Year's Eves working, or watching _New Year's Rockin' Eve,_ " Kate reflected as she looked deeply into Rick's eyes. "But this is my favorite way to spend New Year's Eve: all wrapped up with you, Lily sleeping in her room, Alexis having checked in for the night, our parents off doing their own things and okay."

Rick moved closer then, his hands beginning to wander over Kate's body beneath the covers. "Those are all great things," he agreed, "and my favorite was kissing you at midnight."

"We were doing more than kissing at midnight," Kate reminded him.

He gave her a naughty grin. "Yes, we were," he said. He moved even closer, but just as he covered her body with his, she flipped them over so that she was lying on top of him. "Your reflexes are one of the infinite things I love about you," he said. Her eyes sparkled in the dim light of their bedroom, and she was smiling with her whole face, and when he said this, her eyes sparkled even more brightly, and her face lit up even more. He smiled up at her, and Kate fell in love all over again with the crinkles around his eyes, his boyish smile lighting his entire face, his eyes glowing with love and happiness.

"This is going to be a big year for us," she said. "I officially start with the City Council in a few weeks...Lily will be one year old in May...You'll be starting the actual writing of your new book soon...Alexis will be finishing up her first year of law school."

"Ah, yes, the book," Rick said. "I, ah, I've been kicking around a few ideas for it." He looked down for a second, a bit nervously, then looked up into Kate's eyes again. "It's not going to be a Nikki and Rook story. I'm not done with them, but I'm...well, I'm giving them a rest."

"Really?" Kate asked, surprised. This was the first Rick had mentioned about it, although he never did let her see his books until the first copies arrived at their door, before their street dates, when they were available for purchase.

"The way I look at the world has shifted a lot in the last couple of years," he said, rubbing a hand up and down her back, reveling in the softness of her skin and the solid warmth of her, which gave him the courage to continue. "I think I have stories...or at least **a** story...to tell that doesn't involve murder and death and villains trying to kill Nikki and Rook. I have an outline for four chapters, and it's not like anything I've ever written before, but Kate...I really want to do this. It may completely stink-"

"Not possible," Kate said, resting her palms flat on Rick's chest, and her chin on her palms. He could feel her breath on his face. "You are far too good a writer for anything you write to stink, Rick."

He cracked a smile then. "You're kind of biased," he said, gesturing to her current position.

"I'm really not," she said. "I read your books over and over before we ever met. You have a gift with words that very few people in the world are blessed with. Whatever you write is going to be incredible."

Rick grew serious again. "I honestly don't know what the reaction will be, or if Black Pawn will even want to publish it, even with Gina out of the picture," he said. "But I want to take this chance. I **have** to take this chance, and see if it's possible for me to branch out, to be any good at writing anything other than murder, because I can go to that place in my head anytime. It's a part of me, and sometimes it's almost reflexive." He reached up to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear, then wrapped his arms around her. "But these past few months, when I was sitting at the computer, working on the outline, beating my brains out to come up with something, I found myself thinking in totally different directions for the first time since I started writing. And I want to see if I have what it takes to write a good, solid story that doesn't involve at least one dead body."

"You do," Kate told him just as seriously. "You absolutely have what it takes. And I'll be waiting to read this new story in a new genre." She knew better than to ask what genre it was; Rick might not have even definitively decided yet, and she knew that a lot could change in the rewriting and editing processes. "I know this is a big change for you, but you can do this. I know you can, Rick. And you have all of my support." She looked deeply into his eyes. "You've taught me a lot about taking chances, and stepping outside the familiar and what used to be my comfort zone. You're the best chance I ever took, Rick. Have I ever told you that?"

"No," Rick replied, looking at her with such love and such awe.

"You are," she said. "I will always be grateful that you never gave up on me, or on us, and that you're my one and done, and that you love me in a way I never even dreamed it was possible to be loved...and I am so proud to be your wife."

Rick just looked at her for a moment in the dim light of their bedroom. "I didn't know I could have this," he said. "I didn't know I could be this happy. I didn't know you were out there, that our paths would cross and change everything for me, for both of us. I spent a lot of lonely years myself. I had Mother, and Alexis, and there were times I thought, 'Most people don't even get that much in their lives. It's wrong to be greedy. It's wrong to want more.' But no matter how many times I told myself that, you were there in my head, Kate, in my soul. For so many years, I didn't know your name or where you were, but you were the dream I most wanted to come true: to be loved by you, in the strong and wild, deep and passionate, even-the-stuff-that-drives-you-nuts-about-me-is-okay-with-you, for always way that only you have ever loved me, and I love you back that same way, and it's so much better than any dream I ever had." He saw the raw emotion in Kate's eyes at what he had just said, and knew his own eyes were a mirror of hers.

Rick lifted his head from the pillow to rest his forehead against Kate's. Her lips found his, and she kissed him hard, his head falling back against the pillow as she felt his hand come up to cup the back of her skull and his tongue slip under hers as their bodies reawakened with all the love and passion they felt for one another.

Kate moved beneath the covers, aligning their bodies, teasing him as she lowered her head to meet his kiss again. She sank down as he lifted up, and she felt him slip inside her, both of them moaning into the kiss before they made love again.

Spooned together in the afterglow, right on the edge of sleep, Kate whispered, "I love you, Rick."

"I love you too," Rick whispered back sleepily, threading his fingers through the hand of hers that was resting across his chest. "Always." And then Rick and Kate slept in the early hours of a brand-new year.


	76. Chapter 73

_**Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm for, interest in, and support of this story. We are now into January 2018 in this chapter.**_

* * *

Lily loved making noise, trying to talk like all the grown-ups talked. She understood a lot of what they said to her, especially Mommy and Daddy since she saw them all the time, but she just couldn't make her mouth make the same sounds their mouths made when they talked.

But she had inherited a double dose of stubbornness from both sides of her family tree, and she wasn't going to stop trying until she was talking like the grown-ups.

Mommy and Daddy were both encouraging her to talk. Her first word was a big deal to them—at least, that was the conclusion she reached after hearing them talk about it so much to her, and even Alexis and Gram and Grandpa Jim and Uncle Kevin and Aunt Jenny and Uncle Javi kept asking if Lily was any closer to saying her first real word.

Mommy was doing something she called "coaching."

"I promised myself I wouldn't be **that** mom before you were even born," she said to Lily early one morning when she was getting Lily dressed for the day, "but you have the most wonderful, amazing daddy in the world, Lily, and it's an easy sound to make, or at least everything I've read says it is, so, can you work on that? 'Da.' 'Da-da.' To see his face the first time he hears you say his name...It would be everything, Lily. Cra—uh, crud. I'm not putting pressure on you, sweetie, I swear I'm not. But 'Da' as your first word would be a wonderful gift for your wonderful daddy."

Daddy's approach was pretty much the same...but at the same time, it was the exact opposite. "Okay, Sweetpea, you're getting closer and closer to talking, and you only get one first word. I was Alexis's first word. This time? It's your mommy's turn, because your mommy is the most extraordinary, incredible woman on the planet, and you're gonna grow up knowing that. She deserves this. 'Mmmm.' That's the main sound. 'Mmmmaaa. Ma. Mama!' That's the word, Lily: 'Mama.' Or just 'Ma.' One syllable is easier. 'Ma.' Not that I'm pressuring you, but your first word should really be Kate's. Mommy's. Mama. Ma."

This went on for many, many days, and Lily tried saying the words, making the sounds, that Mommy and Daddy wanted her to make, coached her to make. The moment was coming when Lily Castle would speak her first word, and it would be a very memorable moment for everyone in her family, and especially for her mommy and daddy.

* * *

"Babe? Are you asleep?" Kate whispered in the pre-dawn darkness of the January morning.

Though his eyes were closed, Rick replied, "No." He opened his eyes and looked at Kate. "Good morning, Councilwoman Beckett," he said with a smile.

"I'm not officially a Councilwoman until I'm sworn in," Kate said, as she had been saying at least once a day every day for the past several weeks.

"But today's the day," Rick said, his pride and excitement clear in his voice.

"Part of me still can't believe this is actually happening," Kate said.

"You earned this. You ran a clean, honest campaign, and you really connected with the people. You're going to be great," Rick assured her.

Kate threaded her fingers through his. "I couldn't do any of this without you," she replied. "So many Council members are being sworn in today, and none of us gets to give a speech, because otherwise, we'd all be there for at least three days, and since I won't get to say anything after I'm sworn in, I want you to know that now, before we're in that whole big crowd of people, and everything's happening."

Rick smiled and brought his and Kate's intertwined hands to his lips, gently kissing the back of Kate's hand. "We're partners in every way," he affirmed, "but thank you for the reminder."

They heard Lily babbling over the nursery monitor. She was not saying actual words yet, but she was getting closer. "I'll get Sweetpea while you hit the showers," Rick told Kate. They kissed, then got out of bed, Kate heading into the bathroom, and Rick heading upstairs to get Lily. Now that she was 7 months old, Lily was eating actual food, and her favorite breakfast now was mashed bananas, which were spoon fed to her, along with a handful of Cheerios.

When Kate entered the kitchen, Lily was strapped into her high chair and Rick was feeding her her bananas and encouraging her as she ate her Cheerios. He hadn't dressed her yet, since she had proven to be something of a messy eater, but at least, to Rick and Kate's mutual relief, she was not a picky eater.

Kate was wearing a white button-down blouse with her navy blue blazer and slacks, and black boots. "Lily, you are a mess," she said affectionately, making a funny face at Lily, which made the baby laugh. Lily had mashed bananas all over her face and a Cheerio stuck to her cheek.

"I'll clean up The Sweetpea before I clean up myself," he said, "and you can get her dressed. Sound good?"

"That'll work," Kate agreed. Rick was back with one of Lily's washcloths in a minute, washing her face. Then, after planting a smacking kiss on her clean cheek, he said, "Okay, Daddy's turn to get cleaned up and dressed." He planted another smacking kiss on Kate's cheek before disappearing into the master bedroom.

Kate unstrapped Lily from her high chair and carried her upstairs to her room. "I'm so glad you and your daddy and our whole wonderful family are going to be there today, Lily," Kate said.

The sound of a key in the front door was immediately followed by Alexis calling out, "Dad? Mom? Lily?"

"Upstairs!" Kate shouted.

Alexis appeared in the doorway of Lily's room a moment later, Javier right behind her.

"We thought we'd ride over with you," Alexis said by way of greeting. "Oh my gosh, Lily, you look adorable!"

Kate had just finished dressing Lily, who was wearing a houndstooth babydoll tunic with a tiny black bow under the piping beneath the crewneck collar and black velour leggings with a tiny pair of black socks and black slip-on Mary Jane crib shoes with criss-crossing elastic straps across the tops of Lily's feet. "Can you watch her while I grab her brush and a couple of barrettes?" Kate asked.

"Sure!" Alexis exclaimed, hurrying across the room. Javier leaned against the doorjamb, his arms folded across his chest, and smiled as he watched Lily scoop Alexis up for snuggles and blow a raspberry on her belly, which made her squeal. "Oh, oops, I shouldn't wind you up, Lily," Alexis said, quickly growing serious. "Big day today for Mom. She's getting sworn in as a City Councilwoman." Lily screeched again and reached out, grabbing two fistfuls of Alexis's hair and tugging. Alexis grimaced. "And you're still fascinated with the hair, I see," she said.

Javier crossed the room quickly, gently prying Lily's fingers from Alexis's hair one hand at a time. "You've got quite the grip there, Lily," he said. "Just wait 'til we get a video game controller in these little hands."

"Not for several years yet," Kate said as she approached with Lily's hairbrush and two white barrettes in her hand. Alexis helped Lily sit up on the changing table while Kate brushed and fixed Lily's hair.

"And you're ready, Lily," Kate said, straightening one of the barrettes.

"Where's Castle, anyway?" Javier asked.

"Right here," Rick piped up as he entered Lily's room, impeccably dressed in a gray jacket, with black pants and button down shirt, and carrying two neckties. "Which one?" he asked, holding first the black-and-white-striped necktie against his shirtfront, and then the solid black tie.

"I like the stripes," Alexis said.

"The solid one," Esposito said decisively.

"Tiebreaker? No pun intended," Rick said, looking to Kate.

"You don't absolutely have to wear a tie to this, babe," Kate told him.

"You're sure?" Rick asked.

"I'm sure," she said.

Alexis was holding Lily again, and they and Javier watched as Kate crossed the room and whispered something in Rick's ear. Rick did a comic double-take. "Really?" he asked.

Kate gave him a saucy grin. "Really," she said.

"Okay, I'll just go put these ties back where they go for now," Rick said.

The doorbell buzzed, and Kate said, "I'll get that, if you guys can watch Lily for a minute?"

"Sure, Mom," Alexis said. Kate hurried downstairs; her dad was at the door, along with Lanie and Alan.

As Alexis, carrying Lily, and Javier headed downstairs to join the others, Alexis said, "You know what they were talking about, right?"

Javier pulled a face. "I'm trying not to think about it."

"Will it weird you out too much if I tell you that I want this to be us someday?" Alexis said.

"If by 'this,' you mean a home, kids, inappropriate innuendo in front of our family, then I'm in," Javier said. "I wanted to wait until you got through law school, though, to make anything...legally binding."

"You're such a sweet talker," Alexis quipped.

"I'm trying to get images of Castle and Beckett out of my head that I never wanted in there in the first place. Cut me a little slack," Javier said.

"I wasn't hinting at anything," Alexis said.

"Castles don't do subtle," Javier said. "I'll be be your side for the rest of my life. And I know how important law school is to you. So I'm not popping any questions or making anything official until that's done, but I'm in this for the rest of our lives, Lex."

They were downstairs by now. "Well, just so you know," Alexis told Javier, "whenever you do pop the question, I guarantee you'll get an answer in the affirmative."

Kate had answered the door to find her father, Lanie and Alan all three on the other side. Jim's face lit up when he saw Lily in Alexis's arms. "Lily Jo, you're so pretty!" he exclaimed. He hugged Kate and as he released her, he said, "She looks more like you every day, Katie." Alexis handed Lily to Jim before he could ask. "And you also look very pretty, Alexis. Nice to see you again, Javier."

"Thank you, Jim," Alexis said.

"You too, Mr. Beckett," Javier replied.

"I had lunch with Professor Harvey last week," Jim said to Alexis. "Not to tell tales out of school, but he was very impressed with you last semester."

"Are we talking about the same Professor Harvey? 'Hard-Nosed' Harvey, the Civil Procedure professor whose class I barely survived, and my final grade in that class I'm still waiting to get? That Professor Harvey?" Alexis asked.

"One and the same," Jim replied. "I can't rightly say law school gets any easier as you go along, but you're definitely one of the stars of your class, Alexis. You have a great future ahead of you in law."

"Congratulations, Councilwoman," Lanie said, giving Kate a big hug after Jim had turned his attention to Lily and Alexis.

"Thanks, Lanie, but I haven't been-"

"Sworn in yet, which is a mere technicality that is going to be remedied in about an hour," Lanie interrupted.

"I'll be recording your swearing in with my new phone," Alan said, holding up his phone then.

"Thank you, Alan," Kate said, giving him a quick hug next.

Rick's phone binged then. It was a text from Martha, who was caught in traffic, and had just told the cabbie to take her directly to City Hall instead of to the loft. After relaying Martha's message, Rick said, "Okay, so Mother's meeting us there, along with Ryan and Jenny, and Victoria and Gerald."

"Maddie said she and Mark will meet us there too," Kate said, having spoken to Maddie the night before.

"So that's everyone then, right?" Lanie asked.

Kate did a quick count in her head. "Yes, it should be," she agreed.

Rick grabbed the packed diaper bag he had stowed by the front door before getting ready himself. Kate pulled Lily's stroller out of the foyer closet and expertly opened it. After everyone was bundled into their winter coats, gloves, and hats for those who chose to wear them to ward off the January chill, Jim strapped Lily into her stroller, and everyone headed downstairs. Alexis and Javier got into the backseat of Rick's car, one on either side of Lily's carseat. Lanie and Alan were in Alan's car, and Jim brought his own car. They headed to City Hall in a convoy then, to meet the rest of their family for Kate's swearing in.

* * *

City Hall was a scene of organized chaos, as all of the new City Council members were being sworn in on this day. They were going numerically by district, though, which meant that Kate would be the first new City Council member sworn in, since she was representing District 1.

Victoria and Gerald Gates were waiting for Kate and Rick and the others at City Hall. Martha found them right before Kate, Rick, and the others did. Javier was texting with Ryan, trying to direct him and Jenny where to find the rest of the group. Madison arrived with Mark just ahead of the Ryans.

Martha and Jim were both talking to Lily after Martha had unbundled the baby from her winter coat, hat, and mittens.

The New York State Attorney General brought the proceedings to order, and after his opening remarks, he said, "I want to call up here now a great jurist, United States District Judge Emily Hubbard, whom you've all heard of." Scattered applause rang through the City Council chamber. When the applause petered out, he continued, "When you're a judge, you know, sometimes one ruling makes you famous, but she is an extraordinary judge in what I and many of us think is the best trial court in the United States, who has, for years and years, understood and put into action the real meaning of equal justice under law. This is a judge who is _**all**_ about equal justice under law, and I cannot think of anyone who is more appropriate to swear in our Council members. At this time, I would like to ask Judge Hubbard to come up here, and also Kate Beckett, who will be representing District 1 in Manhattan once she is sworn in. Your Honor? Councilwoman Beckett?"

Judge Hubbard, a sixtyish woman with glasses and a blonde bob, wearing her judicial robe, went up to the podium and shook hands with the Attorney General. Kate looked around at her family surrounding her, taking in each of their faces individually, ending with Lily, and then Rick. "We're right beside you," Rick whispered so only Kate could hear him.

Judge Hubbard and the State Attorney General shook hands, and then exchanged a few words away from the microphone while Kate stepped up onto the platform, followed by Rick, Lily in his arms, Alexis, who was holding Javier's hand, Jim, and Martha. The rest of the family moved closer to the podium, and Alan, Victoria, Madison, and Kevin all had their phones out and recording, just waiting for Kate's oath of office to be administered now.

"Before administering the oath of office," Judge Hubbard said, "I just want to say how happy and proud I am to participate in the inauguration of Kate Beckett as City Councilwoman. Her achievements, which you've heard about over the past several months, speak for themselves. She is obviously a young woman of great talent and of great heart, who is destined to do a great deal of good for _**all**_ the people of this greatest city. And now the oath."

She turned to Kate then, and directed her, "Please raise your right hand."

Kate raised her right hand. She was standing opposite Judge Hubbard on the opposite side of the podium, and would be speaking directly into the microphone in front of her, while Judge Hubbard had her own free-standing microphone into which she would be speaking.

Rick, holding Lily, stood at Kate's right side, close enough to the microphone that if he so much as whispered, the microphone would pick it up. Alexis stood next to her father and baby sister, and Javier stood next to Alexis. Jim Beckett stood at Kate's left side, and Martha stood next to him. Lanie and Alan, Kevin and Jenny, Victoria and Gerald, and Madison and Mark were right up near the platform on which the others were standing, and Alan, Kevin, Victoria, and Madison all had their phones recording Kate's inauguration. Kate took a deep breath, looked quickly at Rick and Lily, Alexis and Javier, then at her father and Martha, and looked down on the floor at the rest of her chosen family, flashing them a quick smile before her expression turned serious, as the occasion warranted.

"'I, Katherine Beckett-" Judge Hubbard began.

"I, Katherine Beckett," Kate repeated.

"'-do solemnly swear-'"

"-do solemnly swear-"

"'-that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America-'"

"-that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America-"

"-and that I will support the Constitution of the State of New York-'"

"-and that I will support the Constitution of the State of New York-"

"'-and that I will support the Charter of the City of New York—'"

"-and that I will support the Charter of the City of New York-"

"'-and that I will faithfully discharge the duties-'"

"-and that I will faithfully discharge the duties-"

"'-of the Office of Council Member of the First District in the Borough of Manhattan-'"

"-of the Office of Council Member of the First District in the Borough of Manhattan-"

"-County of New York-"

"-County of New York-"

"-in the City of New York-"

"-in the City of New York-"

"-according to the best of my abilities.'"

"-according to the best of my abilities," Kate concluded.

Judge Hubbard smiled and extended her hand. "Congratulations, Councilwoman Beckett," she said.

Kate shook Judge Hubbard's hand as she replied, "Thank you, Judge Hubbard." Applause swept through the gallery, but Kate turned and looked at Rick, only having eyes for him, beaming at her proudly, holding Lily, who was waving and smiling, and she quickly hugged and kissed him before kissing Lily's forehead.

Kate had just taken a step back to look at Lily, and that was when it happened.

Lily, her eyes fastened on Kate, exclaimed, "Ma!"-and since Rick and Kate were both still standing right by the microphone, the entire chamber heard Lily's first word...and the immediate verbal reactions of her shocked, excited, proud, happy parents.

"Did she just say 'Ma'?" Kate asked, her eyes wide with shock and filling with tears at the same time.

"She did!" Rick practically shouted. "That's my girl!" He pointed at Kate then and addressed the baby in his arms. "Lily," Rick said right into the baby's ear, "who's that?"

"Ma!" Lily exclaimed again. "Ma Ma Ma Ma Ma!" Then Lily reached out for Kate.

"Oh, Lily!" Kate exclaimed. She took Lily from Rick and hugged her close, raining kisses all over her face. "That's right, sweet girl. I'm your mama, and I always will be."

The rest of the family started going crazy over Lily's first word, which had been captured on the phone recordings Alan, Kevin, Victoria, and Madison were still filming. They were applauding and cheering for both Kate and Lily.

TV cameras recorded and newspaper photographers snapped pictures with bright flashbulbs all around them, but Kate, Rick, and Lily didn't pay any attention, all of their focus being on Lily, who was smiling and babbling and saying "Ma!" every few syllables.

As the next City Council member was called up to the podium to be sworn in, and he and his family moved forward for his swearing in, all Kate could see and hear was her family all around her, and all she could feel was Rick's hand at the small of her back as he began ushering her off the platform, and the weight of Lily in her arms, alternately babbling and then looking right at Kate and exclaiming, "Ma!"

Everyone was mindful of Lily in Kate's arms as they all crowded around to congratulate and hug Kate, and then kiss Lily or rub her back or tousle her hair and tell her how proud of her they were. Alexis and Jim reached them first, with Martha half a step behind, and after the trio had hugged and kissed and congratulated both Kate and Lily, Lanie swooped in for big hugs, followed by Javi and Kevin, Maddie, and Victoria, while Alan filmed the whole thing before handing his phone off to Lanie to hug Kate, and to pat Lily's back, for himself. Mark and Gerald both shook Kate's hand and congratulated her before complimenting Lily, though neither man spoke to Lily directly.

"I've been coaching her to say 'Dada,'" Kate told Rick.

"I've been working with her on 'Mama,'" Rick confessed. "I was Alexis's first word. It's only right that you're Lily's first word."

"Ma!" Lily exclaimed again, placing her tiny palm on Kate's cheek.

Kate took Lily's tiny hand in hers and kissed her palm. "That's right, Lily. I'm your mommy."

"You're all invited back to our place to celebrate Kate's swearing in, and Lily's first word," Rick told everyone then.

Lily continued to call Kate "Ma" on the ride home.

At the loft, once everyone had a drink in hand—ranging from bottles of water for Jim, Javier, Kevin, Alan, Victoria, Gerald, and Mark, all of whom would be heading to their respective offices after the short celebration, to glasses of wine for Lanie, Kate, Rick, Madison, Jenny, Martha, and Alexis—Jim Beckett raised his water bottle and said, "I know Rick is the professional wordsmith, but he agreed to defer to me today." Lily was seated in her swing, flanked by her mommy and daddy.

"Katie, I've known you since before you were born. And I knew even then that someday, you would take on the world. Your resilience and dedication to others are an inspiration to me, to everyone in this room, and very reminiscent of your mother. I love you, and I'm proud of you, and proud to be your father.

"And Miss Lily Jo, you seem to have inherited Martha's sense of dramatic timing. Like your mom and your Grandma Johanna, there's not a doubt in my mind that the day will come, many, many years from now, that you will take on the world as your Grandma Johanna did, and as your mommy is doing right now...nor is there a doubt in my mind that you will be as formidable and as successful on your chosen road as the two of them." He held his water bottle aloft. "To my daughter, Councilwoman Kate Beckett, and my granddaughter Lily Castle, who spoke her first word today: I love you both, I'm proud of you both, and I can't wait to see what you both do next."

"To Kate and Lily," Rick said, and everyone echoed him as they clinked glasses and water bottles.

The celebration broke up after that, since almost everyone had to return to work, and Alexis only took one sip of her wine because she was headed to class. Lanie had the day off, and Madison was going to work later in the evening, but Lanie was having lunch with Alan, and Madison was having lunch with Mark, so everyone else left after one last round of congratulations and hugs for Kate and Lily both.

Later that afternoon, while Lily was napping, Kate and Rick stood at her crib, watching their baby daughter sleep.

"'Dada' will probably be Lily's next word," Kate said softly. "We'll keep working on it."

"There's plenty of time for that," Rick replied, wrapping his arms around Kate's waist from behind and resting his chin lightly on the crown of her head. "Her first word was exactly what it should have been: Ma."

Kate leaned back against him. "She's so amazing," she said.

"She takes after her mother," Rick replied.

Kate turned around in Rick's arms then, so she was facing him. "She has a lot of her father in her too. Giving me an incredible, magical surprise when I didn't expect it at all is definitely a trait of yours."

"Yours too," Rick said, his hands wandering lazily up and down her sides, over to her hips, pulling her closer as her arms went around his neck, and his hands drifted slowly up her back.

"And at the same time, she's already so much her own person," Kate said. "My dad was right: Lily's going to take on the world someday."

"And she'll win," Rick declared. "We're gonna be right there backing her up."

Kate looked over her shoulder at Lily, contentedly sleeping in her crib before turning back to meet Rick's gaze, her eyes sparkling, as she said, "Yeah, we will." And Kate could see it, in her mind's eye: Lily, growing up, supported by her large, loving family in every single one of her endeavors, just as her future brother, or sister, would be. Growing old with Rick, raising their children together, watching their kids grow up and go out into the world to take it on in their own ways...Sitting on the porch of the Hamptons house one distant day from this moment, watching Lily's kids run around and play, with Rick right by her side…

That was exactly what was going to happen. Kate knew it with absolute certainty in that moment.

"We will be there backing her up, for all of it," Kate said before stretching up on her toes to seal that promise, to seal their future, by kissing Rick.


	77. Chapter 74

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story, and for 1,001 reviews so far. Knowing this story means so much to you is motivating and humbling at the same time, in the best possible ways. Knowing these characters mean as much to you as they do to me makes me determined to give them, and you, the best that I possibly can as a writer in every chapter.  
**_

* * *

Two days after Kate was sworn in as a City Councilwoman, she was getting ready to go to her former campaign office, which was now her personal office in District 1, for her first day of work as a City Councilwoman. Rick was going to stay at home with Lily, and Kate would be coming home to have lunch with them. "Okay, Mommy's going to work. 'Bye, Lily. See you at lunch." She gave Lily a big snuggle and a kiss before handing her over to Rick.

"Ma!" Lily exclaimed. And then, looking from Kate to Rick, Lily exclaimed, "Da!"

"Lily!" Rick and Kate exclaimed in unison, surprised and proud all over again.

"Da!" Lily said, unconsciously clapping her hands together as she looked at Rick. "Da Da Da Da Da Da Da!"

Rick had tears in his eyes. "That's right, Lily, I'm Dada," he said, holding her closer to him and more tightly.

Kate, blinking away tears of joy, just soaked in the moment, her gaze laser focused on Rick and Lily. "That's our girl," she said proudly, brushing her hand down the back of Lily's silky dark brown hair. She looked at Rick and felt herself fall in love with him all over again at the look on his face as he looked from Lily to Kate, a look of pure, unadulterated joy and wonder. "You have fun with Daddy, and I'll see you both at lunch."

"Ma, Da! Mama, Dada!" Lily exclaimed, waving her arms at them as if to say, _Okay, Mommy, you kissed me. Now you're supposed to kiss Daddy bye._

Kate leaned in and kissed Rick. "Have a great morning, you two," she said. "I love you both."

Rick swiped at his eyes with one hand. "We will," he said. "You have a great morning too, and we love you too." Kate turned back at the front door, Rick still beaming, and he waved Lily's little hand at Kate before waggling his fingers in a wave at her too. Kate blew them a kiss before leaving.

At work, Kate made her choices on which committees she wanted to be part of, finally deciding, after most of the morning, to join the Committees on Fire and Criminal Justice Services; Women's Issues; and State and Federal Legislation. After filling out the necessary paperwork and sending it over to City Hall via messenger, it was time for her to go home for lunch.

When she walked into the loft, she called out, "Rick, Lily, I'm home!" She could neither see nor hear her husband or baby, and she was momentarily confused as to why the living room furniture had been moved out of place, and why the coffee table was upside down on the sofa.

She was momentarily confused until she heard baby giggles and then Rick's head popped up over the back of the sofa, his eyes alight with mischief and glee. "You're here!" Rick exclaimed. "Wait right there, okay?"

Kate dropped her briefcase and messenger bag in the foyer. "And what am I waiting right here for?" she asked.

"This," Rick said. He looked down then before dropping out of Kate's sight once more, and she heard him say, "Okay, Sweetpea, show Mommy what you showed me earlier."

Lily crawled out from behind the couch, Rick right behind her on all fours. As Kate's jaw fell open in surprise, and she dropped to her knees on the floor, tears welling in her eyes again, Rick gently picked Lily up, her arms and legs still windmilling, and then just as gently placed her back down on the floor, headed right for Kate.

Lily held her head up and gifted her mommy with a drooly smile as she shrieked, "Mama!" and proceeded to quickly motor her way over to her proud, happy, and surprised mother.

Kate caught Lily up in her arms and covered her with hugs and kisses. "Lily, you're crawling!" she exclaimed.

Rick, still on all fours, crawled over to Kate and Lily. "She totally surprised me during tummy time," he said. "One minute we were chatting, the next she just took off. We decided to surprise you when you came home for lunch, didn't we, Lily?"

"Mama," she said. Then she looked at Rick again. "Dada."

"She knows who we are, and now she's crawling," Kate marveled. Then another thought occurred to her: "We've got to babyproof this place."

"I'm planning on sending an SOS text to Ryan after lunch and seeing if he's willing to come over and help us out, since he's done this twice, and way more recently than I have," Rick replied.

Kate set Lily back on the floor. "Lily, go to Daddy," she said.

Happy to oblige and to show off, Lily crawled back across the rug to Rick, who scooped her up, held her upside-down, and blew raspberries on her belly until she was shrieking with laughter.

After they had all eaten lunch, Lily wanted to continue crawling, so Rick and Kate sat at opposite ends of the living room rug, and Lily crawled back and forth between them, with both of her parents alternately taking pictures and filming, and after Lily fell asleep, exhausted from all the activity, they were both sending videos of Lily crawling to the rest of their family and friends. Rick also sent a quick text to Ryan after sending him video of Lily crawling, saying, "SOS, Uncle Kevin, Daddy hasn't babyproofed an apartment in 24 years. Can you please help him?"

Ryan replied almost immediately, "I'll come over after work and help your daddy get everything squared away, Lily. Congratulations to my favorite goddaughter on learning how to crawl. Walking won't be far behind, I'm sure."

Kate returned to her office for the rest of the afternoon, and then when she got home, Ryan was already there, helping Rick babyproof the loft. Lily was squawking and babbling unhappily from her bouncy seat, wanting to be down on the floor crawling and playing.

"Hey, Beckett," Ryan called from the kitchen, where he was finishing up attaching a latch to a lower cabinet door. "Great timing. We're almost done." He gave the latch a final once-over before nodding in satisfaction and straightening up. "Castle's upstairs, finishing up in the nursery."

Kate noticed that the living room furniture and coffee table had been returned to their regular spaces. "Thanks for all your help, Ryan. We really appreciate it."

"No problem," Ryan replied with a smile. "Anything for Lily."

Kate put her briefcase and messenger bag down on the kitchen counter and then went and got Lily out of her bouncy seat. "Let's go see how Daddy's doing in your room, shall we?"

"Dada!" Lily exclaimed as Kate carried her upstairs to the nursery.

Kate, carrying Lily, walked into the nursery and found Rick putting the last safety latch on the lower dresser drawers. "You and Ryan have been busy," Kate said by way of greeting.

Rick turned his head and looked over his shoulder at Kate and Lily. "We did the downstairs first, but don't worry, I did our bedroom and bathroom. Ryan handled the living room and kitchen, and we both worked on my office. Then I came up here to do Lily's room and the hall bathroom." He stood up and crossed the room, giving first Kate and then Lily kisses of greeting. "And I know you hated having to watch Uncle Kevin and me from your bouncy seat, Sweetpea, but we had to make everything safe for you now that you're crawling."

Ryan called from downstairs then, "I'm all finished in the kitchen, Castle!"

"Thanks, Ryan! We'll be right down!" Castle shouted back.

After they had returned downstairs and Rick and Kate both thanked Ryan again for all his help, he said, "Like I said, anything for Lily. And you," he said, reaching over to tickle Lily under the chin, "now that you're crawling, Sarah Grace really wants a playdate." Shifting his attention to Beckett and Castle, he continued earnestly, "She's always been great with Nick, and I know she'll be great with Lily."

"Maybe you and Jenny and the kids can come over this weekend," Rick suggested.

"I'll talk to Jenny about it tonight and get back with you," Ryan replied as he put on his coat. "Catch you later."

"Catch you later, Ryan," Kate said.

"Thanks again for all your help, Ryan," Rick added as he, Kate and Lily walked Ryan to the door.

After Ryan had gone home to his own family, Rick went to wash up and start putting dinner together for himself, Kate, and Lily. After dinner, Lily showed off her crawling prowess in the living room, and then after her bath, and Rick and Kate alternating reading pages of _Goodnight Moon,_ Lily fell asleep.

Rick and Kate stood at their daughter's crib once more, gazing down at Lily as she slept. "She's crawling," Kate marveled.

"And talking," Rick added. "Her first birthday is a little less than four months away."

"I wonder if she'll be walking by then," Kate mused.

"Probably before then," Rick replied.

"Lily has always been her own person, but now she's becoming even more her own person," Kate said.

"Her own incredible person, just like her mom," Rick said.

"Just like her dad," Kate said.

"Like both of us," Rick amended.

"Like both of us," Kate agreed, her hands finding their way beneath his shirt to glide slowly up the bare skin of his back. "I've heard the second kid is nothing like the first. But I hope we're still lucky with the next kid."

"Are you trying to tell me something, Kate?" Rick asked.

"I'm not pregnant, if that's what you're getting at," Kate replied, "but I do want another one...as long as you still do too?"

"I'm up for as many kids as you are," Rick said, wrapping his arms around Kate's waist and pulling her in closer to him. "And I believe I promised you a mini-Castle."

"And you are a man of your word," Kate said, serious and flirtatious at the same time.

"When it comes to you, always," Rick replied seriously.

"Not yet," Kate said. "But we can start trying in May of next year."

In the dim light of Lily's nursery, she saw the wheels turning in Rick's mind and knew he was puzzling out her reasoning. After several seconds, she saw the look of triumph in his eyes, and he said, "A three-year age difference between Lily and Baby Beckett-Castle Number Two. We start trying in May of 2019, and as long as the baby doesn't come two months early, if you get pregnant right away, the baby will be born in February of 2020. Lily will turn three on May 12, 2020, so she'll turn three before the baby turns one, and there'll be a three-year age difference between them."

"Exactly," Kate said, smiling. "Lily will be walking and talking by then...talking more than she is now, I mean. She'll be potty trained, I hope."

"She will," Rick assured Kate. "Girls are fairly easy to potty train. But if you get your mini-Castle the next time around, I can finally do the thing with the Cheerios I've always wanted to try."

Kate considered this for a moment, then said, "You know what, I don't think I want to know about this Cheerio thing yet. I have a feeling it would just make me roll my eyes."

Rick grinned unrepentantly. "I **know** it's gonna make you roll your eyes."

"Then it can wait," Kate said. "And Lily can start preschool when she's three. We'll have to be sure that she knows that the new baby isn't replacing her-"

"We will," Rick assured her. "So, May 2019 we start trying again."

"You're okay with that?" Kate asked. "I'll be settled into the City Council by then, and Lily will be old enough to understand that she's going to be a big sister, and hopefully to understand that the new baby doesn't mean that we'll love her any less, and you'll have your new book finished."

"I am so much better than okay with that, and Lily will be fine with it too, because we're going to raise our kids to be friends and allies and not just brother and sister," Rick said. "Or sister and sister, as the case may be."

"Then May 2019 it is," Kate said.

"Deal," Rick said before sweeping Kate up into his arms and carrying her out of Lily's nursery, down the stairs, across the living room, into the master bedroom, and to their bed, where he gently laid her down.

"Showoff," she said affectionately as she pulled him down to her.

And then there was no talking for quite a while.

* * *

"You're being awfully secretive about where we're going," Madison said as Mark drove down I-495. "We're obviously leaving the city. It's the 'why' and the 'where' I can't figure out."

Mark took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Well," he said, "there are two reasons we're going where we're going."

"And where are we going?" Madison asked as Mark changed lanes.

"Huntington," Mark replied.

"Long Island?" Madison asked, confused. "We're going on an overnight to Long Island?"

"Blues Traveler is playing The Paramount tonight," Mark said.

"I **love** Blues Traveler!" Madison enthused.

"I remembered," Mark said, cracking a smile, "which is why I got the tickets. But that's not the only reason we're going to Huntington today." He paused. "There are some people I want you to meet."

"Your mom and The Coach live in Boston," Madison said.

"It's not my mom and The Coach," Mark replied patiently, "but they are family and they do mean a lot to me."

"I thought you said you didn't have any siblings?" Madison said.

"I don't," Mark replied.

"So, what, it's your favorite aunt and uncle or something?" Madison asked.

"Or something," Mark said.

"Mark!" Madison exclaimed, exasperated. "Stop beating around the bush and just tell me."

Mark sighed. "You're right," he said. "I should have told you before we were halfway there. I just...I wasn't sure how you'd take it." After a long pause, he said quietly, "We're going to see Kim's parents. Kim's birthday was yesterday, and we always get together as soon after the day as we can. And honestly, I want you to meet them, and I want **them** to meet **you**."

"Why?" Madison asked. "You haven't even introduced me to your own mother and stepfather yet."

"Trust me when I tell you I'm doing you a favor there," Mark said. "You'll meet them too. Soon, if you want. But I've stayed close to Jack and Anna. I was always closer to Kim's parents than my mom and stepdad. They were more parents to me than my mom and Coach. They'll always be family to me. But I've been telling them about you every chance I get since the day after Thanksgiving, and they've been wanting to meet you, and I've been wanting you to meet them, and when I got the Blues Traveler tickets for this weekend, I thought we could spend some time with them before the concert." He glanced over at her before returning his attention to the road. "I'm not trying to freak you out or make you uncomfortable, but they matter to me a lot, Maddie, and so do you, so I want you to meet."

Madison wasn't really sure how to react to that. She fully expected to be meeting Mark's mother and stepfather at some point; she had even secretly read a couple of books on football, and watched the movie version of _Friday Night Lights_ in an effort to be able to follow at least some of what Coach would say, since, according to Mark, the man lived and breathed football. And she had told her own parents that she was dating someone, and that it was serious, which it was, but she hadn't yet broached the subject of taking Mark to meet her own parents, though she knew it would most likely happen before spring. Mark had told her a lot about his late wife, and a little about her parents, but she didn't know until now that Mark was still so close to his in-laws that he felt it important that Madison meet them, and that they meet Madison.

"You don't need to be nervous at all," he assured her as they entered Huntington. "Jack and Anna are two of the greatest people on the planet, and they can't wait to meet you." Madison looked at Mark doubtfully. Their beloved son-in-law, tragically widowed on September 11, when the collapse of the World Trade Center took the life of their only daughter, and they were going to be meeting her—for all intents and purposes, their daughter's successor. Madison was not expecting a warm reception at all.

Mark drove quickly through town, and fifteen minutes later, he was pulling the car into the driveway of a two-story sunshine yellow house with a wraparound front porch and dormant rose bushes planted in the front yard near the house. As he cut the engine, the front door opened, and a couple in their early 60s, the woman with long blonde hair shot through with gray and pulled back in a braid, and the man with a full head of gray hair that made him look distinguished, both of them wearing parkas (his navy blue, hers dark green), came rushing out of the house to meet them. Madison barely had her car door open before the couple had engulfed Mark in an embrace. "It's good to see you, son," she heard the man, Jack, say as he gave Mark a couple of hearty thumps on the back between his shoulder blades before releasing him.

"It's good to see you too, Jack," Mark replied with a smile. "I'm sorry it's been so long."

"Hey, you're an important man doing important work. We understand," Jack said earnestly.

His wife, Anna, who had still been hugging Mark, stepped back to look at him. "You should be wearing a hat, Mark. You know you get headaches in the winter if you don't wear some kind of hat, even a baseball cap."

Mark stuck his hand in his coat pocket and removed a New York Giants ski cap. Stretching it atop his head, he asked, "Better?"

"Much," Anna replied, but then she tugged it down so it covered his ears. "But you have to keep your ears covered."

"I know," Mark said cheekily. "I did that on purpose because I knew that's how you would react."

"Oh, you," Anna said fondly before hugging Mark again. "You look wonderful. Better than you've looked in a very long time." Madison had stood beside her open car door, watching the exchange between Mark and his late wife's parents, and feeling very out of place...

Until the moment Anna squeezed Mark's hands in hers, walked around the front of Mark's car, and stopped in front of Madison. "And you must be the reason Mark looks so wonderful and is so happy. I'm Anna Holbrook, Mark's mother-in-law. And that handsome lug over there is my husband Jack. We're so pleased to finally meet you, Madison, so that we can thank you."

"Th-thank me?" Madison stuttered.

"Yes," Jack Holbrook said as he joined his wife in front of Madison.

"Mark is our son. We've waited a long time for him to find you, Madison," Anna said.

"You have?" Madison asked, surprised.

"Not a day goes by that we don't think about Kim," Jack said wistfully. "But her mother and Mark and I...we are the three people who knew her the best, and it took Mark a long time to get used to the idea that loving someone else wouldn't mean he was being disloyal to Kim in any way. You, Madison Queller, are a blessing to Mark, and to us, because you've put that spark of life back in his eyes that's been missing since that terrible September morning. It's good to see that again, and since we know you're the main reason for it, Anna and I thank you, for ourselves and for Kim."

Madison was floored. "Mark told me you were two of the greatest people on the planet. He was right. Thank you for being so accepting of me."

"Thank you for making our Mark happy again," Anna said. Jack echoed his wife's sentiments.

Mark walked around the car and wrapped his arm around Madison's waist, pulling her against his side. "I knew you'd love her almost as much as I do," he said with a smile. Madison froze as Mark's words played on a loop over and over in her head. _I knew you'd love her almost as much as I do._

Madison was in love with Mark...but she hadn't told him yet, not wanting the 'L' word to scare him off.

And Mark had never said it to Madison either...until now. And just now he hadn't directly addressed her, but his late wife's parents. Her heart started to pound, and her head started to spin, and she wondered what an anxiety attack felt like, and if she was having the first one of her life.

"I baked your favorite cherry pie, Mark, with the lattice crust, and Jack put on a fresh pot of coffee that should be just about ready," Anna said as she started toward the house.

"Do you have vanilla ice cream too?" Mark asked eagerly.

"Of course," Anna said with a motherly smile. "I know you and your pie a la mode."

"Anna, you're the best," Mark said.

Anna turned to head for the house. "Let's get inside. It's freezing out here!" she exclaimed.

Jack turned to follow his wife into the house, looking over at Mark and Madison and saying, "We'll give you kids a minute while we get the coffee and pie ready. Madison, how do you take your coffee?"

"Black," Madison replied blankly.

"Comin' right up," Jack said before disappearing into the house with Anna.

When they were alone, Mark looked at Madison with a big smile. "See? They love you, just like I knew they would."

" **You** love me," Madison said. "You just said it."

"I did?" Mark asked, surprised, as he ran his own words back in his head. _"I knew you'd love her almost as much as I do."_

"I did," he realized, thunderstruck.

"You love me?" Madison asked, her eyes wide.

"Yes," Mark said. "I love you. I'm **in** love with you, Madison. And after I lost Kim, I never thought I'd ever even **want** to be in love again, but you changed my mind. It's like I was walking around without an arm, and then one day, I looked down and I had my arm back, and it was just as strong and just as functional as it ever was. Stronger, even, because I had lived without it, lived without love, for so long, and then you came into my life, and you made me feel again. I was numb for a long time. I was a walking Novocain shot, because it was just so much easier to feel nothing after the crushing grief and pain finally went away. You made me want to take chances again, Maddie. And Jack and Anna are right, you make me happy, happier than I've been in sixteen years, four months, and sixteen days, happier than I ever thought I was capable of being again. I love you. And I'm a long haul kind of guy. Kim was my college sweetheart. I only dated two girls in high school, and one of them I only went out with once, and the other one, we dated senior year and broke up at the end of the summer when we went off to different colleges. So if you're not quite where I am yet, that's okay. Unless you don't think you could ever...well, you know...love me, because if that's the case, then I'm gonna have to insist that you tell me now, so I can start trying to get over you, because that's gonna t-"

He was cut off when Madison fused her mouth to his, which she did because she figured it was the only way to get him to stop talking.

"I'm there," she said breathlessly when they broke the kiss. "I love you too, Mark. I'm **in** love with you. I'm not ready to go picking out Save the Date cards or moving in together-"

"Me neither. Not yet," Mark hastily interjected.

"But I'm a long haul kind of girl. And I never thought I would find somebody to love, who would love me back. But I did. I found you. And I'm not letting you go."

"That's good to know, because I'm not letting you go either, Madison," Mark replied. He framed her face in his hands and kissed her again, softly, gently. When he broke the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers. "Now, let's go inside and have some pie and coffee and warm up before we head over to the hotel and then get some dinner and go see Blues Traveler."

"Okay," Madison replied as she and Mark walked up the driveway, up the front steps of Jack and Anna's house, across the porch, and into the house, arms around each other's waists.


	78. Chapter 75

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story. It means everything to me, and inspires me to make every chapter the best I possibly can.**_

* * *

And so 2018 began a new era for Rick and Kate, and they weren't the only ones dealing with changes.

The most significant changes for Rick and Kate were professional, as Kate learned the ropes on the City Council of New York City. Although they were no longer working together, Rick was still Kate's partner in the sense that he was her main sounding board, so Rick was soon as familiar with the inner workings of the City Council as he had been with the inner workings of the Homicide Division at the 12th Precinct. When Kate was tasked with writing a position paper at the end of March, a little over two months after she was sworn in, she spent two weeks working on it, and even with all of the good-natured ribbing she took from their family and friends about being married to a ringer who could knock the position paper out for her, everyone knew that Kate would be the one doing the research and the writing of the actual paper, which she was. Rick did read it before she presented it to the City Council, but other than a couple of commas—one misplaced, one missing—he didn't influence what Kate wrote in any way, or do any editing or rewriting for her beyond those two commas.

He was busy enough with his own work. This book was different than every other book he had ever written. His family remained his top priority, but he consciously worked on at least notes and outlines if not actual chapters during Lily's morning and afternoon naps, and if a particular scene grabbed hold of him and wouldn't let go until he had written it out, Martha and Jim, or sometimes even both of them, were only a phone call or text away and always happy and eager to spend time with and take care of Lily while Rick holed up in his office and wrote. Dinnertime was sacred, but once Lily was asleep for the night, Rick was usually able to work for two or three hours, unless he went on a tear. Kate came to check on him when he still hadn't come to bed at 1:30 in the morning one night in early April and found him asleep in his chair, his laptop balanced precariously on his thighs, his feet propped up on his desk. It took all of her willpower and then some not to read the words on the screen as she gently lifted the laptop off of Rick and set it on the desk. "Babe, come to bed," she said softly in his ear as she ran the fingers of one hand through his hair.

Rick sighed, then grunted, and his eyelids slowly opened. "I fell asleep," he said, his voice raspy from sleep.

"You did," Kate replied, her palm cupping the base of his skull.

Rick scrubbed at his face with both hands. "I finished the chapter and then started making notes for the next one, and when I hit a wall, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes trying to think where to go next, and I obviously fell asleep. What time is it?"

"A little after 1:30 in the morning," Kate replied. She held out her hand. "Come to bed. You can get back at it...well, later today."

Rick made sure he had saved and backed up his work before shutting down the laptop, taking Kate's hand, rising from his desk, and letting Kate lead him to bed. He kicked off his shoes, shucked off his socks and pants and left them on the floor, tossed his shirt on the floor with the rest of his clothes and fell into bed next to Kate wearing only his boxers. "I think it's going well," he mused sleepily.

"Me too," Kate replied, brushing a light kiss across his lips before resting her head in the crook of his neck. "Let's get some sleep, hm?"

"Yeah, sleep," Rick murmured, and then he actually was asleep.

Elsewhere in the Castle extended family orbit, Perlmutter was promoted to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which meant Lanie was promoted to Perlmutter's old position at the 12th, and a new young medical examiner came on board. Alan was so proud of Lanie, he took everyone out to dinner at Tavern on the Green to celebrate Lanie's promotion.

Jenny's father retired, and when one of Jenny's old co-workers, in the course of one of their regular keeping-in-touch conversations they'd been having since they had both been let go from their former positions, Lauren told Jenny that a part-time position had opened up at her new office that Jenny would be perfect for, if she was interested. Jenny was very interested, and after talking it over with Kevin, who was behind her all the way, she talked to her parents and explained the situation. Sarah Grace was in kindergarten all day until the middle of June, but Nick was still too young for preschool, and they were working on potty training. She barely got the words "There's a part-time job I'd really like to apply for" out of her mouth before her father and mother exchanged a look, realized where Jenny was going, and stopped her right there by proclaiming that they would be glad to watch Nick while Jenny was at work, and come summer, they would happily watch Sarah Grace as well when school was out. Jenny returned to work at the end of February, and while she loved her husband and children above all else, she enjoyed being around adults again, and working again, and the financial gain, while not as significant as a full-time job would have been, of course, was still a blessing, and allowed Jenny and Kevin to put aside more money in their savings account.

Mark finally introduced Madison to his mother and stepfather in March. Madison's crash course in football endeared her to The Coach, who said, "Where the hell have you been hiding this girl, Mark? She knows more about football than your mother does!"

Madison looked at Mark, panic-stricken, while Mark was surprised to have such enthusiastic approval from The Coach. Mark's mother couldn't completely hide her pain at her husband's assessment, but since her son was happier than he'd been since losing Kim, she let the remark go without addressing it.

"I haven't been hiding her anywhere, Coach. We've been dating for five months," Mark replied. "This is just the first opportunity I've had to bring her around, that's all."

"Well, she's welcome here anytime," The Coach said. "Do you follow college ball, Madison, or just the Giants? Or wait, is this a mixed relationship, and you're actually an Eagles fan?" He laughed at the thought.

"No, I root for the Giants," Madison replied.

"Since you're from New York, and they're Mark's favorite team too, you get a pass," The Coach said.

"Oh, that's right, you're a Cowboys fan," Madison recalled.

"America's Team," The Coach declared.

"Yes, well, before you launch into the story of Roger Staubach's MVP performance in Super Bowl Six, let's sit down to dinner," Mark's mother Pamela suggested.

"I feel like I should apologize to your mother," Madison whispered to Mark as they followed Pamela and The Coach into the dining room.

"I feel like _**I**_ should apologize to my mother," Mark whispered back.

"Is there anything she's interested in that I can brush up on for the next time I see her? I only read about football and watched _Friday Night Lights_ so that I could get some kind of basic idea about football, and you weren't exaggerating at all when you said The Coach lives and breathes it."

Mark went with the direct approach at dinner by flat out asking his mother, "So, Mom, what are you up to these days?"

"I've taken up bird watching," Pamela replied. "And I'm thinking about buying a new bicycle and going bike riding with Peggy." Peggy was a longtime neighbor and friend of his mother's.

"Now I know what to brush up on before we see them again," Madison said to Mark on their way to the airport for their flight back to New York City.

Madison's parents had retired to Arizona, but were planning to visit their daughter in Manhattan in August, when Arizona's dry heat was at its most hellish, so Mark had plenty of time to prepare himself for meeting her mom and dad.

Alexis continued with the challenges of her first year of law school. She knew she was in the right field, and that being a prosecutor was what she wanted to do, but it was a definite pressure cooker. Her support network of family and friends did the most to get her through the hardest times, and Javier was developing a sixth sense about her, knowing instinctively when she most needed a pep talk and when she just needed him to listen while she vented, or to just hold her on the couch while they watched a movie, and when to break out ice cream or wine.

Matias returned to Miami in April for a two-week visit with his friend Walter Albertson, and he surprised Javier by calling him from a new cell phone on his fourth day back in Miami. "I thought I should join the 21st century," Matias said. "Walter's great-granddaughter showed me how to use this thing. She's eight. Isn't that something?"

"Yeah, kids are real tech savvy these days, almost from the cradle," Javier replied. He was still wrestling with his feelings about his father. Matias wasn't being pushy, and he wasn't asking for more than Javier was prepared to give. Javier actually still wasn't sure exactly how much he was prepared to give. He couldn't bring himself to call Matias anything but 'Matias.' He wasn't sure if Matias ever would have sought him out if not for the COPD diagnosis, and he was still reconciling himself to that, wondering if it ultimately made any difference or not, because the fact was, Matias **had** sought him out, and was in his life. He wasn't sure what it would take, if anything, to get him to let Matias all the way in, if he was even capable of letting Matias all the way in, but he knew that he liked having Matias in his life, and for now, that was enough for him.

* * *

May 7 dawned bright and sunny, clear blue skies over Manhattan, the temperature forecast to be in the mid-70s, and the very happy and excited parents of the birthday girl were standing at her crib, watching her sleep in the early morning hours, their arms around each other's waists, Kate's cheek resting against Rick's shoulder.

They watched Lily sleeping, and as always, Kate felt a sense of peace deep inside that she had only ever felt watching Lily sleep.

The universe had definitely granted Rick his wish for a mini-Beckett. Lily's hair, eyes, and smile were miniature mirrors of Kate's. She was walking now, having taken her first shaky steps without holding on to the furniture or her parents' hands just last week, and several hours of video of Lily walking had already been taken by Rick, Kate, Alexis, Jim, and Martha, and enthusiastically shared with her whole extended family of aunts and uncles.

Rick thought that Lily's determination to walk without assistance and keep herself balanced and upright at the same time was a trait inherited from Kate, but while Kate didn't doubt that her DNA was responsible for a good part of Lily's stubbornness and determination, she was struck by the look in her daughter's eyes as she kept getting up and taking yet another stumbling step until she finally stopped stumbling and was walking on her own, because she had seen that look in Rick's eyes on numerous occasions in the past: when he vowed to find Alexis when she was missing in Paris...when he had promised Kate she wasn't alone this time in the search for her mother's killer...when he had asked her, "Will you marry me right now?" after that crazy dream he had about magic artifacts and alternate universes, and after reaching the conclusion that the way for them to get past the lost two months when Rick was missing and the pain that had caused Kate by actively choosing to get past it and going forward together from that moment on as husband and wife. The joy and wonder and excitement that had suffused her entire being in that moment Rick proposed an immediate wedding was, Kate had thought at the time, a once-in-a-lifetime feeling.

At least, she had thought that it was a once-in-a-lifetime feeling...until Lily.

From the moment the sticks turned pink, through that first sonogram and the ones that followed, feeling Lily move and kick and respond to her and Rick, when Lily had emerged into the world one year ago today, when Kate watched Rick and Lily together, when Lily looked up at Kate with such love and such trust, and when she watched this baby she and Rick had made together growing and changing, hitting her milestones and conquering new challenges and becoming her own little person more and more every day, Kate felt that joy and wonder and excitement, along with a good dose of motherly pride, again and again, and she knew that Rick felt it too.

In addition to walking, Lily was also learning to talk. After mastering 'Mama' and 'Dada,' her ever-expanding vocabulary now included 'yes,' 'no,' 'up,' 'down,' 'eat,' 'baf' (bath), and 'book.'

Lily also had her own names for everyone in her family, both immediate and extended. 'Yex,' her name for Alexis, was co-opted from Javi after repeatedly hearing him call Alexis 'Lex'.

She referred to Martha as 'Gam,' to which Martha had replied, "I've always felt my legs are one of my best features, so until your 'R's come in, kiddo, 'Gam' it is."

Hearing Lily call him 'Gampaw' never failed to reduce Jim Beckett to a grinning puddle of mush.

Playdates with Kevin and Jenny's kids were becoming a regular event, and Sarah Grace applied all of her big sister skills and patience learned from her relationship with Nick to her burgeoning friendship with Lily, who referred to Sarah Grace as 'Seh Gace,' and, to Kate's chagrin and Rick's amusement, referred to Nick as 'Ick.' 'Kevin and Jenny took it in stride, knowing it wasn't an insult to their son. "She just hasn't learned to pronounce her 'n's yet," Jenny said. "It'll come."

As for her aunts and uncles/godparents, Lily referred to Javier as "Hobby," Kevin was "Kebbin," and Jenny was "Jen."

She said 'Yay' for Lanie, which amused Alan to no end, although he didn't find as much humor in Lily calling him 'Ow' (Rick referred to bumps and bruises Lily incurred as 'boo-boos,' and everyone else followed his lead, so 'Ow' was Lily's closest approximation of 'Al' for 'Alan' at this point).

Madison and Mark were 'Mad' and 'Mock.' Mark surprised everyone but Maddie when he joked about being referred to as 'Mock.'

And Victoria and Gerald were 'Vee' and 'Jeh.'

As for referring to herself, Lily could say, "Me," "I," and "Yiyee,' for 'Lily.'

Rick was lost in his own thoughts about Lily. She reminded him so much of Kate, but he also saw some of himself in her, in the way her eyes lit up when she got excited about something, which, here lately, was accompanied by excited babbling that occasionally featured real syllables of actual words, and her ready laugh whenever something struck her as funny. He also saw traces of Alexis as a baby in Lily. Lily was most definitely a Beckett-Castle hybrid, showing characteristics and personality traits that she had inherited from either him or Kate—he both looked forward to and dreaded the day Lily gave him her first Beckett eye roll, because he had no doubt at all that that day would come—but she was also becoming her own little person more and more every day, and it was a wonder and a joy to behold.

Lily was fully mobile now, and Rick fully expected her to start running around the loft any day now. Baby gates had been purchased and put up to keep Lily from trying to climb the stairs, and out of the master bathroom, and even occasionally out of Rick and Kate's bedroom and Rick's office. Her vocabulary was growing in leaps and bounds, and he had secretly recorded Lily and Alexis for a few minutes on his phone the night before, when Alexis brightened up what would have been an otherwise dull review session for her Torts class by saying various terms and having Lily parrot them back to her.

Rick had long dreamed of having a child with Kate, but the real Lily, like his hopes and dreams of a real relationship, of marriage, to Kate, was a reality that far surpassed every dream he had ever had.

"I can't believe it's been a year already," Rick said softly.

"I know," Kate said. "A year ago at this time, I was in labor. She wasn't here yet. I mean, she was here, but she was still in here." She rested a hand on her flat abdomen.

"2:03 PM," Rick replied.

"One of the best moments of my life," Kate said, lifting her head to meet Rick's gaze.

"Mine too," Rick said.

Their kiss was interrupted by the birthday girl waking up, seeing Mommy and Daddy with their mouths smushed together, pulling herself to her feet using her crib railing, and exclaiming, "Mama! Dada!"

"There's our birthday girl!" Rick exclaimed, plucking Lily out of her crib and hoisting her high into the air, flying her over to the changing table and making her squeal with delight.

As Rick unzipped Lily's sleeper, Kate leaned down to kiss Lily soundly on the cheek. "Happy first birthday, Lily," she said. "You're one year old today!"

"I one!" Lily exclaimed.

"Perfect grammar, and she's still hours away from turning one," Rick bragged as he got Lily into a clean diaper.

Rick and Kate were both taking the day off from work since it was Lily's first birthday. Since it was a Monday, everyone else had work and class, respectively, but they would all be arriving at the loft for dinner and a birthday party for Lily at six PM.

After breakfast and getting Lily dressed in a white t-shirt that proclaimed "BIRTHDAY GIRL!" in alternating pink and purple letters over a light blue cupcake covered with pink frosting and sparkly blue and purple sprinkles and tiny jeans, and after Kate and Rick were dressed for the day, they headed into the living room with Lily. Kate went over to the stereo and punched up Sirius, looking for...well, Rick wasn't sure what, exactly.

But when she landed on a station playing some obviously '90s uptempo pop, her face lit up and she exclaimed, "No way! I haven't heard this song since I was fifteen!" She hurried across the living room, picked Lily up, and began dancing her around the room.

"Who is this?" Rick shouted over the music.

"Let Loose!" Kate called back. "'Crazy for You,' 1993!"

Rick had never heard of the group, but watching Kate sing to Lily and dance her around made his heart swell with love for both of them. "Is this a mother-daughter thing, or can Daddy join in?" he asked.

Kate rolled her eyes, but affectionately. "Get over here already!" she exclaimed. Then she laughed as Rick made a big show of dancing his way over to them.

Some one-hit-wonder boy sang, " _I'm crazy, crazy for you_

 _And there's nothin' that I won't do_

 _I'm caught by the look in your eyes_

 _And it's all for the love of you_ "

"Down!" Lily exclaimed then. "Down, Mama!"

"You want to dance yourself?" Kate asked.

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed.

"Okay, Lily, show us your dance moves," Rick said.

Lily began bouncing up and down to the music, and then shifting her weight from side to side. "Lily, you're dancing!" Kate exulted.

"She's a woman of many talents, just like her mother," Rick said.

"Dance!" Lily exclaimed as she bounced and swayed.

Rick pulled Kate into his arms, then spun her out from him. She spun back and he dipped her, then pulled her upright, and they looked to Lily, bouncing and shifting her weight and squealing.

" _I'm crazy, crazy for you_

 _And there's nothin' that I won't do_

 _I'm caught by the look in your eyes_

 _And it's all for the love of you"_

Then Lily stepped between Rick and Kate, and then all three of them were dancing.

" _I feel that you know_

 _You've got me just where you want me_

 _I feel that you know_

 _You've got me just_

 _Just where you want me_

" _I'm crazy, crazy for you_

 _And there's nothin' that I won't do_

 _I'm caught by the look in your eyes_

 _And it's all for the love of you_

" _Crazy, I'm crazy for you_

 _And there's nothin' that I won't do_

 _I'm caught by the look in your eyes_

 _All for the love of, all for the love of,_

 _All for the love of you_

 _All for the love of, all for the love of,_

 _All for the love of you"_

As the song faded out, Lily collapsed to the rug in a giggling heap.

Rick and Kate looked at their laughing baby girl, not such a baby anymore, and then looked at each other. They didn't have to say it, because each of them knew exactly what the other was thinking, as they reached for each other's hands and gazed upon their Sweetpea, happily shrieking with laughter, as Rick squeezed Kate's hand, and Kate squeezed his in reply, and the unspoken thought passed between them, from mind to mind and heart to heart.

 _ **This is why we lived.**_

* * *

All of Lily's favorite people in the world were at her house, and everyone was making a big fuss over her. At least, that was what Gram called it: "A big fuss." Gram also said that Lily deserved this big fuss, because it was her birthday.

From what Lily saw, her birthday was a lot like Christmas. There was no pretty tree and colorful lights and decorations everywhere, but there were decorations—things that Mommy and Daddy called streamers and balloons, and these didn't light up but they were as colorful as the lights on the pretty tree had been, and a big banner on the wall in the living room that Alexis told her read, "Happy 1st Birthday, Lily!"

Everyone wore hats. Lily wasn't sure what the hats were for, but everybody had one, including her. Grandpa was glad the hats didn't have rubber bands, and Daddy said he and Mommy weren't going to have the rubber band hats because they fell apart too easily, and a person could get hurt with those snapping rubber bands. She wasn't sure why Gram had said, "Could? You mean _**did**_ , Richard, on several birthdays," and Mommy, Alexis, and Aunt Victoria all thought that was funny.

A big stack of wrapped presents covered the coffee table and surrounded the floor around it. Lily was surprised when Mommy said, "All of these presents are for you, sweet girl!" Then she had looked around at everybody with what Daddy called "the Detective Beckett stare," and said, "Even though we **told** you not to go overboard."

"I'm a grandfather. Going overboard on birthdays and Christmas is in my job description," Grandpa said.

"Mine too, as Lily's grandmother," Gram added.

"C'mon, Beckett, she's our goddaughter **and** our niece. How could we not get her birthday presents?" Javi said.

"I just hope we didn't mess up," Madison said, gesturing between herself and Mark. "Lily's the only kid we know."

"I'll help Lily open some of her presents," Sarah Grace offered.

"I help too!" Nick said, grabbing a gift off the stack on top of the coffee table.

"Nicholas Javier Ryan, you put that present back right now," Jenny said firmly. "That is Lily's birthday present, not yours."

Nick put the present back on top of the stack, then walked to his mother, who was sitting on the couch, rested his palms on her knees, said, "I sorry, Mommy," and gave her his most charming grin.

Jenny laughed and shook her head. "I am in so much trouble when you're a teenager, Nick," she said, scooping him up and kissing his neck until he shrieked.

"Are we going to do the cake first?" Alexis asked. "That's the messy part. Well, the Lily gets messy part."

Rick and Kate exchanged a look. "We could," Rick said.

"What do you think, Lily?" Kate asked. "Cake or presents first?"

Lily tilted her head and looked at her mommy. She looked from Mommy to the tower of presents and back to Mommy.

"Did you get her a smash cake?" Kevin asked.

"We did," Rick replied.

"We also have a regular sheet cake that everyone can have a piece of if you'd like," Kate added.

Rick scooped Lily up from the floor and deposited her in her highchair. Everyone gathered around her as Alexis and Kate retrieved the smash cake and the sheet cake. Kate perched a candle shaped like the number one in the middle of the sheet cake, which was white with buttercream frosting and read 'Happy 1st Birthday, Lily!' in cursive purple frosting. The smash cake was a small, round cake covered in vanilla frosting.

Alexis hovered nearby with a candle lighter, and half the adults had their phones out to take pictures or video, as Rick and Kate flanked Lily's highchair, one on each side of her, both leaning down. "Okay, Lily," Rick said, "are you ready?" He and Kate looked up, and led everyone in singing "Happy Birthday" to Lily.

At the conclusion of the song, Alexis stepped forward and lit the candle, then dropped back next to Javier and Gram. "Time to blow out the candle, Lily," Kate said. She and Rick leaned down again and blew the candle out together.

Then Kate moved the sheet cake out of the way as Rick moved the smash cake right in front of Lily. "This is the fun one," he said.

Lily looked at the cake, then back up at her daddy. She wondered what she was supposed to do.

"You can tear this cake up, Sweetpea," Rick said.

Lily stuck a finger in the frosting, brought it to her mouth, and licked it off. "Mmmm!" she exclaimed. She loved the frosting; the cake, not so much.

Martha and Victoria helped with the cutting and distribution of the sheet cake. Lily ate most of the frosting off the smash cake, and after Mommy and Daddy cleaned her up, she was allowed to dive into the mountain of presents in the living room. In a matter of minutes, shredded wrapping paper covered the rug as Lily opened gift after gift: toys, books, clothes.

At evening's end, after Rick and Kate had thanked everyone for coming to celebrate Lily's first birthday, and their guests had gone home, after Lily had had her bath and was in a new sleeper that had been a gift from Lanie and Alan, a soft pastel green sleeper covered in owls, and she was asleep in her crib, Rick and Kate stood in the dimly lit nursery, illuminated only by Lily's night light, and watched their now-officially-one-year-old daughter sleeping.

Kate broke the silence. "Rick?"

"Hmm?" he asked, looking from the sleeping Lily to Kate beside him.

"Thank you for today."

"Thank **you** for today," he replied.

Kate smiled at him. "Always," she said.

"Always," he echoed, smiling back at her, before they kissed, this time without an interruption from Lily, who was exhausted from her birthday celebration and dreaming happy one-year-old dreams.


	79. Chapter 76

_**Thank you to everyone who is reading, following, reviewing, and has favorited this story. I appreciate your enthusiasm and interest more than I could ever adequately tell you.**_

* * *

Alexis survived her first year of law school, and after catching up on her sleep, and a fair amount of soul searching, she sat Rick and Kate down and told them that she wanted to move into her own apartment. "Law school only gets tougher from here," she said, "so I'll be keeping crazy hours and studying all the time, and if I'm closer to campus, it'll be easier to get to the library. It's not that I don't like living here, because I do. I just...I think it's time for me to go out on my own, I mean _**really**_ go out on my own."

And because they could see that it was what she wanted to do, they supported her decision...although Kate subtly sent Javi a text asking if he would be moving in with Alexis, since she knew Alexis was telling the truth about wanting an apartment closer to campus, and she figured that Javi would take the question coming from her more easily and less defensively than he would take it coming from Rick. Javi was quick to reassure Kate that he was **not** going to be living with Alexis. They weren't ready for that yet. When Kate casually mentioned to Rick that Javi wasn't moving in with Alexis, Rick felt much better about Alexis going out on her own.

Of course, they all knew that Javi would be spending some of his nights at Alexis's apartment, but Rick elected not to dwell on that.

It took until the middle of July for Alexis to find the perfect place, a one-bedroom apartment on West 110th Street, four minutes from Columbia's campus.

She was set to move in the first weekend in August, and Martha demurred on helping with the move, saying that she preferred to wait until the apartment was all set up to see it, so she elected to stay at the loft with Lily while the rest of the family, including Javier, Kevin and Jenny, Lanie and Alan, Jim, and of course Rick and Kate helped Alexis move in. Madison and Mark both had to work, and Victoria and Gerald were out of town for a quick vacation.

So it was that everyone was up bright and early on August 4, dressed in their oldest clothes, and spending their day moving Alexis into her new apartment. Kevin brought his toolbox, and proved to be very adept at home repair and fixing little things, and Alexis had bought all of the necessary supplies to babyproof her new home for Lily, because she wanted her little sister to be able to come over and spend time there safely.

Javier was on his phone with Matias, who insisted on coming over even though Javier and Alexis had both told him it wasn't necessary. "I may not be able to help lug boxes or furniture," Matias said, "but I would still like to be there." What Matias didn't say was that he was assembling a basket of housewarming gifts for Alexis, and he wanted to deliver it in person. He cracked his jaw, which felt tight, but which he brushed off as the result of years of grinding his teeth, and wiped the sweat from his brow; it was clearly going to be a scorching day in the city today. At times like this, he missed the ocean breezes of Miami.

"If you insist," Javier replied.

"I insist," Matias said. "Now, what is the address?" He scribbled it down after Javier gave it to him, and said, "I'll be there in a couple of hours. I have a few errands to run first. May I speak to Alexis, please?"

"Sure," Javier said. He headed for the bathroom, where Alexis was organizing the medicine cabinet. "Matias wants to talk to you," he said, giving Alexis his phone.

Alexis accepted the phone. "Hello, Matias," she said.

"Congratulations on your new home, Alexis," Matias said. "In case my son didn't tell you, I'll be there in a couple of hours. I have a few errands to run first."

"We'll be here, Matias," Alexis said. "We'll see you in a couple of hours, then." She gave the phone back to Javier.

Javier said, "Okay, we have a lot of work to do, so you run your errands and we'll see you in a couple of hours, right?"

"Right," Matias replied. "What's the apartment number?"

"5B," Javier said.

"Got it," Matias said. "I'll see you soon, Javier. Goodbye."

"Later," Javier said, ending the call before heading downstairs to help Castle, Ryan, and Alan lug Alexis's desk upstairs.

Alexis had already had the couch, recliner, ottoman, and television delivered the day before, along with having the electricity, water, gas, cable, and Wi-Fi turned on.

Matias, meanwhile, left his hotel—he had moved to a hotel in Manhattan, closer to Javier's apartment, after returning from his visit to Miami—and ran his errands. He idly wondered just how hot it was, as he was feeling listless and fatigued, and sweating profusely. And he had obviously eaten too late last night, because he was experiencing some serious indigestion. Undeterred, he gathered the objects he needed, and at the final shop, after explaining to the woman behind the counter what he wanted, she offered to assemble everything together in a nice basket done up with ribbons while Matias wrote a note to Alexis, explaining the meanings of his housewarming gifts.

He had just paid for the basket and ribbons and notepaper, and was settling himself in a cab when he trailed off in the middle of giving the cabbie Alexis's address and clutched at his chest, which felt tight all of a sudden. He tried to take a deep breath and found that he couldn't get enough air. After stuttering out the rest of Alexis's address, he leaned back heavily against the seat of the cab and asked haltingly, "Do...do you have...air...con...conditioning?"

The cabbie eyed Matias worriedly in the rearview mirror. "I've got it cranked up as high as it'll go. You don't look so good, Mister."

"I-" Whatever Matias might have been about to say was lost in sudden, desperate gasps for breath.

The cabbie swore and floored it. "We're close to Lenox Hill, pal, just hang on, all right?" Matias couldn't catch his breath, his chest was on fire, his clothes were soaked to his skin by perspiration.

His last thought before losing consciousness just as the cab screeched up to the Emergency Entrance at Lenox Hill Hospital was Javier.

Glancing over his shoulder as he threw his door open, the driver saw Matias slumped over next to his gift basket, swore again, and rushed inside, demanding help immediately. He couldn't answer any of the ER staff's questions, but he was in the process of studying to take the test to be an EMT for the Fire Department of New York, and this old man didn't have any family or friends with him when he got in the cab, so he decided to stick around the hospital until somebody showed up for the guy, if anyone did. After parking his cab, and retrieving the gift basket and the broom the man had left in the back seat, he headed to the ER waiting area, where he sat, the basket and broom at his feet, and waited for someone to show up to claim the man, wincing as he heard the machines and the shouted orders from the medical personnel working on him. _If there's someone you need to say goodbye to, I hope you hang on long enough to do it,_ the cabbie, whose name was Sam, thought.

* * *

Everyone had taken a break for lunch, and there was a Subway near Alexis's new apartment, so Rick and Kate made the sandwich run, while Javier and Kevin headed to the nearest bodega for drinks.

Lanie stood in front of an open living room window, fanning herself. "I still have to get an air conditioner," Alexis said apologetically. "That's on my to-do list for first thing Monday."

Lanie turned away from the window to say something...and her eyes rolled back in her head as she fell to the floor in a dead faint.

Alan was returning from washing his hands and happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch his wife as she fell. "Lanie!" he exclaimed fearfully as he eased her down to the floor, her head in his lap. He looked up at Alexis, Jenny, and Jim, his face a study in stark terror.

Alexis dropped to her knees and felt for a pulse. "Her pulse is strong," she reported a few agonizingly long seconds later.

"Should we call an ambulance?" Jenny asked. Jim pulled out his phone, ready to dial 911 immediately.

"Lanie? Honey, can you hear me?" Alan asked anxiously.

Lanie's eyelids slowly fluttered open and the world came into focus. "Alan?" she asked faintly. "What happened?"

Alan swept Lanie up in his arms and carried her over to the couch. He gently laid her down and perched on the edge of the cushions as he said, "You fainted, that's what happened."

"I couldn't have fainted. I don't faint," Lanie said.

She tried to sit up, but she instantly felt dizzy and laid her head back down on the throw pillow on the couch. "It's probably just the heat," Lanie insisted.

"Is that why you're feeling dizzy now?" Alan countered. "It's hot in here, but it's not that hot. You're dizzy, and you just fainted, and I have a whole apartment full of witnesses here to back me up. We're going to the ER."

"It's probably just the heat," Lanie insisted again.

All hell broke loose then, as Rick and Kate returned loaded down with sandwiches, while Javier and Kevin came in hauling cases of bottled water and soda.

"Lanie's dizzy and she fainted and she's refusing to go to the hospital," Alan reported.

Javier's phone rang then, and he went into the hallway to answer it while a lively debate raged about whether or not Lanie should go to the hospital.

"I'm telling you, it's just the heat," Lanie said.

"You were hit pretty hard by that inner ear infection last month," Alan reminded her. "You were dizzy and your equilibrium was thrown off then too, but you didn't faint. What if you've relapsed?" He looked from Lanie up at their friends, and then back at his wife. "I know I'm coming off high strung here, but you're my wife, you're my whole world, so of course I'm gonna be worried when you faint, because you've never fainted before."

At the reminder of her inner ear infection, Lanie remembered the antibiotics she had taken for that infection...and in that instant, she recalled a few other things, and her face telegraphed her "Oh, crap" reaction.

"What? What is it?" Alan asked anxiously, recognizing the look on Lanie's face.

"I don't need to go to the hospital," Lanie insisted. "Not yet, anyway. But we do need to do something."

"What?" Alan asked.

Lanie sat up, relieved when she wasn't assailed by another wave of dizziness. "Excuse us, everyone," she said. "We'll be back soon." She grabbed Alan by the hand, pulled him to his feet, and they walked out of the apartment. Javier was still on the phone, standing at the end of the hallway, the hand not holding his phone raking through his hair.

"Are you sure you're up for the walk?" Alan asked as they began to make their way down the stairs. Alexis's apartment was a fifth-floor walk-up, no elevator anywhere in the building.

"I think I know what's going on with me," Lanie said. She stopped on the fourth-floor landing and looked at Alan. "I just realized it hasn't been that time of the month for a couple of months. I think the antibiotics canceled out my birth control..." She trailed off.

Alan looked at Lanie in shock. "You think you're pregnant?" he asked hopefully.

"I think there's a pretty good chance, yes," Lanie admitted. "We were going to revisit the subject after our anniversary, which is in a few weeks, but now...Well, now, I don't know."

Alan gently wrapped his arms around Lanie and pulled her closer. "If you are pregnant, it'll be the best first anniversary gift possible," he said. "And if you're not, I'm ready to start trying anytime you are. Are you okay with being pregnant now, if you **are** pregnant now?"

"You know, I really am," Lanie realized. "It's a little ahead of schedule, maybe, but they say if you wanna make God laugh, tell Him your plans. And a little boy who looks like you-"

"Or a little girl who looks like you," Alan interrupted.

"As long as it's healthy, I don't care if we have a boy or a girl," Lanie said.

"Now, I'm guessing the next thing we do is go get a pregnancy test?" Alan said.

"Two or three," Lanie replied. "Margin of error, false positives, got to account for that, you know."

"Of course," Alan said. They resumed walking, and Alan threaded his fingers through Lanie's. "I really love you."

"I really love you too," Lanie replied as they headed out to buy a pregnancy test.

Meanwhile, while almost everyone in the apartment wondered exactly where Lanie and Alan had gone, Kate and Jenny exchanged a knowing look, which did not go unnoticed by Rick and Kevin, but before either man could ask what the knowing look was about, Javier re-entered the apartment, looking dazed.

"Javi? You want water or soda?" Kevin asked. Javier didn't answer him.

Alexis knew by the look in Javier's eyes that something was terribly wrong. She crossed the room until she was standing at his side. "Javier?" she asked.

"Matias is at Lenox Hill Hospital," he said. "He's had a heart attack. It...it doesn't look good."

Everyone exchanged looks all around. "Let's go," Alexis said simply.

"Are you expecting any deliveries or anything today?" Jim asked.

"No," Alexis replied.

"We'll clean up the food and meet you there," Kate said.

"We'll come with you," Kevin said, looking from Javi and Alexis to Jenny to Castle and Beckett.

"Good idea," Rick said. "In fact, Ryan, you should drive."

And so Kevin and Jenny and Javier and Alexis piled into the Ryans' minivan and Kevin drove to Lenox Hill Hospital, Alexis holding his hand the whole way, while back at Alexis's new apartment, Rick called Martha to check on Lily, who was doing fine, and tell her what had happened to Matias, and Kate texted Lanie to let her know that they were headed to Lenox Hill Hospital because Matias had had a heart attack and things were not looking good.

After Rick, Kate, and Jim had finished putting the sandwiches and drinks in the refrigerator, they left the apartment, with Rick and Kate heading to the hospital, and Jim heading to the loft to see Lily.

* * *

When they arrived at the ER at Lenox Hill Hospital, Javier and Alexis jumped out while Kevin and Jenny went to park, and check in with Jenny's parents, who were watching Sarah Grace and Nick, and they raced into the ER. Javier practically skidded to a stop at the first desk he came to and breathlessly said, "Matias Esposito...my father...he was brought in a while ago...he had a heart attack."

"Yes, Mr. Esposito," the nurse at the desk said as she checked her computer. "Your father is in the Cardiac ICU. Dr. Lee is his physician."

Alexis pulled out her phone and texted her father this information just as Kevin and Jenny came rushing in. "Thank you," Alexis told the nurse as she, Kevin and Jenny followed Javier, who made a full-out sprint for the elevator.

When they reached the Cardiac ICU, Javier was about two seconds away from using his badge to get answers about Matias, but Kevin and Alexis managed to stop him. A somber-looking sixtyish woman with her gray hair pulled back in a bun introduced herself as Dr. Lee. "Are you Javier?" she asked Javier.

"Yes," he said. "How is my father?"

"In critical condition," Dr. Lee replied gravely. "We're doing everything we can for him, Mr. Esposito, but as I'm sure you know, your father has end-stage COPD-"

"I know," Javier replied.

"Is that what caused the heart attack?" Alexis asked.

"Our preliminary examination indicates that the answer to that question is yes," Dr. Lee replied. "The COPD has significantly weakened his lungs, and caused a drop in the oxygen levels in his body. With lungs as weak as his, the heart muscle doesn't get enough oxygen, and when the heart doesn't get enough oxygen..."

"Heart attack," Javier finished grimly. "Can I see him?"

"Yes," Dr. Lee said. "He's been asking for you. Follow me."

Alexis looked at Kevin and Jenny over her shoulder. "We'll wait here, fill Beckett and Castle in when they get here," Kevin promised.

"Thank you," Alexis said gratefully. She took hold of Javier's hand, which was cold and clammy. He seemed to be moving on autopilot. When Dr. Lee looked at Alexis questioningly, she said simply, "I'm Javier's girlfriend. Matias knows me. I want to be there for both of them."

Dr. Lee nodded, then stood aside to let Javier and Alexis enter Matias's room. Matias looked pale and drawn, tubes and wires attached to his chest, both arms, and an oxygen tube in his nose, beeping machines and monitors surrounding his hospital bed. Alexis squeezed Javier's hand reassuringly, and he gave her a look of such anguish and confusion it made her chest physically ache.

Javier cleared his throat. "Matias?" he asked.

With great effort, Matias opened his eyes, and looked up at Javier. "Javier," he rasped.

"I'm here," Javier said, stroking Matias's hair. "Just take it easy. You need to rest."

"You're a good son," Matias said with great difficulty. "Better...man than me." He looked to Alexis now. "Take...care...of him..."

Alexis swallowed hard, fighting tears, and reached for Matias's hand as she vowed, "For the rest of my life."

" _Te amo, mi hijo,_ " Matias whispered—Spanish for "I love you, my son."

Then the machines surrounding Matias began sounding their alarms. "Code Blue, Room 415, Code Blue, Room 415!" came the shout from the hallway.

Dr. Lee came charging into the room with a veritable army of nurses and other doctors. "You'll have to leave now," she told Javier and Alexis in a tone that brooked no arguments. "Get that crash cart up here NOW!"

Javier froze. For the first time in his life, he just completely froze. Alexis pulled him out of the room and into the hall just as Dr. Lee said, "Charging to 300...Clear!"

Rick and Kate were there with Kevin and Jenny when Alexis and Javier emerged from Matias's room. "We heard the Code Blue call," Kate said.

Kevin stepped forward and clapped a hand on Javier's shoulder. "We're here, Javi," he said.

A young man with sandy hair carrying a large gift basket and a broom approached the group then. "You're the family of Matias Esposito?" he asked.

"Who are you?" Alexis asked him.

"My name is Sam Keith," he replied. "He had just gotten in my cab and given me an address near Columbia University when he started having trouble breathing. He wanted me to turn up the air conditioning, but I had it cranked as high as it would go. I'm studying to be an EMT with the FDNY, and one look at him in the rearview mirror and I knew he was in trouble, so I floored it here, because this was the closest hospital to where I picked him up." He held out the gift basket and a broom. "He had this with him. I don't know why, or who it's for, but I wanted to make sure it didn't get ripped off." He forced a mirthless chuckle then. "Born and raised in New York City," he added wryly. "And I wanted to stick around until someone showed up for him."

Alexis took the gift basket and broom. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for getting him here, and for sticking around until we got here."

Dr. Lee exited Matias's room then. Before she opened her mouth, everyone knew what she was going to say by the look on her face. "I'm so very sorry. We did everything we could, but the heart attack was just too massive."

Javier swallowed hard. "Thank you, Doctor," he said.

"You can have a few minutes with him," Dr. Lee said as the other medical personnel filed out of Matias's room.

Javier nodded. Alexis hugged him, and when she stepped aside, Kevin hugged him, then Jenny, then Kate, then Rick, all of them murmuring words of condolences and sympathy that he didn't really hear.

Alexis was prepared to go in with him, but he told her he wanted to go in by himself. She agreed, but looked at Rick and Kate worriedly.

"Be patient with him," Rick advised. "Let him know you're there, but don't push. He'll come to you when he's ready."

Alexis still looked worried, though. She knew Javier had forgiven Matias. She didn't know if he loved his father. She couldn't say that she loved Meredith. She felt sort of an obligation to her because Meredith gave birth to her, but for all intents and purposes, Kate was just as much Alexis's mother as she was Lily's.

"He'll talk to you," Kate assured her, wrapping an arm around Alexis's shoulders and pulling her against her side. "It'll take some time, I'm sure, but as long as he knows you're there, that's what will really matter."

"I'm there," Alexis said firmly. "I'm there for the rest of my life."

In the hospital room, Javier regarded Matias's body wordlessly for several minutes. "You tried," he said, breaking the silence. "You didn't come on like Father of the Year, you explained yourself, and you never asked more of me than I was willing to give.

"And I have to admit, it took guts for you to come back after all these years. When you told me you loved me...I believe you.

"So, I guess Walter would know more about your arrangements than me. I'll have to call him. Clean out your hotel room, settle up the final bill. I can do that, though. I'll take care of everything."

He sat down at Matias's bedside. "Thanks for coming back. Thank you for giving me the answers I needed. That took courage. If I can say I got anything from you, maybe I got some of your courage." He shifted slightly. "I have a happy life. I'm gonna marry Alexis someday, and I'm gonna be okay. Maybe knowing that, you can rest a little easier now." He focused intently on Matias's face, slack in death, memorizing his features, then leaned down and kissed him in the middle of the forehead. " _Te amo, Papa_ ," he said. ( _"I love you, Dad.")_

He exited the room to find that Sam Keith, the cabbie who had brought Matias to the hospital when he was obviously in distress, was still there, along with Alexis, Kevin, Jenny, Beckett and Castle. Alexis and Jenny had tears in their eyes, and Beckett was even misty-eyed.

Javier extended his hand to the young cabbie. "Thank you for bringing my father here when you realized he was in respiratory distress," he said.

Young Mr. Keith shook Javier's hand. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said.

Javier thanked him, and then moved over to where the others were gathered. "What's this?" he asked.

Alexis wiped at her eyes. "Matias was bringing all this as a housewarming gift for me," she said. "And he wrote a note...more of a letter, really...to go with it."

She handed Javier the letter. Matias had written:

" _Dear Alexis,_

" _Congratulations on moving into your first apartment. Here are a few housewarming gifts to get you off on the right foot._

" _Bread, so that this house may never know hunger._

" _Salt, that life may always have flavor._

" _Wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever._

" _Honey, so that you may always enjoy the sweetness of life._

" _A broom, to help sweep away any evil and bad luck._

" _A coin, so you may dwell in good fortune._

" _A candle, so you may dwell in light and happiness._

" _I wish you a lifetime of happiness and prosperity, both as a woman and as the love of my son's life._

" _-Matias"_

After reading his father's note, that's when Javier began to cry, slowly, quietly. Alexis pulled him into her embrace, and Kevin, Jenny, Rick and Kate surrounded them.

And at that exact moment, in their bathroom at home, Lanie and Alan were laughing and crying over the three positive pregnancy tests that Lanie had just taken.

They kept the pregnancy news to themselves, though, partly because Lanie wanted to wait until she was safely through the first trimester, and partly because when she and Alan came up for air, Lanie called Kate and learned that Javi's father had died.

Matias had made arrangements to be buried in New York. Walter Albertson came up for the funeral. Javi, remembering the last time Beckett and Castle had attended a funeral, and not wanting to trouble or potentially trigger them, told them they didn't have to come to the funeral if they would rather not, but they insisted on being there for him. "It's what friends do," Kate said simply. "It's what family does." Rick agreed with her, and they were there at the cemetery, holding hands, fingers linked together, but they got through it without being triggered into panic attacks. Javi needed them, and they were there for him.

Walter took on the task of cleaning out Matias's hotel room the day after the funeral, and promised that he would also take care of the possessions Matias had left in Miami. He came to the loft afterwards, where Javier was spending time with Alexis, Lily, Beckett, Castle, Martha and Jim, and he presented Javier with several spiral-bound notebooks and a sealed envelope addressed to him. "I don't know what's in the envelope," Walter said, "but when Matias visited me in Miami, he told me about the notebooks, and made me promise I'd make sure they went to you after he passed, so here they are."

Javi thanked Walter for all of his help before Walter said goodbye and left, and then turned to Alexis. "How are you doing?" she asked him.

"He wasn't in my life for that long," Javier reflected. "But I'm glad I got to know him some, and that I got answers to questions I'd had for a long time. I don't think I can ask for more than that." He took her hands in his. "I would be a lot more messed up about this if not for you."

Alexis kissed him gently, chastely, and then they embraced, Javier resting his head on her shoulder.

Kate and Rick were nearby, watching Alexis and Javier. "He's gonna be okay," Kate said. "He's got Alexis, and she'll make sure of it. She takes after you that way. You made me want to be okay again long after I thought it was possible, and you stood by me even when I stupidly tried to push you away. Espo's smarter than I am about that, at least."

"You were still healing," Rick retorted gently. "And the only place I ever want to be is by your side, Kate. It's been that way since our first case, and it'll be that way always, no matter what."

Kate wrapped her arms around his neck, and Rick's arms went around her waist. "Whatever life throws at us...whatever happens with your next book, and my City Council duties...when it comes time for us to expand our family...whatever the future brings, I'm ready for it, because we're going to be doing all of it together."

"For the time of our lives," Rick promised.

Before they could kiss, Lily toddled away from her grandparents and walked over to her parents. Pulling on Kate's slacks, she said, "Up, Mama!"

"You want up?" Kate asked, releasing Rick to scoop Lily up. "You've got it, Lily."

Braced between her parents, Lily babbled happily. Rick and Kate each planted a kiss on one of Lily's cheeks at the same time.

Javier looked over at Lily, happily sandwiched between Beckett and Castle, and at Jim and Martha nearby, and at Alexis. He thought of Kevin and Jenny and Sarah Grace and Nick...and of Lanie and Alan...and of Gates and her husband, all of whom had been present at Matias's funeral.

All of them were his family. And whatever the future brought for all of them, he knew that nothing and no one would ever change that fundamental fact; and although he couldn't make himself smile at the moment, he took great comfort and felt great peace at this basic truth of his life.

* * *

 _ **We make a major time jump in the next chapter. I hope you'll stick with the story, because there's a lot of stuff coming up for pretty much everybody, including two major events that I've been asked about numerous times. Thank you all again for taking this journey with me and our Castle family.**_


	80. Chapter 77

_**This isn't exactly a time jump in the traditional sense; it's more of a whirlwind tour through the rest of the year 2018 with the Castle family (including all their friends, who are really part of their family), since the last chapter left off in early August of 2018. I'm wanting to get to 2019 and some of the big events that happen that year in this universe I've created.**_

 _ **Also, for the purposes of the remainder of this story, I'm writing Sarah Grace and Nick Ryan as their actual ages based on when they were born on the show (Sarah Grace was born January 6, 2014 in season 6's "Under Fire," making her four years old and rapidly approaching her fifth birthday at the end of 2018; and Nick was born April 11, 2016, in season 8's "Death Wish," making him two years old going on three in December 2018).**_

 _ **Lily, having been born on May 7, 2017 in this story, is 19 months old in December 2018, and will turn two in May of 2019.**_

 _ **Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support for this story. And a special shout-out to the guest reviewers to whom I cannot respond personally. Thanks for taking the time to review.**_

* * *

The notebooks Matias Esposito had left behind for Javier in August 2018 were filled with recollections of his life and his personal history, everything he could think of and remember to write down for his only child, including stories and information about Javier's long-deceased grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

The envelope Walter Albertson gave Javier contained the necessary information for Javier to contact Matias's lawyer in Miami; Matias had left a small inheritance for Javier in the form of a life insurance policy.

Javier decided to take the money his father had left him and use it to start a program for adult literacy in Matias's name. Alexis, Rick and Kate helped Javier with the details, Rick and Kate having experience with that sort of thing from the scholarship they started in Johanna Beckett's name at her old law school, which was still providing a full ride each year to one student who dedicated their career to those in the legal system without a voice, the very people that Johanna herself had championed over the course of her career. The fundraiser was held every February 4, on Johanna's birthday.

Alexis began her second year of law school in September of 2018. Things didn't really calm down any for her schoolwise, but having her own apartment gave her a lesser number of distractions, albeit with a few guilt feelings about them. Sundays were still prime family time, and Javier was there every Sunday, along with Alexis, Rick, Kate, Lily, Martha, and Jim.

Jim formally retired from his law office, but continued teaching a couple of law school classes at Columbia.

Martha landed the role of Mrs. Higgins in the revival of _My Fair Lady_ that opened on Broadway in April of 2018. The whole family was proud of Martha and overjoyed for her, and everyone but Lily would be in attendance at some point during the opening week. (Jim happily watched Lily on Opening Night so that Kate and Rick could attend, along with Alexis and Javier, and because of Madison's many connections, she had also scored tickets for herself and Mark for that night. Jim took in the Sunday matinee, running into Victoria and Gerald Gates; Kevin and Jenny, and Lanie and Alan, were in the audience on Saturday night.)

Rick spent the rest of the year 2018 plugging away at his new book of serious literature. He finally came up with a title for it: _Something Worth Saving_. He had his moments of doubt, since this story was unlike anything he had ever written. Kate had never seen him so insecure about his own writing in all the time they had known each other, but, expert on all things Rick Castle that she was, she soon recognized when he was having legitimate writer's block and when he was procrastinating just for procrastination's sake. He was about halfway finished with the book when he told her, one night when they were lying in bed, long after Lily had gone to sleep, "I'm not sure it's going to be any good. It's definitely not going to be anything like what my fans and readers are used to from me, because it's not a murder mystery."

Kate propped her head up on one hand and, lying on her side, looked at her husband. "Rick, what made you decide to write this book? I mean this particular story at this particular time, right now." She paused, then, remembering a case from years before, she said, "It's not because of that time traveler guy from years ago, is it?"

"Simon Doyle? No, it doesn't have anything to do with him," Rick replied. Of course he remembered the guy's name, Kate thought. His attention to detail wouldn't let him forget, especially since he had believed Doyle's story for the duration of the case...although Kate was not quite as skeptical at the case's end as she was before they closed it, especially after it was her spilled coffee that soaked the letter that had been the evidence they needed to get the killer before he claimed a third victim.

"I'm writing this story now because I _**need**_ to write it," Rick said. "The initial idea came to me, and so I started outlining it...and then before I knew it, I had nine chapters outlined, and I knew where I wanted the characters to go after those nine chapters, all the way to the end of the story. This story has taken hold of me and won't let go until I write it. _**All**_ of it. It's just something I _**have**_ to do. I honestly can't explain it any better than that."

"I understand completely," Kate replied, moving closer and resting her other hand on Rick's chest, over his heart. "You are an exceptionally gifted, incredibly talented writer, Rick. This is a departure from your normal, but that doesn't mean it's terrible. I don't see how it **could** be terrible. You're writing it, and you're writing it from your heart and your soul. Yes, it's different, but anyone who admires truly great writing is going to love this book, whether this is the first book of yours they ever read, or if they've read everything you've ever written. I know it." She looked deeply into his eyes. "I believe in you. And the people who read your first foray into serious literature, whether they're old fans or new fans, are going to see just how gifted and talented and amazing a writer you really are."

Rick smiled. "You're still my muse. I can't honestly say there's a character in this book that's based on you, but you will always be my greatest inspiration, Kate."

"And your proudest fan," Kate added before leaning down for a kiss that Rick enthusiastically returned.

Kate went through her own growing pains as she settled in with the City Council. She was learning a lot, taking copious notes, and it was in October of 2018 that she worked with other City Council members to craft her first bill, which called for stricter prerequisites when residents legally acquired guns. Kate vented to Rick, railing against the special interests trying to block what they were trying to accomplish. "Those people don't know what they're up against," Rick told her. "You come up against a wall, and you don't stop. You'll go over it, under it, crash right through it if that's what it takes, Kate. With you co-drafting this bill, you'll get it exactly the way you want it, exactly the way that will make the most sense and help the most people."

"You really think so?" Kate asked.

"I know so," Rick replied confidently.

True to Rick's words, the bill was hammered out, exactly to the specifications of Kate and her like-minded fellow City Council members, and it would go into Committee in May of 2019, with public hearings being held all throughout the summer of '19, since that was the procedure. Rick and Lily attended as many City Council meetings as they could, and even a few of the public hearings.

Lanie and Alan announced their baby news when they joined the rest of their family of friends at the loft the Saturday after Thanksgiving 2018, when they all gathered for an afternoon of food and games and catching up. The baby was due in April, which led to Rick reminding everyone that he was an April baby himself.

"Well, one April Fool in the family is enough," Lanie said. "I'm sure our baby will pick a different birthday."

"So do you know yet if it's a boy or a girl?" Kate asked.

Lanie and Alan exchanged a look. "We decided to be surprised," Lanie said.

"Yeah, once the baby's here, we'll know it's a boy or a girl forever. It's the greatest surprise we could ever get, so we decided we didn't want to know until she-"

"Or he," Lanie interjected.

"-actually arrives," Alan finished.

Alan and Lanie were bombarded with hugs and congratulations from everyone, and although they had already decided to ask Kate and Rick to be their baby's godparents, they silently communicated with a look that they would ask the Castles later, when they weren't in front of everyone.

Javier gave Alan a handshake and a hearty clap on the shoulder while Alexis was hugging Lanie, and then Javier and Alexis switched places, with Alexis congratulating Alan while Javier smiled at Lanie and said, "You look good, _chica_. Very happy."

"Back at you, Javi," Lanie said. "Everything has worked out exactly the way it's supposed to."

"It really has," Javi agreed, catching Alexis's eye and beaming at her. She returned his smile and then returned to his side, wrapping her arm around his waist as his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

When they were alone together a little later while Kate changed Lily's diaper, and her outfit, since she had eaten her sweet potatoes so enthusiastically she had splattered them all over not only her bib but the part of her shirt that the bib didn't cover, Lanie said, "You're gonna be my main go-to for pregnancy questions, you know," to Kate.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Kate replied with a smile as she finished dressing Lily and then picked her up from the changing table and set her down on the floor, then watched her scamper across the room to grab one of her favorite toys, her farm-themed See 'n' Say, and then plop her 19-month-old self down on the rug and pull the string, echoing the "moo"s and "meow"s of the cow and the cat, her two favorite animals featured on the toy. "And if you and Alan have a girl, she and Lily can be the next generation's you and me."

"Sarah Grace is so good with Lily, and with Nick. She's a little mother hen," Lanie reflected. "Of course, she _**is**_ the firstborn, not only in her own family, but also out of the next generation. She'll probably be the ringleader as the kids grow up, since they're all going to be growing up together."

"Maybe," Kate agreed.

"Of course, Miss Lily over there has a very strong personality," Lanie continued, smirking at Kate. "I wonder where she got that from?"

"Laugh it up now. You're going to be fighting the same battles yourself before you know it," Kate said.

"I can't wait," Lanie replied sincerely. She rested a hand on her just-noticeably-visible baby bump. "I'm gonna be a mom, Kate." Lanie looked at Kate then, thunderstruck.

"Yeah, you are," Kate said with a smile, "and you're gonna love it. Well, not every moment of it, but overall, you're gonna love it." The best friends embraced, and Lily approached them then, carrying her See 'n' Say.

When Kate and Lanie broke their hug to look at Lily, Lily reached out and gently patted Lanie's baby bump. "Aun' Yaynie, what's dat?" Lily asked. Kate visibly paled, and it was all Lanie could do not laugh out loud.

"Well, Miss Lily, you're getting a cousin next spring," Lanie replied.

Lily frowned, her expression a miniature of her mother's over the course of many years of police work, and seeing that look on Lily's face stopped Kate and Lanie both in their tracks. "Cousin?" Lily parroted. She had an exceptional vocabulary, not only picking up the words all of the adults in her life, as well as 4-almost-5-year-old Sarah Grace, who, in her second year of preschool, knew her ABCs, her 123s, her colors, and her shapes, and could now print her name, as well as the alphabet and numbers 0 through 9.

"Uncle Alan and I are having a baby, Lily," Lanie replied.

For one moment, Kate was afraid that Lily would be just precocious enough to ask where babies come from, or at least ask how the baby got in "Aunt Yaynie"'s tummy, but Lily's response was to stand up straight, thrust out her chin, and say, "I'm not a baby. I'm a big girl!"

Kate let out a breath she wasn't even aware she'd been holding and scooped Lily up, settling Lily on her hip. "That's right, Lily, you're our big girl, and getting bigger every day," Kate said.

"How are you and Castle going to handle it when you're the ones having the you-know-what?" Lanie asked. "Or are you not having any more?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Kate said casually as the trio headed back downstairs to join the rest of the family.

December was a monthlong celebration. At 19 months of age (as of December 7, 2018), Lily was old enough to be more of a participant in Christmas than she had been the year before, and she had lost none of her love of Christmas lights (which meant her own personal Christmas lights strung up in her bedroom above her crib again), and had most definitely inherited her daddy's love of Christmas decorating. Alexis brought over some mistletoe when she came over to help decorate the loft for Christmas (Javier was supposed to be there too, but he and Kevin and Hastings caught a last-minute case, so he couldn't come), and Rick made a big show of hanging the mistletoe and giving Lily, Alexis, and Martha, who also joined them for the decorating festivities, cheek kisses, and then luring Kate under the mistletoe, pulling her into his arms, and kissing her soundly on the lips, dramatically dipping her in the process.

This led to two things: Lily, who pronounced "Christmas" as "Kiss-mas," parking herself under the mistletoe whenever she wanted to either get or give a kiss; and when the three of them were all at home and in the living room, whenever Rick or Kate passed under the mistletoe, Lily would insist "Kiss-mas kiss, Mama, Daddy! Kiss-mas kiss!"

"Her incorrigibility is all you," Kate said as she approached Rick under the mistletoe.

"Is that a complaint?" he asked, genuinely unsure whether or not it was.

"An observation," Kate replied before kissing him to Lily's giggles and cheers.

Madison introduced Mark to her parents that December, since they were in town for the whole month. The Quellers liked Mark right away, and Madison was happy relieved that Mark liked her parents back.

She wasn't so happy, however, that Mark liked them so much that he became paranoid about staying at Madison's apartment while her parents were in town, even though her parents were staying in a hotel, however. The whole thing came up in the first place because Madison made the mistake of telling Mark that her parents had a key to her apartment, and would come over even when she wasn't at home if they were in the neighborhood, or if her mom wanted to cook or bake something since she couldn't do so at the hotel, and that she didn't impose any kind of curfew for them. He was equally scandalized when Madison suggested that they stay at his place at least a few nights while her parents were in town.

"So, what, my parents being in the same zip code is such a buzzkill that we're not spending a single night together all month?" Madison asked.

"What would your parents say if they found us in bed together?" Mark asked, his voice an octave higher. "Even just sleeping."

"You do know my parents were kids in the '60s, right? Bra burning, hippies, the Sexual Revolution, Woodstock, free love, they know about all of that stuff," Madison replied.

"Knowing about it is one thing. Knowing their daughter is doing it, and doing it with me, is something else entirely," Mark insisted.

"Great, my parents are cockblocking us," Madison said.

Unfortunately, at just that moment, since Madison and Mark were having this conversation at Madison's apartment, the front door swung open when Madison's mother used her key, and when Mr. and Mrs. Queller walked into the apartment, Mark looked positively horrified, afraid that the Quellers had heard what he and Madison had been discussing just a moment earlier.

It turned out they _**had**_ heard Madison and Mark talking, and although they were around during the '60s, Madison's father didn't want to discuss the situation at all. As far as he was concerned, his daughter had no sex life, and if she ever presented him and his wife with grandchildren, they would be brought by the stork, or found in a cabbage patch.

Madison's mother had no such qualms, however, and after Mark's hasty departure, she asked her daughter, "Is Mark always so uptight? He's a wonderful man, and I'm very happy for the both of you, but really, we're all adults here."

"And that's my cue to leave," Madison's dad said, hurrying to the bathroom, which was the furthest room away from the living room, where Madison and her mom were speaking.

"He's not that uptight usually, no," Madison replied. "He just really wants to make a good impression on you and Dad. And he's kind of old-fashioned, which, ordinarily, is part of his charm..." She trailed off.

"The weekend is coming up. Your father and I will make it a point not to come over Saturday or Sunday morning," Madison's mother said.

Even that wasn't enough to sway Mark, however. It wasn't that he didn't believe the Quellers; he just didn't like thinking that they knew what he and Madison were doing.

"Fine, we'll be celibate for the month of December," Madison said, throwing up her hands and refusing to discuss it any further, since they would just keep going around in circles, since neither of them would give in and they couldn't reach a compromise. "But you'd better DVR all those stupid football games on New Year's Day, because I'm jumping your bones at 12:01 AM, pal, and I'm not letting you out of bed for anything but food, calls of nature, and a shared bath for the whole day."

"I'll make it up to you on January 1, Maddie, I promise," Mark said.

"You're darn right you will," Madison replied, folding her arms across her chest.

Actually, Mark was taking Madison away for New Year's, to Mill Falls at the Lake in New Hampshire, but she didn't know it yet. She had already taken New Year's Eve and New Year's Day off, as had he, and this would be the first time they actually went away somewhere together. The inn was one of four on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in the village of Meredith, New Hampshire. They would be able to ice skate on the bay, and they would be attending a formal gala in the ballroom (Mark had already had his tuxedo dry cleaned and prayed that the dress and shoes he was surprising Madison with would meet with her approval; he had gotten Kate's approval on the dress and shoes, and the whole plan) with dinner and dancing to a live band, a fireworks display and champagne toast at midnight to ring in 2019, and they could even take a horse-drawn wagon ride around the village if they wanted, although Mark was more than fine with Madison's jump-his-bones-and-keep-him-in-the-bedroom-for-most-of-the-day plan to start the year off too.

Mark and Madison made an appearance at the Castle family Christmas Day Open House, which had become their new tradition in the past couple of years. Rick, Kate, Lily, Alexis, Javier, Jim, and Martha all spent Christmas Eve together, and Martha returned early on Christmas morning (everyone else stayed at the loft, but Martha and Earl Clifton, the actor playing Eliza's father Alfred P. Doolittle in _My Fair Lady,_ had taken quite a liking to each other, and she would be attending Midnight Mass with Earl at his invitation, and she would be bringing him to the loft on New Year's Eve to introduce him to her immediate family, including Javier and Jim).

Rick and Alexis hadn't seen Martha like this about any man since her late high school sweetheart Chet Palaburn, and even with Chet, there had been a fair amount of hesitancy on Martha's part, partly due to Martha's independence and occasional bouts of flightiness. She wasn't talking about moving in with Earl, even to divide her time between Earl's apartment and her own, but she was clearly smitten, and Rick, Alexis, and Kate all three hoped the feeling was mutual, because none of them wanted to see Martha get hurt.

Alan and the increasingly pregnant Lanie came for Christmas dinner and stayed well into the evening, needing a break from Lanie's mother, who was in what Lanie called "Granny-zilla mode." Alan's parents were with his sister, brother-in-law, and little niece Aubrey, in suburban Chicago.

Victoria and Gerald arrived about three in the afternoon, and Victoria and Lanie spent some time together decompressing as they commiserated about their respective holidays spent with Victoria's mother-in-law and Lanie's mother.

The Ryans arrived about six P.M. and were shortly followed by Mark and Madison, who had spent the day with her parents and Mark's in-laws Jack and Anna, who had come down to New York City for the day. Mark had sprung his New Year's Eve surprise on Madison, and she was amazed at the lengths he went to to surprise her.

When Nick Ryan, who was just a little over a year older than Lily, plopped down under the mistletoe with his new LeapPad, which he had brought along to play with, Lily, noticing Nick under the mistletoe, abandoned the tea party she was having with Sarah Grace, Kevin, Jenny, Kate, and Rick, walked over to Nick, dropped down to the floor next to him, and exclaimed, "Nick!" When he looked up from his LeapPad to see what she wanted, Lily shocked everyone by leaning over and giving Nick a smacking kiss on his cheek.

"EWWWWWW, YUCK!" Nick exclaimed, jumping up and running away from Lily. "Why'd you do that?" he asked disgustedly as he rushed over to his parents and scrambled up into his dad's lap, looking for a safe haven from Lily and her girl cooties.

"Kiss-mas kiss," Lily replied, unfazed. She pointed up at the mistletoe, and the gaze of every adult in the room, as well as Sarah Grace, followed her little index finger, and looked at the mistletoe.

Rick looked horrified. Kate was laughing. He looked at her. "You think this is funny?" he asked, alarmed. "She's 19 months old, Kate! That's **way** too young to be kissing, mistletoe or not!"

"It _**is**_ a Christmas tradition, Mr. Castle," Victoria pointed out.

"I don' like kisses!" Nick announced, making a big show of wiping away Lily's kiss.

"Good!" Rick said. "Keep feeling that way, Nick, for as long as you want to. Years. Decades, even."

"If he's anything like his father, he'll like kisses from pretty girls like Lily sooner rather than later," Jenny said.

"What kind of playground Lothario are you two raising?" Rick asked Kevin and Jenny.

"Nick's no Lothario," Kevin defended his son. "Although I admit, I didn't think we'd have to worry about this much before third grade, at least. That's when it started for me, with girls chasing me around at recess, trying to kiss me under the slide."

Sarah Grace, worldly at the age of almost five, looked from her little brother, scowling from the safety of their dad's lap, over to Lily, still sitting under the mistletoe. "Did you kiss Nick just 'cause of the mistletoe, or did you kiss him 'cause you _**like**_ -like him?"

" _ **Like**_ -like?" Madison repeated. She and Kate looked at each other. "Elementary school flashbacks!"

Now Kevin looked horrified. "What do you know about _**like**_ -liking boys, Sarah Grace?" he asked anxiously.

"Emma B. and Emma K. both _**like**_ -like Braden," Sarah Grace explained, referring to preschool classmates of hers. "Emma B. kissed Braden at the Play-Doh table before Christmas break, and Emma K. got so mad about it that she threw Duplos at Emma B., and Miss Kristin made Emma B. and Emma K. go to different time-out corners."

Now Kevin and Rick both looked horrified. "Preschool? This is happening in preschool?" Kevin asked. Then another thought occurred to him. "You don't _**like**_ -like any boys, do you, Sarah Grace?" he asked his daughter.

Sarah Grace shook her head. "No, Daddy. They're all so gross! Braden eats Play-Doh, and Caden farts all the time and thinks it's funny, and Aidan won't stop smelling glue sticks no matter how many times Miss Kristin tells him to. And the other boys are worse!"

"Aiden, Braden, and Caden? That poor teacher," Gerald Gates said sympathetically.

"Nick was under the missa-toe. Kiss-mas kiss," Lily repeated. Then she smiled and waved at Nick, who was still scowling.

"No more kisses!" Nick exclaimed.

Rick looked at Kate helplessly. Kate had recovered herself by now, and she said, "Lily knows that we kiss under the mistletoe. She has egged us on all month. She got Alexis and Javi a few times, and whenever she's under the mistletoe, she expects at least one kiss from at least one person."

"Okay, then, no mistletoe next year," Rick decreed.

Lily walked over to the couch, where her father was sitting in between Kate and Jenny, climbed up into his lap, and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek. "I lub you, Daddy," she said. "Merry Kiss-mas."

Rick looked down at Lily in his lap, looking up at him, a miniature Kate, her eyes bright with happiness and excitement. She wasn't paying any attention to Nick now. She really _**had**_ only kissed him because he had been sitting under the mistletoe, and she _**had**_ learned in the past month that whoever was under the mistletoe got a kiss.

"You don't fight fair, sweetpea," he murmured, settling her in his lap and kissing the top of her head.

"Of course she doesn't fight fair," Jim replied. "She takes after her mother and her Grandma Johanna that way."

"You don't have to sound quite so amused when you say that, Jim," Rick said.

Jim grinned unrepentantly. "Welcome to the club, son. They challenge us, they make us crazy in good and bad ways, they are extraordinary, they are frustrating…and we are better men for loving and being loved by Beckett women."

Rick looked at Lily in his lap, looking back at him, and then looked at Kate beside him. "No argument here," he said.

"Wouldn't it be funny if Lily and Nick got married to each other someday?" Martha mused then.

Rick groaned aloud. "Lily isn't even potty trained yet, Mother. Let's not talk about her getting married. You're doing _My Fair Lady,_ not _Funny Girl_."

Then Jim joined in the fun. "Preschool's a lot different than it was in my day, or even Katie's," he said. "But if you think that sounds bad, just wait another fifteen, sixteen years, because that's when, if she's anything like her mother, Lily Jo will be dating a boy whose hair is longer than hers, with multiple piercings, and his pants fastened around his knees so you can see his underwear on purpose." Rick and Kevin both went pale at this prediction from Jim.

"Okay, everyone, it's Christmas, be nice," Kate piped up then. "Since no one of legal age has any wedding announcements to make tonight, we'll change the subject now...although for the record, if Lily and Nick did get married when they grow up, we'd be totally fine with that, wouldn't we?" She looked at Rick then.

Rick's eyes flashed for a moment with a mix of concern and anguish as he thought about a grown-up Lily marrying a grown-up Nick Ryan. Kevin and Jenny were part of the family already, and Rick enjoyed being fun Uncle Rick to both Nick and Sarah Grace, so Kate was right in that he wouldn't mind if, some distant day many, many decades from now, Nick and Lily did fall in love for real and get married.

He just wasn't anywhere near ready to even entertain Lily marrying anyone as a possibility. He knew the day was coming, sooner rather than later, that Alexis would be marrying Esposito, although as Kate had just said, no one was making any wedding announcements tonight.

Rick took a deep breath, put aside his irrational, overreacting dad feelings, and looked at Kevin and Jenny as he replied, "Yes, we would."

"You have a long way to go with Lily before you have to worry about any of that," Martha said. "Enjoy the here and now. There's so much to look forward in the new year, for all of us."

"Indeed there is," Victoria agreed.

The others murmured their own agreement.

The days, weeks, months, and years to come would bring all manner of joys and surprises, and a few tough times, with them, but this group of people, this family, would endure and thrive through it all...together.


	81. Chapter 78

_**We're into 2019 now, and I did another time jump (from Christmas 2018 to late January 2019 to mid-to-late April 2019). Things will slow down in the next chapter, though, and we'll be in 2019 for a few chapters at least.**_

 _ **Also, even though neither of them is part of the Castle fandom or watches the show, my brother, and my best friend, are partially responsible for the direction Martha's future takes beginning in this chapter, because my brother is a Dark Shadows fanatic, and my best friend was a Falcon Crest fan, and although I never watched either of those shows, it is because of them that I am familiar at all with the actor David Selby, who played Quentin Collins on Dark Shadows, and Richard Channing on Falcon Crest. I knew that Susan Sullivan, our Martha Rodgers, was one of the lead actresses on Falcon Crest. My best friend informed me that she was, in fact, the best, most likable, and not insane romantic heroine of the show, and that her FC character Maggie's best pairing was with the aforementioned Richard. So although I haven't done any wishful casting for characters I've created, the character of Earl Clifton is, in my mind's eye, played by David Selby. If you're not familiar with Falcon Crest, like I wasn't, or even if you are and you just want to see what he looks like, I recommend entering 'Susan Sullivan and David Selby' into Google; the third picture that comes up in the image search (at least on my computer) is the one that I kept pulled up in a tab on my screen and kept looking at for inspiration, and I even went so far as to describe the pose in said picture in this chapter. So to A, and to N, thanks for opening up a new avenue of inspiration for me, and a story for Martha.**_

 _ **Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support for this story. And now, the chapter.**_

* * *

The whole family, except for Lily, had seen Earl Clifton as Alfred P. Doolittle in _My Fair Lady_ at least once each, but it wasn't until the end of January that everyone's schedules cleared enough for Martha to bring Earl to the loft for dinner to meet her family.

Rick, long accustomed to meeting his mother's actor friends, was expecting Earl Clifton to be a first-class flake, and not much different from his onstage portrayal of Alfred P. Doolittle. Sure, Martha had talked about him quite a bit, and even said, on more than one occasion over the past several months, that they were "seeing one another," but this was the first time in, literally, decades that Rick had met anyone his mother was dating, which in itself proved how serious Martha was about this man. Deep down, Rick feared that this Earl Clifton wasn't as serious about Martha, or that he was out to rip her off, like that ex-husband of hers that stole all her money, leading to Martha moving in with him and Alexis years ago, when Alexis was still in high school. So Rick was not inclined to think kindly of Mr. Clifton, and was concerned about his mother. Kate and Alexis had both told him, "You have to give the guy a chance," but Rick had been down this road with Martha before, and wasn't in agreement that he had to give the guy a chance at all.

The night finally came (a Monday, when Martha and Earl had the night off), and when Martha arrived at the loft with Earl, Rick was greatly surprised to see the man was clean shaven, his mussed white hair properly combed, and that he was dressed in a black sport jacket over a royal blue sweater, with the collar of his white button-down Oxford shirt peeking out above the collar of the sweater, and black slacks. And unlike Alfred P. Doolittle, Earl Clifton did not speak with a crisp British accent. "I've studied dialects for decades, though," he said after Martha had made the formal introductions. "I'm best at British and Irish, or at least that seems to be the consensus among directors, colleagues, and dialect coaches I've worked with through the years." He was carrying a file folder. "I believe you'll want to take a look at this, Mr. Castle," he said, handing over the folder.

Rick opened the folder, confused when he found a private investigator's report. "This is...uh..." he said. Alexis and Kate each peered over one of Rick's shoulders to see the papers inside the folder.

"Martha has told me all about all of you," Earl continued, "and I figured the best way to show you that my intentions toward her are honorable are with this report. One previous marriage, in the early 1970s, divorced, no children. I met her in summer stock, and a little over a year after the wedding, she ran off with her make-up artist, who believed he was the second coming of Max Factor. Neither of them were ever heard from again. At least, not by me. You'll see that I don't smoke, I don't drink to excess, I have never taken drugs of any kind, unless you count Lipitor. You'll find my net worth, a list of charities I support, the fact that I own my own apartment-"

"You did all this?" Alexis asked, surprised. Rick and Kate were too shocked to speak. Kate made quick work of perusing the report. Ryan and Esposito couldn't have done a more thorough job if they had been the ones who had pulled together all of this information on Earl Albert Clifton. Rick was just staring at this man, and at his mother standing next to this man and looking happier than he had ever seen her look in all his life.

"Well, the way I see it, when the woman you love has a son best known for writing murder mysteries, a daughter-in-law who is a retired, decorated NYPD homicide detective and captain and current City Councilwoman, and a granddaughter in law school, just telling them this is not a showmance isn't enough," Earl replied. He looked at Martha tenderly before returning his attention to Rick, Kate, and Alexis and continuing, "The moment I saw Martha's face for the first time at our first rehearsals a year ago, everything I thought I knew about life changed, and everything that I had _**thought**_ I wanted disappeared, because from the moment I met Martha, I knew that going forward, the _**only**_ thing I _**really**_ wanted in life was to be by her side until I take my last bow, or for as long as she will let me."

Martha's response to that was to put one arm around Earl's neck, letting her hand rest on his opposite shoulder. Her other palm, she rested flat on the shoulder closest to her. Then she touched her forehead to his temple, her eyes closed, a smile wreathing her face, while Earl's blue eyes shone with love and joy, and a smile bloomed on his face that matched hers.

Rick and Kate exchanged a look. Kate reached over and squeezed Rick's hand, knowing this wasn't easy for him...and it wasn't. But Rick saw how much this man loved Martha, that his words weren't just words, and he saw how much his mother loved this man, and he could not, would not, do anything to interfere or stand in their way.

"Well, Mr. Clifton," Rick said, closing the folder..

"Earl," Earl corrected.

"And I'm Rick," Rick replied. "I guess the only thing I can say is, welcome to the family, and as long as you keep that light in my mother's eyes, we won't have a problem."

Earl held out his hand to shake hands with Rick, and Rick shook his hand. Kate then followed suit, liking Earl's strong grip and the way he maintained eye contact. Finally, Alexis shook hands with Earl. Lily shouted from upstairs then, where she had been playing her room, and insisting to her parents and big sister that she would be fine until Gram came, and Kate excused herself to tend to Lily. When Kate and Lily came slowly walking downstairs hand in hand a few minutes later, Rick, Alexis, Martha, and Earl were sitting in the living room, talking and having drinks.

"Drink please, Mama!" Lily exclaimed when she saw everyone else had drinks in their hands.

"Water, milk, or juice?" Kate asked as they headed into the kitchen.

"Juice," Lily replied.

They joined the others after Kate had a bottle of water and Lily had her favorite sippy cup filled with apple juice. "Earl, this is my youngest granddaughter, Lily," Martha said as Lily charged over to the chair where Martha was seated, with Earl's hip perched on the edge of the chair's arm, and climbed up into her beloved grandmother's lap.

"Hi, Gram!" Lily exclaimed before taking a drink of her apple juice.

"Hello, my sweet Lily," Martha said, accepting the baby's hug before Lily settled herself on Martha's lap and looked at Earl curiously.

"Who he?" she asked, pointing at Earl.

"I'm a friend of your grandma's, Lily. I'm Earl," Earl said. "And you are even prettier in person than all the pictures of you your grandma has shown me."

Lily tilted her head, taking Earl's measure, then looked at Martha. "You like him?" she asked her grandmother. Rick bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud, and Alexis and Kate looked amused. Lily was every bit as precocious as her father and grandmother had ever been, although Jim swore that while the majority of Lily's precociousness may have come from her Rodgers-Castle genes, a generous portion of her precociousness had been inherited from Kate.

"I like him very much, Lily," Martha replied. "In fact, I love him."

"You love him?" Lily repeated. She turned and focused her most ferocious 20-month-old glare on Earl, instantly reminding Rick of Kate in the box with an uncooperative suspect at that moment. "You love my Gram?" she asked Earl.

To his credit, Earl took Lily's question seriously. "Yes, I do, Lily, very much," he said. "And she will always be your Gram."

"You be nice to her?" Lily asked next.

"Yes, I am," Earl replied.

Lily then pointed at Earl. "Be nice to my Gram, and I like you," she told him. Left unspoken, but obvious from the look on Lily's face, was that Lily would not like Earl if he was not nice to her Gram.

Martha looked over Lily's head at Richard and Katherine. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear you coached her," she said.

"Me?" Rick asked, the picture of innocence, one hand splayed over his heart.

"Both of you," she said, looking from Richard to Katherine and back again. "All of you."

"If there was any coaching, I had nothing to do with it, Gram," Alexis said, amused at her baby sister but at the same time agreeing with Lily's assessment.

"I swear we didn't, Martha," Kate said.

Earl held out his hand then. Lily looked from Earl's face to his hand. "I promise I will be nice to your Gram, Lily," Earl said.

Lily's scowl disappeared, and she smiled. "Okay," she said. She couldn't shake hands yet, but she gripped Earl's index and middle fingers and squeezed them in her approximation of a handshake.

"I had no idea the almost-two-year-old would be the toughest sell," Earl mused to Martha.

"Actually, neither did I," Martha replied.

"We take family very seriously," Rick said.

"Having never had one myself, believe me, so do I," Earl replied earnestly.

After dinner, Rick got Martha alone for a moment. "Mother, I've never seen you look happier than you look with Earl," he said.

"I didn't know it was possible for me to feel this way, Richard," she said. "I'm not sure how to explain it."

"You don't have to, Mother," he replied. "It's the way I feel every time I look at Kate." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "Are you two thinking marriage?"

"Honestly, no," Martha said. "It may have been over forty years ago, but Earl was very badly scarred when his wife ran off with that make-up man, and I've never felt a need to be married. No, marriage isn't something we feel is absolutely necessary. But we do take it as fact that we'll be together for the rest of our lives."

"He had himself investigated," Rick said. "That's a new one even on me, and I've seen almost everything over the years."

"I didn't know he was going to do that until he gave me the report to read last night," Martha replied. "Of course, I already knew everything that was in it, but still...Earl knows how important you and Katherine and Alexis and Lily are to me. And he knows about our extended family as well. If Javier and Kevin didn't get the idea to run a background check on Earl themselves, you and Katherine would have asked them to do it when they had the time...if Victoria didn't get there first."

"Earl meeting 'Iron' Gates. Can I be there when that happens?" Rick asked.

"I'm sure you will be," Martha said. "In all seriousness, though, Richard...Do you like him? Do you approve of our relationship?"

"Mother, I think the only relationship I've ever had in my life that you approved of is Kate," Rick replied. "It isn't really my place to approve or disapprove. But I will say this: you never even introduced Alexis and me to Chet Palaburn, and he's the only man I've ever seen you really serious about...until now. For you to bring Earl here to meet all of us, and to tell me that you and Earl are taking it as fact that you're together for the rest of your lives, he's got to be the real thing for you. So yes, I approve. We all approve." Then he gave Martha a big hug, which she returned. "Be happy, Mother. You deserve it," he said softly into her ear.

"Thank you, Richard," Martha replied softly into his ear.

And that is how Earl Clifton became a member of the extended Castle family.

* * *

Lanie was relieved when April 1 came and went and she hadn't given birth yet. It wasn't that she didn't want her child to have the same birthday as Castle, but April 1 was April Fool's Day, and she didn't want her child to be teased about having that as his or her birthday.

But that relief was short-lived as the first two weeks of April went by without even very much in the way of Braxton Hicks contractions, because Lanie was totally over the whole being pregnant thing. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen her feet. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept through the night. The baby's favorite position was anything that involved putting pressure on her bladder, resulting in her making more bathroom pit stops than people twice her age with overactive bladder issues. Her back ached constantly, and she was irritable whenever she was awake, and bored on top of that since her maternity leave had already begun.

Alan took everything in stride, which was another thing that sometimes made Lanie angry. She didn't understand how he could be so calm and Zen about the impending birth of their child when she was so uncomfortable and impatient and worried about what kind of mother she would be. "I'm a schmuck," Alan said. "You have to go through all the physical discomfort and the pain of labor and childbirth, and I know you're miserable, but I don't really know what to do that isn't going to make you mad right now. And I deserve it. I absolutely deserve it, because I'm half responsible for all of this." He gestured to Lanie's extremely pregnant form. "And I'm your husband, so I'm the easiest target. I'm already prepared for you to call me every nasty name you can think of in the delivery room, and break my hand, and throw ice chips at me. I've earned that." Lanie was also over people touching her belly, but Alan gently laid his palm on the mound of their child. "I know it sucks right now, but this little guy or girl is so lucky to have you as a mom. Yeah, it's scary, because we've never done this before, and we haven't spent much time around babies, except Lily, and we've never dealt with her having a meltdown or a diaper explosion or colic or teething or any of the really tough stuff, but you're gonna be great, and we'll both learn as we go. And whenever this kid is ready to come out, I'll be ready to take you both to the hospital."

"Now I can't even get mad at you because you're being so damned sweet!" Lanie complained.

It was the week before Easter. Columbia was on spring break, so Alexis and Jim were both spending a lot of time with Lily. Lanie had been commiserating with Kate and Jenny over the extreme discomfort of the end of her pregnancy, and since Jenny had the day off from work, Sarah Grace was at preschool, and her parents had Nick, and Jim had Lily, Kate and Jenny headed over to Lanie and Alan's to keep Lanie company.

Alan had left for work on time on this Wednesday morning, April 17, 2019, and Lanie was dozing on the couch after making her way out to the living room, having not gotten much sleep the night before because she had had horrible back pains all night, worse than usual.

She shuffled to the door to let Kate and Jenny in when the doorbell rang, and she was bent double, one hand white-knuckling the doorknob, her other hand on the small of her back, as Kate and Jenny entered the apartment. "Lanie, are you okay?" Kate asked.

"No, I'm not okay!" Lanie snapped. "I'm nine months' pregnant, I've been having horrible back pains all night, and-" Lanie abruptly trailed off as she slid to her knees, still clutching the doorknob. "Oh, lord!" she exclaimed. She looked up at Kate and Jenny, her eyes wide, her face pale. "Either I just wet myself, or my water just broke."

Kate and Jenny exchanged a look and instantly sprang into action, helping Lanie to her feet. When they saw the puddle on the floor, Jenny and Kate exchanged another look and then Jenny said, "Definitely your water breaking."

Before Lanie could formulate a response to that, another contraction ripped through her, this time causing her large belly to tighten and ripple. "Son of a bitch!" she roared.

"Yeah, that's labor," Kate said. She pulled out her phone, pulled up her contact list, and touched Alan's name on the screen before putting the phone to her ear. He answered on the second ring. "Alan, it's Kate. Get home NOW. Lanie's water just broke and she is definitely in labor!"

"Really? This is it?" Alan asked eagerly, sounding like Rick on Christmas morning.

"This is it!" Kate said. "Alan, focus. Home! Now! Lanie needs you!"

"I'm on my way!" Alan exclaimed. "Oh, her bag is packed, it's in the front hall closet, and the doctor's number is on the fridge. Dr. Matthews. You'd better call her and let her know to meet us at the hospital. Tell Lanie I love her and I'm on my way home right now!" Then he hung up.

Jenny was literally holding Lanie up. "Something's wrong," Lanie was insisting. "I'm not getting any breaks from the pain. It's one wave on top of another. That's not normal, is it? You're supposed to have at least a minute or two in between contractions, right?"

Kate, still holding her phone, took the three steps required to take hold of Lanie and keep her on her feet. "Jenny, Alan said the doctor's number, Dr. Matthews, is posted on the fridge. Would you call her, please?"

"Yes," Jenny said, dashing into the kitchen.

"Kate, something's happening!" Lanie said. She dug her hands into Kate's shoulders and screamed in pain.

"Try to breathe through it, Lanie," Kate said. "I know it's almost impossible, but try." Kate demonstrated Lamaze breathing, and Lanie gamely tried to breathe through the pain, but the breathing didn't do much for her.

Jenny came racing back into the living room then, carrying a glass of ice cubes. "I called Dr. Matthews. She said she'll meet you and Alan at the hospital. And I got you some ice."

"Lanie, your horrible back pain...How long have you had it, would you say?" Kate asked then.

"Since last night," Lanie replied. "I barely got any sleep. Oh god!" Lanie's knees buckled.

Kate clicked into cop mode then. "Jenny, call 911," she said. "I don't think we're going to make it to the hospital in time for Dr. Matthews to deliver this baby."

"What?" Lanie said. "No, Kate! No, no, no! That's not how this is supposed to go **AT ALL**! I'm supposed to be in the hospital, with the good drugs to make this godawful damn pain go away!"

Jenny was on the phone with 911 when Alan dashed through the still-open front door, exclaiming, "I'm triple parked downstairs! Is your bag still in the closet?"

"Alan, I don't think we have time for that," Kate said gravely. "I need you to help me get Lanie to bed. I don't think this kid is gonna wait for the hospital, and I doubt Lanie wants to give birth in the car."

"I most certainly do not!" Lanie said. Her knees buckled again, and Alan was there, holding her up and trying to get her to breathe with him, not having much better luck than Kate and Jenny had just a moment ago.

Jenny hung up from 911. "Ambulance is on the way," she said. "But they couldn't give me an ETA."

Lanie straightened up as much as she could, and she was crying now. "It isn't supposed to happen like this!" she insisted.

"Babies come when they're ready," Jenny said. "You brought Sarah Grace safely into the world, and got her and me both safely through the delivery. None of us are going to let anything happen to you and your baby, Lanie."

"Jenny is right," Kate said. "Now, while we seem to have a few seconds between contractions, I suggest that we get you into bed, Lanie."

"I've got her," Alan said, lifting Lanie into his arms and carrying her to their bedroom, with Kate and Jenny trailing behind.

"Have you ever delivered a baby before?" Jenny asked Kate.

"No," Kate replied, knowing Jenny's answer was the same. "But if we're really lucky, the paramedics will get here in time to handle the actual delivery, and we can just help Alan coach Lanie through what's left of her labor."

Lanie and Alan both screamed then, and Kate and Jenny dashed into their bedroom.

"I—I see the top of the baby's head," Alan said, and he was now even paler than Lanie. "I don't think the paramedics are gonna get here in time."

Kate and Jenny both took a look, and sure enough, the baby was crowning.

"Lanie, the baby's coming right now," Kate said.

"Kate," Lanie said. Her fear and anxiety were condensed in that single syllable.

"We've got this," Kate assured Lanie. She grabbed the bottle of hand sanitizer she spied on Lanie's nightstand, squirted a generous dollop in one palm, tossed the bottle to Jenny, and then made quick work of rubbing the sanitizer into her hands. Jenny followed suit, and then rushed into the bathroom, returning a moment later with a large bath towel.

"Alan, help her prop up," Kate instructed. "Jenny, get that towel ready." Jenny knelt at the foot of Lanie and Alan's bed, towel at the ready, a look of intense concentration on her face. "All right, Lanie, on the next contraction, I want you to push," Kate continued.

Lanie did not need to be told twice. She bore down and pushed, with Alan holding her up and counting to ten, one of the few things he remembered from Lamaze class.

Lanie fell back against Alan, feeling like her body was being torn apart from the inside by excruciating pain. The baby's head was out, but Jenny and Kate both saw that the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck. "Your fingers are smaller than mine, I think," Kate murmured. "Don't push again yet, Lanie!"

"Okay," Jenny said. "Just a second here..." Ever so carefully, she touched the cord, relieved beyond measure when she found that it wasn't cutting off the baby's oxygen, but was loose around his or her neck. Jenny very carefully inserted her fingers between the cord and the baby's neck and slipped it up and off the baby's neck and head. Kate breathed her own sigh of relief when she saw that the cord was no longer around the baby's neck.

"What's happening? What's wrong?" Lanie asked frantically.

"What's going on?" Alan demanded.

"The cord was around the baby's neck, but it wasn't tight," Jenny said. "I slipped it up and over the head. Everything's fine now. And your baby has a full head of hair."

"Okay, you ready to go again?" Kate asked.

"Do I have a choice?" Lanie replied rhetorically. Then the next contraction hit and she pushed with all her might.

"All right, we have shoulders!" Kate exclaimed. "One more push should do it, Lanie! When that next contraction hits, push as hard as you can!"

In answer, Lanie began pushing as what she prayed was the final contraction wracked her body while Alan kept chanting in her ear over and over how great she was and how much he loved her.

Kate's hands, sure and steady, caught the baby as it slipped completely free of Lanie's womb and let out a loud, indignant series of wails. "It's a boy!" Kate exclaimed, holding him up for his parents to get their first look at him, umbilical cord still attached. She kept a good hold on him as Jenny wrapped him in a towel, and then Kate placed the baby on Lanie's chest.

Alan and Lanie were both crying now. "A boy," Alan repeated, looking at the baby in wonder.

"He's beautiful," Lanie wept. And indeed he was, even covered in the fluids and gunk of birth, his full head of dark hair plastered to his scalp, big brown eyes unfocused, tiny hands flailing as he shrieked, and his skin a gorgeous mocha color.

That was the moment that the paramedics arrived, and Jenny rushed to let them in and direct them to the bedroom, she and Kate retreating to the bathroom to wash up again while the paramedics handled the delivery of the placenta and prepared Lanie, Alan, and their son for transport to the hospital.

"I can't believe we did that," Jenny said, still stunned. "You were awesome, Kate!"

"So were you," Kate told Jenny. "I couldn't have done it without you. You got the cord off his neck, Jenny, you saved his life."

One of the paramedics approached them then. "Mom and Dad said the cord was around the little guy's neck?" he asked.

"Very loosely, thank God," Jenny said. "I was able to slip it up and over his head, and it didn't seem to have a detrimental effect on his breathing."

"You're right, it didn't," the paramedic replied. "We're getting ready to transport them to the hospital, but your friends want to talk to you two for a minute."

Kate and Jenny returned to the bedroom. Lanie was on a gurney, Alan standing beside her, both of them with proud, happy grins on their faces, and the baby was swaddled in a blanket and snoozing in Lanie's arms. "We'll never be able to thank you two enough," Lanie said.

"We just did what needed to be done," Kate said.

"He's so cute," Jenny said in a hushed voice.

"We're going to have quite the story to tell him about the day he was born," Alan said. "Very few babies get delivered by their godmothers."

"Godmothers?" Jenny asked. Everyone knew that Kate and Rick were the godparents, because Alan and Lanie had asked, and Kate and Rick had accepted, a few months earlier.

"Lily has two sets of godparents," Lanie pointed out. "I don't think Ryan will say no to being a godfather again. You helped him get here safely, Jenny, you kept the cord from strangling him. Of course we want you to be his godmother, along with Kate, and Ryan to be his godfather, along with Castle."

"We would be honored," Jenny said, wiping at her eyes.

"Then it's settled," Lanie said. "You're Will's godmothers, and Castle and Ryan are his godfathers."

"Will?" Kate asked.

"William Lucas Masters," Alan pronounced proudly. "But we're gonna call him Will."

"You can spread the word to the rest of the family," Lanie said. "Alan and I will call our parents, and Alan's sister and her husband, from the hospital. We'll see you there later?"

"With armloads of gifts," Kate promised. She looked at Will, sleeping in his mother's arms. "Welcome to the world, Will Masters."

"We'll see you later, Will," Jenny said, smiling down at the sleeping baby boy.

After the paramedics departed with Lanie, Alan, and Will, Kate and Jenny made all of the necessary phone calls, and soon almost the entire family—minus Jim and Lily, and Martha and Earl, who still hadn't met most of the extended family—was en route to the hospital to meet Will and congratulate Lanie and Alan in person and give them gifts and flowers.

Rick, carrying a bouquet of blue forget-me-nots and a giant Mylar balloon proclaiming "IT'S A BOY!", found Kate at the hospital nursery window. "You delivered Lanie and Alan's baby!" he exclaimed.

"Jenny helped," Kate replied. "We both did it."

"He's not in there, is he?" Rick asked, looking over Kate's shoulder at the babies in the nursery. "Since he wasn't born in the hospital, I didn't think he could be in there."

"He's not," Kate said. "I was just looking at all those other babies, and waiting for you." She bit her lip. "Lily's going to be two next month," she said.

"Not even a month away now," Rick pointed out. Plans for Lily's second birthday party were in full swing.

"It's April 17," Kate said. "And I doubt it will happen right away. But even if it did, if I got pregnant before this month is over, assuming the baby wasn't born early, I'd give birth in January of next year, and Lily would be three in May, so we'd still have the three-year age difference."

"Kate," Rick said, awed. "You want to start trying?"

"Yeah, I want to start trying. I want a mini-Castle. Although another girl would be fine too," Kate said.

"You want to start trying," Rick repeated, awed.

"You don't?" Kate asked anxiously.

Rick carefully shifted the flowers and balloon he was holding and pulled Kate into his arms. "I do," he said. "I'm ready whenever you are."

"Well, not right this second," Kate said, pulling back slightly but remaining in the circle of Rick's arms. "But tonight sounds good to me, how about you?"

"Tonight's just fine," Rick replied.

"Good," Kate said, stretching up to tease him with a kiss, a promise of things to come later. "Now, it's time for you to properly meet your godson. Oh, and we're sharing godparent duty with Jenny and Ryan."

They entered Lanie's hospital room to find Kevin, Jenny, Javier, Alexis, and Victoria already there. "And here are Aunt Kate and Uncle Rick, Will," Lanie said to the baby in her arms.

"Will," Rick repeated. "Good, strong name. And since he didn't want to wait until you were here to make his debut, he's already exhibiting the April-born trait of impatience."

Lanie rolled her eyes. "I don't believe in zodiac signs, Castle. I'm a woman of science. That's astrology mumbo-jumbo."

"April babies have good traits, too," Rick asserted as he set the flowers and balloon in the corner with the rest of the flowers, balloons, and stuffed animals the others had brought and gave first Alan, who was perched on the edge of the hospital bed next to Lanie and Will, and then Lanie, hugs. "We're cheerful, charismatic, resilient, focused, genuine, passionate..."

"Those all sound like good qualities to have," Alan said.

"And where on that list does teaching our son to speak Klingon fall?" Lanie asked knowingly, with a raised eyebrow. At Alan's surprised look, she said, "I found the _Klingon Dictionary_ underneath a stack of diapers under the changing table, Alan, so don't even try to deny it."

"Just think how much easier it'll be for Will to pick up Spanish or French when he's in school if he starts learning Klingon from birth," Alan said.

As Alan and Lanie good-naturedly bantered back and forth about the merits of teaching Will Klingon from birth, and Kevin and Javier bickered over which of them would wind up with more godchildren ("Your sisters' kids shouldn't count!" Javi insisted.), and Alexis and Jenny and Victoria tried in vain to restore order and shift the focus back to Lanie and Alan and baby Will, Kate and Rick looked at each other and smiled, thinking about their yet-to-be-conceived child, and already daydreaming about when they would be the ones in the hospital on the day that child was born.


	82. Author's Note----NOT A CHAPTER!

_**I apologize from the bottom of my heart, but I have had an insane week personally and there's no way that the next chapter will be posted this week. It's an important one-Will's christening, Rick's book party for his first serious literature novel, a big step forward for Mark and Madison, and a moment I've been waiting to write for Kate and Rick-and it has to be just right.**_

 _ **I appreciate all of you so much, and your passion and enthusiasm for this story mean everything to me. I hate that life got so much in the way this week that I couldn't pull off my usual chapter, but I promise I will make it up to all of you next week. Thank you for all of your support and enthusiasm. It feeds my writer's soul.**_


	83. Chapter 79

_**Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support, and for your patience. Here is the next chapter. It covers early May to early July 2019.**_

 _ **EDIT: Some of my early reviewers pointed out that the distance from New York City to Buffalo by car is six hours, so I went back and fixed that. I've been to Massachusetts but never New York (city or state), and I live in the Midwest, so I was unaware of the actual geographical distance. Thanks to those of you who caught my error. I fixed it.**_

* * *

William Lucas Masters was christened the third Sunday after he was born, with Rick and Kate Castle, and Kevin and Jenny Ryan, standing up as his godparents. Lanie's parents, Alan's parents, and his sister, brother-in-law, and 9-month-old niece Aubrey all came for the christening. Lanie had planned everything down to the second, and while her mother grumbled about not being able to have a hand in her own grandson's christening, everyone pretty much ignored her, because they were all so happy about the baby.

The funniest moment of the day was at the party at Alan and Lanie's packed-to-the-rafters-with-people apartment, when Nick spotted Lily walking towards him and Sarah Grace and scowled, crossing his arms over his chest, and proclaiming firmly, "No kissing, Lily!"

Lily wasn't the least bit taken aback. She said, "No missa-toe, Nick. It's not Kiss-mas," and proceeded to ask Sarah Grace, "You wanna play?"

"Sure," Sarah Grace agreed. "Be nice, Nicky," she said to her brother.

"You play. I'm not!" Nick insisted, turning and dashing in the other direction, towards his parents, Uncle Javi and Aunt Alexis.

Sarah Grace shook her head. "Boys are so weird," she said before she headed off with Lily towards the opposite end of the living room to play.

"I think Will has surgeon's hands," Melinda Parish proclaimed as she held her grandson.

"Mama, if Will wants to be a doctor he will have our full support," Lanie said. "But he doesn't have to be a doctor if he doesn't want to."

"Of course not," Walter Parish piped up. "This boy can be anything he wants to be, and he'll get no pressure from anyone about what to be." Walter and Melinda Parish then had a tense staredown over their first grandchild's future that seemed to last forever, but in actuality only lasted a minute.

"I can't believe my little brother is a daddy!" Liz Weston exclaimed for what felt like the fortieth time. "And Aubrey has a cousin!"

"Two grandchildren in one year, a girl **and** a boy," Sue Masters said.

"And there was a time you were worried we'd never have any grandchildren at all," her husband Dave teased her.

Dozens of pictures were taken in every conceivable combination of people. It was a wonderful day of friends and family.

Kate and Jenny had both received many calls and texts from Lanie in the first weeks of Will's life about everything from burping to nursing to when the stump of his umbilical cord fell off and if it looked normal, and they were both happy to help her through her trial by fire. As Kate put it when the three mothers had a moment in Lanie and Alan's kitchen during the party after Will's christening, "No matter how many books you read, or how many websites you go to, when the moment arrives, you have to pretty much figure it out for yourself, because every baby is different, and luckily, every baby is also forgiving and resilient. You'll make mistakes, but Will is going to forgive you for them. Don't waste time beating yourself up over those mistakes, because you won't make any that are unforgivable or dangerous."

"It's all overwhelming and scary at first," Jenny agreed, "but you're doing great, Lanie. And you have an excellent partner in Alan."

"He **is** amazing," Lanie agreed, looking across the crowded room until she spotted Alan, holding Will, looking down at him with pure love and adoration, seemingly blocking out everyone else around them as he spoke quietly to his son, probably about _Star Trek_ or _Dungeons and Dragons_ or _Comic-Con_. "I actually get to shower every day, at least for the time being, because Alan is on paternity leave for two months. And he's great about changing diapers and giving Will a bath, and he'll run out to the store for diapers or wipes or cream or anything we realize we need at any hour of the day or night."

Jenny held her mimosa aloft, and Kate and Lanie followed suit (though Lanie's champagne flute contained only orange juice). "To our wonderful husbands, who are amazing fathers," she said.

"I'll drink to that," Kate said, marveling all over again at how Rick had raised Alexis basically on his own, and at how incredible he was with Lily, and how incredible she knew he would be with their hopefully-soon-to-be-conceived next child.

"Hear, hear," Lanie agreed before the trio touched glasses.

A piercing wail went up then, and Kate, Lanie and Jenny all three set their glasses on the nearest countertop and rushed into the living room. The wail was coming from Will, who was hungry, and overstimulated from being passed around among so many people.

Alan stuck his finger in Will's diaper. "He's dry," he reported as Lanie rushed to them. "I don't think he did the other, either. He must be hungry."

"I think so," Lanie said, glancing at the nearby wall clock. "Excuse us, everyone." She took Will into her and Alan's bedroom, nudging the door shut behind her with her foot to preserve her privacy so she could nurse her son in peace.

"You don't look too much the worse for wear, Alan," Rick said.

"Will's a pretty laid back little guy, all things considered," Alan replied. "And paternity leave helps. Plus Lanie and I both crash whenever Will's sleeping. It's an adjustment, sure, but I've never been happier in my life."

"Family **is** what it's all about," Kevin agreed.

"I'll drink to that," Rick said, lifting his glass to toast with Kevin and Alan. "To our incredible children, and their amazing mothers."

Kevin and Alan clinked their glasses with Rick's, and then Kevin and Rick instinctively sought out their kids—Nick busy with his ever-present LeapPad under the desk in Lanie and Alan's living room, Sarah Grace and Lily playing pretend way across the room—and then met their wives' gazes, exchanging secret smiles, the true, and depth-filled, meanings of which were known only to them.

* * *

Madison was in her private office at the Manhattan location of Q3 when her cell phone rang. She answered it, "Hello, Madison Queller here."

A strange female voice on the other end, "Ms. Queller, this is Sarah Murphy. I'm a nurse at Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo, and I'm calling you on behalf of Mark Fallon."

"Mark?" she asked. She knew that Mark had been called to the Homeland Security Field Office in Buffalo for meetings today. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

"You're listed as his emergency contact in his phone," Nurse Murphy replied. "He was in a car accident, and he has a compound fracture of the left leg."

Madison's head, heart, and stomach all three were churning in turmoil now. "Is he going to be all right?" she asked anxiously.

"He's just been taken to X-Ray. Preliminary diagnosis of a compound fracture was made by the paramedics who responded to the accident."

"Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo," Madison replied. "I'm on my way."

She shouted instructions to her manager on the fly as she dashed out the door and jumped into the first cab she could flag down. She rushed to JFK International Airport, got the first flight to Buffalo that she could, and after landing in Buffalo, rented a car and sped to the hospital, worried every second about Mark.

When she arrived at the hospital in Buffalo, she flew into the ER and exclaimed, "My boyfriend Mark Fallon was in a car accident, he has a compound leg fracture, and-"

Before she got any further, the ER nurse interrupted Madison. "Yes, Ms. Queller. I'm the one who called you. He's in surgery right now. They have to put a rod and screws in the tibia and fibula and then cast it. I can take you up to the Surgical Waiting Room."

While Madison waited, she texted Kate to let her know what had happened, and then she had another thought and called Mark's in-laws. Jack answered, and he and Anna dropped everything and rushed from Huntington to Buffalo, also by way of JFK Airport, to wait with Madison for news on Mark. She tried reaching his mother, but Mark's mother didn't answer, and she didn't feel right about leaving a message about Mark's broken leg, so, since Jack and Anna had shown up by then, she opted to wait until Mark could call his mother himself. Kate called her back shortly after the Holbrooks had arrived, and Madison excused herself to take the call. "He's still in surgery, Kate, that's really all I know. I'm a wreck. Thank God Jack and Anna are here. I don't know how they can be so calm right now!"

"A compound fracture is serious," Kate agreed. "It's going to take a couple of months for him to get up and around again. And he'll have physical therapy."

"I don't even have any of the accident details," Madison replied. "I don't know how it happened." She caught sight of a nurse talking to Jack and Anna, who was motioning frantically to Madison. "A nurse is here. I've gotta go, Becks."

"Keep me posted!" Kate shouted before Madison disconnected the phone and sprinted back down the hall.

"Mr. Fallon came through the surgery just fine," the surgical nurse reported. "The rod and screws are in place, and his leg is getting casted right now. I'll come back with another update for you as soon as I can."

Madison, Jack, and Anna all three thanked the nurse, who left then. "Well, thank God," Anna said.

"A broken leg is no picnic, but it could have been a whole lot worse," Jack agreed.

They were finally allowed to see Mark when he was moved to a regular room after the completion of the successful surgery and his leg being put in a cast. He was barely awake, between the anesthesia from his surgery and the morphine IV for the pain, but he roused himself enough to realize that Madison, Jack, and Anna were there. "Hey," he said, his voice gravelly.

Madison couldn't stop the tears that began to flow. "Don't you ever scare me like that again," she chided softly before leaning down to kiss Mark's cheek.

"'m sorry. Wasn't my fault. Truck T-boned me. Drunk guy ran a light," he said. He fought the drugs. "My leg's not hurting anymore."

"Enjoy that while it lasts," Madison said. "They'll wean you off that morphine in the next couple of days, probably."

"She's not kidding about that, either, son," Jack said. "Went through that myself after my prostate surgery a few years ago."

"Okay," Anna said brightly and a little too loudly, "honey, you know the rule."

"No discussing my prostate in public," Jack replied.

"Yes," she said. "You rest up, Mark." She smoothed his hair off his forehead, then leaned down and kissed his forehead. "We're going to go to the hotel now." While waiting to get in to see Mark, she and Jack had booked two rooms at a hotel near the hospital, one for themselves and one for Madison. "Madison, we'll see you there later."

"I'll sneak you in some decent food and coffee tomorrow," Jack promised Mark before squeezing Mark's hand. Anna, knowing that Madison hadn't brought so much as a toothbrush, let alone a change of clothes, made a mental note to bring her some toiletries the next morning when she and Jack returned with breakfast and coffee.

Madison didn't make it to the hotel that night, sleeping in a chair next to Mark's hospital bed instead. They both woke up at around 4 AM, when the floor of the hospital they were on was relatively quiet, all things considered, since the next shift change wasn't happening for another three hours, and everyone else on the hall was either asleep or going about their work quietly.

Mark awoke first and just lay there, his broken leg in its cast in traction, looking at Madison curled up in the uncomfortable visitor's chair pulled up to his bedside, covered with a lightweight hospital blanket she must have asked a nurse for, or taken from the empty bed across the room, since the air conditioning in the hospital was set on Arctic Blast, and the early June weather wasn't humid enough to make that Arctic Blast comfortable.

He just looked at Maddie for he didn't know how long, and when she stirred and opened her eyes, blinking in the dim light of the hospital room, he smiled at her. "Hi," he said, his voice still gravelly.

"Hi," Madison replied, her own voice rusty from sleep. The night nurse had left a pitcher of ice water in the room not too long ago, and after they had each had some water, Madison resumed her seat.

"That can't be comfortable," Mark said. "C'mere." He patted one side of the bed.

The compound fracture of his leg was his biggest injury, but he had gotten banged up and had several bruises (or contusions, as the hospital medical staff referred to them), so in addition to the pain in his leg that would come roaring back when he was off the morphine, he knew he'd feel sore all over too. But at the moment, he couldn't find it in himself to care.

Madison cautiously, gingerly settled herself on the bed next to Mark. "How are you feeling?" she asked him.

"I'm still on the good stuff," Mark replied, gesturing to the morphine dispenser standing next to his hospital bed. "But I'm not so loopy that I want you think it's the drugs talking when I say what I'm about to say to you."

Madison tilted her head, wondering where he was going with this. "What are you about to say to me?" she asked.

"I think we should move in together," Mark replied.

In the silence that ensued, Mark peered at Madison's face closely, watching as she fully comprehended what he had just said. Finally, Madison repeated, "You think we should move in together."

"I've been thinking it for a while," Mark admitted. "I was waiting for the right moment to make the suggestion, and this may not be it, but I don't want to wait anymore. The cliché about your life flashing before your eyes when you're in a critical moment that it looks like you might not make it out of is true, at least for me. And Kim had her place in all those flashes of memory, but the main thought in my head in the split second before that truck slammed into me was, 'God, there's so much Maddie and I haven't done yet. I don't want this to be where it ends for me, because I'd miss out on so much with her.' And I would, because Madison, when I look at you, I'm home. And that's something I never thought I'd have again, a _**real**_ home. Home is you. Wherever you are. So I want to find a place that we can make into a physical home together. I want your makeup cluttering up the bathroom counter, and you using my last razor to shave your legs without telling me. I want my toothbrush hanging next to yours in the bathroom, and your clothes exploding out of the bedroom closet. I want to get a new place with you that we can truly make **ours**. I want to pick out furniture and towels and argue about what kind of comforter to put on the bed, because you'll probably want something with flowers, and I'll want something solid, or maybe striped if it doesn't look like it belongs on a high-school football uniform. We're making a life together. Let's make a home together. What do you say?"

"Even if it's the morphine talking-" Madison began.

"I swear it's not," Mark replied seriously, and she took a good, hard look into his eyes, noticing that they were indeed clear. He still had morphine in his system, but he wasn't loopy on it, or overly doped up. He was in complete control of all of his faculties. And he meant it, because one thing Madison had learned about Mark Fallon early on was that he never said anything he didn't truly mean.

"We can't exactly go apartment hunting while you're recovering from that broken leg," Madison continued.

"It's only the beginning of June," Mark pointed out. "Six to eight weeks, I'll be out of this thing and into physical therapy, and we can start looking in late August or early September."

"Okay, then," Madison said.

"Really?" Mark asked hopefully.

"Really," Madison replied, "because you're my home too, Mark. A home I didn't even know I was looking for, and never thought I'd find. So yes, let's move in together...after your cast comes off and you've started physical therapy and we find a place."

Mark gently pulled Madison closer to him. "I'm gonna hold you to that," he said.

"I expect you to," Madison said before she and Mark sealed their agreement with a kiss that brought two nurses and a doctor rushing into the room when Mark's heart rate accelerated and the machines at the nurses' station alerted them to that fact.

Neither Mark nor Madison was even the least bit embarrassed that their liplock had raised Mark's heart rate enough to attract medical attention.

* * *

Rick sent the final revisions for his first serious literature novel, _Something Worth Saving,_ to Black Pawn in early July.

He had just emailed the last of the revisions to Adam, his publisher, when Kate appeared in his office door. "Did you reach a stopping point?" she asked him.

"Just sent the final revisions to Adam," he replied, shutting down his laptop and closing the lid. "How has it been so quiet around here? Or was I just really in the zone?"

"Oh, you were in the zone, no question," Kate replied. "Alexis and Lily are out having a Girls' Day. I've been a bit preoccupied the last two hours, waiting for you to finish in here, because there's something we need to look at together."

"What's that?" Rick asked, getting up from his desk and stretching his arms above his head, then rolling his shoulders and bracing his hands at his lower back while he stretched his back.

Kate smiled. "It looks like I timed it pretty well," she said.

"Timed what pretty well?" Rick asked as he crossed the office to meet Kate in the doorway.

Kate took hold of one of Rick's hands and pulled him after her. "Come with me," she said.

Rick followed Kate, his hand in hers, as she led him out of his office doorway and to their bedroom...and then to their bathroom.

Ever observant, Rick saw the two pregnancy test kits sitting unopened on the bathroom counter before Kate could say a word. He looked at her, seeing the hope and the love and the joy in her eyes, and felt his heart start to pound as he said, "Really?"

"I've been drinking water and juice for the past hour," she said. "I didn't want to take the tests without you. I'm having most of the same symptoms I had when I was first pregnant with Lily, plus my pants aren't fitting right in the waist lately. Just in the past week or so. I took Lily over to Alexis's place a couple of hours ago, and picked up the pregnancy tests on my way home."

Rick looked at Kate in wonder. "You might be pregnant again," he said.

"I might," Kate agreed. "That's what we're about to find out." She began gently propelling him back towards their bedroom. "Give me a few minutes here, and then we can look at the tests together like we did with Lily." She gave him a quick kiss before closing the bathroom door.

Rick paced their bedroom, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, he was so excited and hopeful and nervous. Kate emerged from the bathroom and said, "Three minutes."

"I remember," Rick replied, pulling his phone from his pocket and setting the timer.

They sat side by side on the edge of the bed, holding hands as they waited for the timer to go off. The nervous excitement and soaring hopes were there, just as they had been when Kate and Rick were waiting to find out if Kate was pregnant with Lily, but it was a different kind of nervous excitement and soaring hopes. Somehow, they both _**knew**_ that the tests would read positive.

"Since I've been through this before, this time I _**feel**_ pregnant," Kate said as they waited. "I'm only four days late this time, but my clothes feeling tight, the breast tenderness-"

"And you've been more tired than usual the past few weeks too," Rick pointed out.

"I have," Kate agreed. "And I don't think it's just the combination of work and keeping up with Lily."

"I hope you are pregnant," Rick replied.

"Me too," she said, bringing their intertwined hands to her lips and kissing the back of his hand. "And if I am, then we've got the three-year age difference between Lily and this baby."

"I wonder how Lily will react to the baby?" Rick pondered.

"We'll have to be sure to let her know that we're not replacing her, and that we love her just as much as we always have and always will," Kate said seriously, "especially if it's another girl." Rick just looked at her with a smile. "What? I had to do something with those two hours while I was waiting for you to finish your work."

"Next time, interrupt me," Rick replied just as seriously. "If there is a next time."

The timer on Rick's phone went off then, and he and Kate went into the bathroom.

As they had done when Kate had taken the pregnancy tests with Lily, they each picked up a test stick, looked at it, and then looked at each other.

Both pregnancy tests were positive.

Too overcome with emotion to speak, they set the pregnancy tests on the counter and melted into each other's arms, holding each other tightly as the tears coursed down their cheeks. They drew back at the same time, Kate reaching up to wipe a tear that was about to fall from Rick's left eye, and Rick gently framing her face in his hands. She leaned in then to kiss him, and the kiss lingered until the need for oxygen forced them to stop kissing.

"Do you think we can get an appointment with Dr. Elliott today? Before Alexis brings Lily home?" Rick asked.

"I'll call her right now," Kate said.

Dr. Elliott had had a last-minute cancellation, so Kate and Rick were at her office within half an hour.

"You're definitely pregnant, Kate," Dr. Elliott said after conducting her initial exam. "Based on the date of your last period, we're looking at a February baby here. I'm going to guess that you want a sonogram like you had with Lily?"

"Yes, please," Kate said.

Dr. Elliott applied the gel to Kate's abdomen, and it was cold. Then she moved the wand over Kate's abdomen, and Rick and Kate were both looking intently at the screen.

Before Dr. Elliott could say anything, Rick, noticing the strangeness of the picture, asked, "Is it a double exposure?"

Dr. Elliott merely smiled. "No, Rick, it's not a double exposure."

And in that instant Kate knew.

Rick, however, didn't. "Lily's first ultrasound didn't look like that," he continued.

"That's because Lily was a single. She didn't have a roommate...or rather, a womb-mate," Dr. Elliott replied with a chuckle.

Kate laughed too, because of course this would happen. Of course when trying for one baby, she and Rick would—

But Rick still wasn't getting it. "Womb-mate?" he repeated.

"Rick," Kate said, her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "There are two of them."

Rick shifted his gaze from the screen to Kate. "Two of them?" he asked.

"Two of them," Dr. Elliott confirmed. "Congratulations, Kate, Rick...You're having twins!"


	84. Chapter 80

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm. It means everything to me.**_

* * *

Rick Castle was not a man who found himself at a complete loss for words very often. But this was definitely one of those rare times.

"Twins?" he repeated blankly, looking from Kate to the screen to Dr. Elliott.

"Twins," Dr. Elliott confirmed with a big smile. She gestured to the screen, and Rick and Kate both followed her gestures. "There's Castle Baby A," she said, pointing to one of the tiny blobs on the screen, "and there's Castle Baby B. It's too early to tell the sex yet, but they're sharing an amniotic sac, so they're identical twins."

Kate laughed again. Rick looked at her, wondering for a moment if she was on the verge of hysteria, but no—she looked overjoyed.

He was still in shock. Twins had never occurred to him.

"They're sharing the placenta, but they have separate umbilical cords," Dr. Elliott continued, "and based on what I'm seeing here, I'd say they'll be making their debut the middle to end of February." Then she looked at Kate earnestly. "You'll be 40 by the time these guys...or girls, as the case may be...are born," she said. "Given your age, and with your medical history, twins are automatically a high-risk pregnancy for you." Kate opened her mouth, but Dr. Elliott forestalled her with a raised palm. "I know you're on the City Council. I live in District 1 myself. To be honest, I voted for you. You can continue working, but nothing too strenuous. No shouting arguments at meetings, and no overdoing it. Listen to your body, and your babies. I'll be monitoring you closely. Everything looks great, and we're going to keep it that way."

"I'll do whatever it takes to bring these babies safely into the world," Kate vowed.

"I know you will," Dr. Elliott replied. "You're one of my best patients, Kate." Dr. Elliott then said, "Now for the soundtrack..." She adjusted the appropriate buttons, and soon the exam room was filled with the rapid _whoosh-whoosh-whoosh_ of two tiny heartbeats.

Kate's eyes welled with tears now. **Two** babies! Identical! They were boys; Kate was absolutely certain of that, with every fiber of her being. Two more girls would have been just fine by her, but that was not what was going to happen. Call it mother's intuition, call it fate (a word that held no meaning for her until a certain ruggedly handsome writer crashed into her life), but Kate **knew** that these babies were boys.

Castle was meant to be a father, and he was living the experience of being a father to two daughters. The mere thought of Rick with two sons made Kate's insides turn to mush, because no matter which of them the boys resembled genetically (or if they were a pretty good mix of both her and Rick, as Lily was), Rick would be the coolest, most fun dad to little boys ever. Pirate treasure hunts, Laser Tag, endless stories made up off the top of his head… He would be both father and friend to their sons, to the two mini-hims, and the thought of having three Castle men in her life made Kate happy and giddy and amazed all at the same time.

Rick saw the two tiny blobs on the screen—they looked to him like tiny peanuts, or oversized jellybeans; hey, there was a thought for nicknames, because if they were identical, they were going to need to establish their own identities as individuals, and giving them separate and distinct nicknames would be a start—and he was still in shock. He knew that twins didn't run in Kate's family. He couldn't answer for Jackson Hunt's family, but no one on the Rodgers side had ever had twins. Although, wait, it was fraternal twins that were a genetic trait, not identical. His head was spinning and his heart was thumping crazily in his chest.

Boys. He had only raised girls so far. What did he know about boys? Well, he used to be one. Kate would be the first one to point out that a lot of the time, he still **was** one, and she would have a fair point there. But this was going to be new for him. And two of them at a time...He would be fifty a few months after the boys were born. What if he was mistaken for their grandfather by the time they started to preschool? He had been having some difficulty seeing his preferred font size on his laptop screen lately. It was probably past time for glasses, at least for reading. He'd have to take care of that, and soon.

Of course, they could be girls. In which case he was going to have to have Kate, Ryan, and Espo teach him how to be a better shot. Laser Tag was one thing, but if he had a houseful of girls, because Lily and the twins would have overlapping teenage years, he would have to do a lot of boyfriend-threatening, probably more than he had ever done with Alexis.

And it would be wonderful to have two more girls.

But, even though Dr. Elliott had told them it was too soon to tell the gender of the twins, Rick was certain they were boys. He knew it was his genetic contribution that determined the gender, and there hadn't been any screening or anything; no, he and Kate had made these babies, like they had made Lily, the old-fashioned way. It was a hunch on his part, though, that ran all the way to the marrow of his bones. His gut was telling him that come February, Kate would be giving birth to their sons. Sons...with Kate. Boys. Identical twins.

Oh, his mother was going to laugh her ass off about this when they told her. Rick couldn't count the number of times she had told him, "Someday you're going to have a son just like you, Richard," whenever he had done something particularly exasperating or maddening to her, "and then, and only then, will you understand the depths of my frustration with you at times like these."

Yeah, if these boys were anything like him as a kid, Kate was going to need all of her Beckett in the box with a suspect skills and then some when it came to disciplining them. Not that it was fair to her to have to be the bad cop all the time; Rick knew it wasn't. And she wasn't the bad cop all the time with Lily, but then Lily was pretty well-behaved, all things considered.

Lily! Lily was going to have two baby brothers, not just one. How jealous of them would she be? He and Kate would have to make sure Lily knew that she remained just as important to them as ever, that they loved her just as much, and they always would.

And then the actual handling of the twins. Two babies at the same time...two mouths wanting to eat at the same time, two bottoms that needed their diapers changed on a regular basis, and just because they were identical twins didn't mean they were going to be on the same schedule for sleeping. One or both of the boys might inherit Kate's insomnia, although her insomnia had abated considerably since they had gotten together. Lily was a good sleeper. Rick had never had much trouble sleeping.

They could do this, he and Kate, right? Raise three children together? It looked like Simon Doyle, the time traveler, had been telling the truth about at least that much of Rick's future book jacket bio: he and Kate would have three kids. No, wait, four—Alexis. Alexis was just as much Kate's daughter as she was his, just as much her child as Lily and these new babies would be. The fact that Kate had not carried Alexis in her womb and given birth to her was a mere technicality.

Four kids! Three of them separated by only three years.

Dr. Elliott had excused herself to get pictures and a DVD of this first sonogram for Kate and Rick, and Kate wondered what Rick was thinking, why he was so quiet, because he was **never** this quiet. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, wondering if he was unhappy about the twins.

"Rick?" she said. "Babe? Say something. Please."

Rick looked into her eyes. "There's two of them," he said, and then realized how stupid that sounded.

"Yes," Kate said. She bit her bottom lip again before asking, "Are you...upset about that?"

"No!" he exclaimed. "No, I'm not upset that it's twins, Kate. Not at all! I'm...overwhelmed. I wasn't expecting this. No pun intended."

"I wasn't expecting it, either," Kate said, "but it's right. Of course we'd have twins. And I know it's too soon to tell the sex, but I am positive they're boys."

"Two mini-Castles," Rick mused. "Congratulations, I'm sorry?"

Kate just laughed and tugged on his hand, pulling him closer to her as she still lay propped up on the exam table. "You're half responsible for these guys, you know. No 'I'm sorry.'"

"You thought I was a 9-year-old on a sugar rush," he reminded her.

"I didn't really know you then," Kate pointed out. "And I didn't find it charming yet."

Rick swallowed hard. "Two babies at the same time," he said. "Isn't this kind of a role reversal? How am I the nervous one, and you're looking like you won the lottery?"

"This is much better than winning the lottery," Kate said. "This is a jackpot of a whole other kind." She paused, and looked at him earnestly. "Yeah, it's going to be a juggling act, but we can do this, babe. We can do anything together. I'm not saying there won't be difficult moments, because I know there will, but we'll be able to keep all the balls in the air." At his smirk she pointed at him and ordered, " **Don't** say it."

Rick looked at the screen again. "Peanut and Jellybean," he said. Then he looked back at Kate. "That's what they look like. So I'm going to nickname one of them 'Peanut' and the other 'Jellybean.'"

Kate looked at the screen. "I know we can't make out facial features yet, but they're beautiful. Or rather, ruggedly handsome." She looked back at Rick. "Just like their dad."

"Are you going to freak out about this later?" Rick asked.

"Probably at some point," Kate replied. "But realistically, we can do this. We have a whole big, wonderful family to help us out when we need it, and besides, I handled you, Ryan, and Esposito for eight years. I can handle these guys...with you by my side."

"That's exactly where I'll be," Rick replied. "Always." He framed her face in his hands and kissed her slowly, gently, deeply. She responded in kind.

They stopped kissing when Dr. Elliott clearing her throat interrupted them. "I'm sorry to interrupt," she said, "but here are your DVD and pictures. Kate, make your next appointment for two weeks from now. You've been through pregnancy before, so you know the basic drill, but as I said, we're going to be monitoring you closely because of the high-risk factor. And here's a prescription for pre-natal vitamins as well. I want you to start these immediately, today."

"I will," Kate promised.

Dr. Elliott regarded Rick then. "You doin' okay there, Dad?" she asked.

"Yeah," Rick replied. "I'm a little overwhelmed, but I'm also really, really happy and excited."

"Congratulations again," Dr. Elliott replied. "I'll see you in a couple of weeks."

After Dr. Elliott left, Kate wiped the gel from her belly and got dressed again. "When are we going to tell everybody?" Kate asked. "We can't wait until Christmas. These guys are due in February. By Christmas, I'm going to look like a beached whale."

"You are not," Rick retorted.

"I'll be seven months' pregnant with twins, Rick. I'm gonna look like Violet Beauregard in _Willy_ _Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_ after she chewed that meal-in-a-stick-of-gum," Kate retorted wryly.

"You won't be purple," Rick pointed out. "And you'll be beautiful."

"I'll also be an irritable bitch, I'm sure," Kate said. "Is it too early to apologize for that?"

"You can be as irritable as you want to be," Rick replied. "It's not going to change how much I love you." He paused, then said, "You realize, once Ryan and Esposito find out, they're going to be lobbying us to name these kids after them."

"Oh, absolutely," Kate agreed. "But Kevin and Jenny already named Nick after Javi. Javi will have to wait for his own kids. I love them both, but our kids need their own names, and I already have an idea for one middle name."

"You do?" Rick asked. They had made another appointment with Dr. Elliott for two weeks later, and were in the car now, headed to the pharmacy to get the prescription for pre-natal vitamins filled.

Kate nodded. "I know it'll be close to Alexis's name, but it was your original middle name, so if we're right and we are having boys, I want one of them to have 'Alexander' for a middle name, after you." She paused and said, "Remember that case with the psychic that was found dead in the couch all those years ago?"

"Vivian Marchand," Rick replied instantly. "Hey, she wasn't talking about my mother at all!" At Kate's confused look, he said, "She did a reading for me once, I told you and Ryan and Esposito and Lanie about it at the crime scene. She told me that a beautiful woman would one day move into my loft and stay with me forever. I thought she meant my mother, but she didn't. She meant you."

Kate smiled. "Well, her daughter came to me during the case and said that she didn't have **all** of her mother's gift, but she had some of it, and that sometimes she had dreams that were meaningful, and she had had one about me. She said it was important, and she had to tell me."

Had he not been driving, Rick would have been on the edge of his seat. "Tell you what?" he asked, glancing at Kate before returning his attention to the road a split second later.

"Alexander," Kate replied. "She said she didn't know who he was, or what he meant to me, but I would meet an Alexander, and he would be extremely important to me...and at some future date, he may save my life."

Rick whipped the car to the curb then; the pharmacy was just down the block. "She meant me," he said in a hushed, awed voice.

"She meant you," Kate confirmed. "You are **absolutely** extremely important to me...and you've saved my life multiple times, and in multiple ways." She paused, and said, "Like I said, I know it's close to 'Alexis'-"

"It's what you want, so it's what we'll do," Rick said. "One of these boys will have 'Alexander' for a middle name. I, um, kind of had a thought on a middle name, too, actually."

"Tell me," Kate said.

"Well, my mother has been my one constant all my life," Rick began. "How would you feel if we gave our other son 'Rodgers' for a middle name, in honor of my mother?"

"I think it's perfect," Kate said. "Martha has always been on our side, and she should be honored. Lily is named after my mother. So it's settled: the boys will have 'Alexander' and 'Rodgers' for middle names."

"Now we just have to come up with first names," Rick said.

"Preferably before we tell everyone, so that we can honestly tell Javi and Kevin that these boys already have names," Kate replied.

"They'll have to be happy with being godfathers to the twins," Rick replied as they got out of the car and headed into the drugstore. After dropping off the prescription, they browsed through the store until it was ready, and then they returned to the car. When Kate noticed where they were headed, she reached over and squeezed Rick's knee.

At the cemetery, Kate touched Johanna Beckett's name on the headstone. "Hi, Mom," she said. "You're going to be a grandmother again...times two. Rick and I are having twins. Identical twins. We're both absolutely certain they're boys. Of course, now that I told you that, if you have any pull at all, you'll send us two girls just to get the last laugh." Kate chuckled and sniffled. "Although two boys will more than keep both Rick and me on our toes. You were the first one to know about Lily, and now you're the first one to know about the twins. I hate it that you're not here, I **really** hate it that you're not here to get to know your grandchildren, but I promise you, they will all know all about you. I love you, Mom." She kissed her fingertips, touched them to her mother's name again, then sniffled and smiled and turned to leave, but once again, Rick stopped Kate in her tracks when he spoke to Johanna.

"I like to think that maybe you have something to do with the twins being born in February, since you had a February birthday," Rick said. "But whether or not that's true, will you please watch over Kate and our babies? This is considered a high-risk pregnancy, and I'm not leaving that hospital without all three of them. I'd really appreciate it, if you could keep an eye on them from where you are, okay? Thank you...Johanna."

Then Kate and Rick got in the car and went home. When they got home, Rick stopped just inside the foyer and placed both his hands on Kate's abdomen, over their growing babies. "Hey, Peanut. Hey, Jellybean. I'm your dad. And you have the best mom in the whole world, and two big sisters and a whole big family that are going to adore you. Well, probably not all the time, in Lily's case, but I love you already. We're gonna have a lot of adventures once you're here." He looked at Kate and smiled, looking excited and happy for the first time since he had realized they were having two babies and not just one. "The best thing about this is that I get to do it all with you, Kate."

She rested her forehead against his. "Same here, babe," she replied. "Same here."


	85. Chapter 81

_**The chapter is a little bit early this week. Thank you to everyone who is reading, reviewing, and following, and to my regular guest reviewers, including ChaCha, ndhbfan, and NYAZ, since I can't answer you personally.**_

 _ **A couple of quick notes: I will be keeping to canon, so Rick and Kate's twins are boys, and they will be named Reece and Jake. And one of the boys will be named after Jim Beckett, which isn't canon, but it does hark back to an earlier chapter in the story. (They'll be finding out their shared intuition that the twins are boys are correct in an upcoming chapter, and choosing the first names in that same chapter; also I'll be taking a closer look at Martha and Earl's relationship in the next chapter.)**_

 _ **Also, we are into July and August of 2019 in this chapter.**_

 _ **Finally, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Solstice, or, if you aren't actually celebrating anything in particular this weekend, just a great weekend.**_

* * *

The ungodly July heat made Lanie incredibly thankful that she, Alan, and Will had an apartment with central air conditioning.

Alan's paternity leave had been only eight weeks, so he had long since returned to work. He usually called at least three times a day, and texted a few other times, and Lanie would send him pictures of Will. Yeah, they were _**those**_ kind of parents, but they were happy and proud to be _**those**_ kind of parents.

Will was a marvel. Lanie understood firsthand now why Kate and Castle were so besotted with Lily, because she and Alan felt the same way about Will. He was the center of their universe now, and added a whole new level to their relationship, because now they were not just husband and wife, they were parents to this beautiful boy.

In fact, Lanie was a bit nervous about talking to Alan when he got home in a few minutes, because she wasn't sure how he would take the news she was going to lay on him.

The sound of Alan's key in the front door broke Lanie's reverie. She was sitting on a blanket on the living room floor with Will, who was lying on his back, gurgling and babbling and kicking his chubby little 3-month-old legs. "I'm home!" Alan announced, dropping his keys in the bowl on the table by the front door, his summer-weight jacket and his tie already undone and draped over his opposite arm. He dropped them on the couch before getting down on the floor, where he kissed Lanie hello, and then leaned over Will and rubbed noses with the baby before giving him a smacking kiss on the forehead, which made him shriek and squeal with joy.

"It's too hot to cook. I thought we could just order Chinese for dinner," Alan said as he picked Will up and plunked the baby onto his lap.

"Yeah, that'll work," Lanie agreed.

"I'll give Mister Man here his bath, if you want to call in our order," Alan said.

"Sure," Lanie agreed.

"You ready for bath time, Will?" Alan asked, pulling a face that made Will chortle with glee. Alan was so good with Will, so patient and hands-on and always engaged. He stood up and carried Will off to give him his bath.

Lanie called in their usual order, then stood in the bathroom doorway and watched as Alan gave Will his bath, talking to him all the while. "And here's Mister Squack!" Alan exclaimed as he set a rubber ducky that looked like Mr. Spock (Alan even pronounced "Squack" to rhyme with "Spock") in the tiny baby bath and, along with Will, watched the duck float along the water's surface. "You know what his shirt says, Will? It says 'Float Strong and Flourish.' The real Mr. Spock says, 'Live long and prosper.' Both excellent pieces of advice."

Lanie smiled, watching Alan and Will together. She zoned out just long enough for Alan to notice that, although Lanie was standing there, mentally she was a million miles away. He gathered Will up in a big, fluffy towel, and then said, "Earth to Mommy...Come in, Mommy."

At Alan referring to her as 'Mommy' (yup, they were those parents too, referring to each other as 'Mommy' and 'Daddy' sometimes, but only in Will's presence), Lanie snapped back to the present. "Good bath, little man?" she asked Will, reaching out to grab one of his pudgy little hands and kiss it.

"Yup," Alan said. "We've gotten pretty good at the not-peeing-in-the-tub thing in the last few weeks, haven't we, Will?"

"Well, we'd better get him dressed before he pees on one of us because he gets cold," Lanie said.

"Right," Alan agreed.

When Will was diapered and dressed in a lightweight _Star Wars_ sleeper, Lanie nursed him while Alan cleaned up the bath supplies and then paid for the Chinese food delivery.

After putting the sleeping Will in his bassinet, Lanie grabbed the nursery monitor and joined Alan at their kitchen table, where he had dished up the food and was just waiting for her before eating.

"So, where were you when you were watching me give Will a bath?" Alan asked knowingly. "Something serious is going on in that head of yours."

"Yeah, it is," Lanie agreed, dragging her fork through the small mountain of rice on her plate. "It's about work."

"What about work?" Alan asked before taking a bite of his orange chicken.

"Well, I'm supposed to go back in three weeks," Lanie replied, "because my maternity leave will be over." She paused a beat, then added, "But I really don't want to go back yet. The truth is, I'd like to stay home with Will until he's a year old, at least."

Alan didn't even have to think about it. "Okay," he said.

Lanie blinked, surprised. "Okay?" she echoed.

"If you don't want to go back to work yet, you don't have to go back to work yet," Alan replied. "We'll be all right financially at least until Will is one. We'll have to re-evaluate at that point if you decide then that you want to stay home with him until, for instance, he's in preschool, but if that's what you want, we can work it out."

"We can?" Lanie asked. "I mean, I'm not thinking beyond the first year yet, but I know that I want to be with Will for as much time as I can for this first year. We'll really be okay financially if I don't go back to work until next year?"

"Yes," Alan said with a tender smile. "I wanted you to have the option to stay home if you wanted to, Lanie. I know we never really talked about it, and we probably should have, but I didn't want you to feel like you **had** to go back to work in twelve weeks. Seriously, we're good."

Lanie looked at her husband in amazement. Then she pushed back her chair, crossed to the other side of the table, and sat down in Alan's lap, peppering his face with kisses. "You're amazing," she said.

"I'm just a guy who loves his wife and son and wants them to be happy," Alan corrected, pushing his plate aside and wrapping his arms around Lanie's waist to hold her more securely on his lap before meeting her lips with his.

* * *

Javier double checked his tie, making sure it was tied properly, and that it was straight. Vests were strictly a Kevin Ryan thing. He made sure his tie was aligned with his belt buckle, then pulled on his suit jacket. He gave himself a once-over in the full-length mirror in his bedroom.

He hadn't even taken Ryan into his confidence. He wasn't planning to pop the question tomorrow. But the time when he would was getting closer, and when it arrived, he wanted to be able to ask with the approval and blessing of Alexis's family.

He picked up his phone, scrolled through his contacts, and while the easier route would have been calling Beckett, he called Castle. "Are you guys busy right now?" he asked when Castle answered his phone.

"Ah, no," Rick replied, wondering why Esposito was calling. "We're all at home. Mother's even here with Earl. Alexis is registering for her fall semester classes right now-"

"I know. That's why I was hoping I could come over and see you guys right now, if you don't mind," Javier replied.

"Sure," Rick replied.

"Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes," Javier said, ending the call.

Rick looked at his phone in confusion before sliding it back in his pocket. "Who was that?" Kate asked.

"Esposito," Rick replied.

"Surely he knows Alexis is registering for her fall classes right now," Martha said.

"He does," Rick said. "But he wants to see us."

Martha and Kate exchanged a look. "Did he say that?" Kate asked.

"His exact words were 'I was hoping I could come over and see you guys right now, if you don't mind,'" Rick replied.

Martha and Kate exchanged another look. "Mommy?" Lily asked.

"I think Uncle Javi has something important to talk to us about, Lily," Kate replied.

And that's when it dawned on Rick. "No," he said, looking like he'd just been sucker punched.

Kate's look was a perfect mix of love and sympathy. "I really think that's what it is, babe," she said.

"So soon?" Rick asked. He flopped down on the couch next to Kate.

"They've been together three years," Kate pointed out gently. "Not everyone is as slow and stubborn and scared as we were."

Rick's ghost of a smile was bittersweet. "It shouldn't really come as a surprise, should it?" he asked rhetorically. "How many times have they both said this is it for them?"

"Of course Javier wants to make an honest woman out of Alexis," Martha interjected then.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from him," Kate replied.

The doorbell rang then. Kate squeezed Rick's hand reassuringly, and then Rick got up and went to answer the door.

There stood Javier Esposito, in a navy blue double-breasted suit, jacket buttoned, navy blue tie with white stripes tied in a perfect four-in-hand, an undercurrent of tension evident beneath his usual cool demeanor. "Hello, Castle," he said, one hand clasped atop the other in front of his waist.

"Esposito," Rick replied, standing aside. "Come on in."

"Hi, Javi," Kate said.

"Hello, Javier," Martha greeted him.

"Detective Esposito," Earl said, extending a hand for Javi to shake. The sweaty palm confirmed for Earl that this was, indeed, about Javier asking the family's blessing to marry Alexis. Javier gave Earl an apologetic glance for his sweaty handshake, but Earl merely winked at him, a gesture that no one else noticed. No need to put the poor guy any more on edge than he already was, Earl reasoned.

"Here, Uncle Javi, I made you some tea," Lily greeted him, handing him a little purple plastic teacup on a little purple plastic saucer.

"Thank you, Lily," he said, accepting the cup and saucer from her and holding them in one hand.

"So, Javi," Kate said. "Rick tells us you wanted to see us."

"Yes," Javi replied, clearing his throat, Lily's purple plastic teacup and saucer still in his hand. "I'm only going to do this once in my life, and I want to do it right. You are Alexis's family. But you're also my family, going back years before Alexis and I became 'us.'" He paused for a moment and looked at each of them in turn—Castle, Beckett, Martha, and Lily—and then let his gaze encompass all of them.

"I'm not asking her right away," he continued. "She has her last year of law school to get through, I know that. And then studying for and taking the bar exam. I honestly don't know exactly when I'll ask her. But I have the ring. Not with me, but in a safe place. And I know I'm going to ask her when the time is right. When that right time comes, I think I'll just know it."

Castle surprised everyone, especially Esposito, by saying, "You will."

"So before that moment comes this one," Javi continued, looking at all of them again, "the moment where I ask all of you if I have your blessing to ask Alexis to be my wife."

Javi would later swear that the silence stretched on for endless minutes, but it only felt that way to him.

Martha was the first one to speak, rising from her seat, walking over to Javier, and giving him a hug. She drew back, her arms still around him, and said, "You absolutely have my blessing, Javier. You and Alexis make each other happy. Just keep that light in her eyes for the rest of your lives."

"I'll do my best, Martha," Javier promised.

Lily looked up from her tea set. "You love 'Lexis, Uncle Javi," she said.

Javi hunkered down so that he was at eye level with Lily. "I sure do, Lily," he said earnestly. "Very much." He set the cup and saucer back on the coffee table.

"Like Daddy loves Mommy," Lily replied. "And like Pops loves Gram."

Earl looked at Martha, shock on his face. "'Pops'?" he asked.

Martha just smiled. "I had nothing to do with that," she replied. "But Lily is a very smart girl. It looks like you've been adopted as her other grandfather...Pops." Her smile grew bigger. Earl smiled back at her before looking at Lily in wonder.

"Yes," Javi said. "That's exactly right."

"Okay," Lily said with a firm nod of approval.

"Okay," Javi echoed before standing up.

Beckett and Castle were both standing now too. Beckett approached him first. "Javi, of course you have my blessing," she said. "But you know what I'm capable of, and how far I'll go for the people I love. Alexis is my daughter. I love both of you-"

"But you're automatically on her side, I know," he said. He gave her a bemused smile. "I bet you never pictured us ending up in-laws."

Kate chuckled. "No, I didn't," she said. "But I'm glad we will be." They hugged then.

"Thanks, Beckett," Javi said.

"Is there any chance I can get you to call me 'Kate' after the wedding?" Kate asked as she drew back from the hug.

"I'll work on it," Javi promised.

That left only Castle, who stepped forward now and looked Javi up and down. "Would you break Alexis out of prison?" Castle asked Javi.

The question was so far-fetched, but then Javi had a dim memory of a case from years ago, involving a young couple, the young guy willing to risk it all to break his girl out of prison. Castle had asked him then if he, Javi, would get him out of prison, and Javi had said that he would escape, leaving Castle to fend for himself. Law of the jungle, looking out for _Numero Uno..._ and Beckett had told Castle, "Don't worry, Castle. I'd get you out." And she had. Not a prison break, but she had. And then when Beckett had been arrested, Castle was right there in it with her, helping her out. He and Ryan had been arrested then too, but the tape Beckett found in the ceramic elephants on her desk, which had once rested on her mother's desk, had been enough to exonerate Beckett (and Castle, Ryan, and Esposito) and finally give her the evidence she needed to arrest Bracken, the slimeball who had had her mother killed.

So Javier understood why Castle was asking him this question.

"I absolutely would break Alexis out of prison," Esposito replied. "Alexis is the center of my world. I want to build a life with her. I want to grow old with her. I want us to take care of each other for the rest of our lives."

"You're a good man, Javier," Castle said. "One of the best men I've ever known. And like Kate, I never expected that we would be in-laws. But when the time comes, whenever it is, you have my blessing to ask Alexis if she'll marry you." He didn't say that he was certain he knew what Alexis's answer would be.

Castle had never seen Esposito look so relieved in all the years they had known each other. "Thank you," he said, a mile-wide grin stretching across his face. "Thank you, Castle. I promise, I won't let you down."

"More importantly, don't let Alexis down," Rick said seriously.

"I haven't yet," Javier replied. "I never will." Impulsively, Esposito hugged Castle. "Thank you." He looked to Beckett and Martha and Lily and Earl. "All of you."

Much later that night, after Lily was asleep, Kate was in bed with her tablet, casually perusing baby name websites. Rick came in after finishing in the bathroom and slid into bed next to her, unable to hide his sigh.

Kate set her tablet on the nightstand and turned over on her side, propping her head on her hand, and looked at Rick. "Javi said he's not asking her right away," she reminded him.

"I know," Rick said. "It's just...She's gonna say 'yes,' Kate. They're gonna get married."

"They probably won't get married until after Alexis has graduated from law school and passed the bar and has a job, knowing her. Javi doesn't even have a timetable for asking her yet. And when they do get engaged, and get married, they're going to be very happy," Kate replied, moving closer to him while maneuverability was still a non-issue for her. "And we will celebrate with them, just like they'll celebrate with us when they find out about Peanut and Jellybean."

Kate moved so that she was straddling Rick's thighs now. "Things are changing for all of us," Kate said. "Your mom has Earl now...Lanie and Alan have Will...Alexis is heading into her last year of law school...my dad's talking about retiring from the law firm and just teaching a class or two every semester more often here lately...Maddie and Mark are going to be moving in together as soon as Mark is back on his feet again and they find a place...and we have the news of the Terrific Twosome to share in the not-too-distant future."

"Lily called Earl 'Pops' today," Rick said.

"I noticed that," Kate replied. "He seemed surprised, but he didn't object." She paused. "Do you?"

"All my life, it was just my mother and me," Rick reflected. "And then it was just Mother and Alexis and me. The only man she was ever serious about was her high-school sweetheart, after they reconnected online years ago, but Alexis and I never even met him, and then he died. I've never seen my mother like this over a man. I know that Earl is the real deal. I'm happy for them. Mother deserves to know this kind of love and happiness. I'll never call Earl 'Dad,' but I don't object to our kids calling him 'Pops' if he's okay with it."

"I'm really happy for Martha and Earl too," Kate said. "And I know that you're nervous about how your new book is going to be received."

"It's a major departure for me," Rick said. "It's not like when I stopped writing about Derrick Storm and started writing about Nikki Heat. It's a whole different genre, a whole different type of story. So yeah, I'm nervous about it."

"I was nervous about running for City Council," Kate reminded him.

"Yeah, you were," Rick agreed. And then he got what Kate was saying. Looking up into her eyes—the eyes that he lost himself in countless times, and the same eyes he always found himself in, in times of uncertainty and pain and fear and worry—he said, "And I was there cheering you on, supporting you, backing your play at every turn and in every way I could think of. And you're going to do the exact same thing for me now."

"Exactly," Kate replied. "Whatever happens with _Something Worth Saving—_ and for the record, I think it's going to be well-received—we will get through it. Change is a scary thing, but someone taught me...starting, oh, ten years ago now...that even though it's scary, change doesn't have to be a bad thing. Sometimes, in fact, it's very..." She leaned down to kiss Rick's right cheek. "...very..." She shifted and kissed Rick's left cheek. "...good."

"Ten years ago, huh?" Rick said as Kate sat up again and gazed down upon him once more. "2009...That was a very important year."

"Yes, it was," Kate agreed. "Even if it did get a bit of a late start. March 9."

"You remember," Rick said, and now he was smiling, a real smile, the one that took over his whole face and made those oh-so-appealing crinkles appear at the corners of his eyes.

"The night we met? Of course I remember it. You don't forget the night the course of your entire life shifts to something you never expected," Kate replied. "And look at where we are now, babe. How far we've come from that first night. Everything we are...everything we have...everything we have to look forward to."

Rick reached up and tucked Kate's hair behind her ears. "We should start making plans for how and when we announce the new arrivals," he said.

"Still no Jumbotron, no skywriter, and no full-page ad in the _New York Times,_ " Kate said.

Rick made a big show of "hmph"-ing, but his eyes were sparkling. "We'll think of something," he said.

"I'm thinking of something right now," Kate replied huskily.

"Oh, you are?" he asked rhetorically. Rick's hands wandered lazily down her back then, beneath the hem of her tank top, and traced up the bare skin of her back. Kate shivered at his touch, her eyes drifting shut briefly before opening again and focusing on him with love and desire in their depths.

She tugged at his t-shirt and he sat up so that she could lift the shirt up and over his head, tossing it aside. As her hands blazed a trail down his torso that her lips followed, she murmured against his heart, "You got it in one guess," before regular conversation gave way to passionate, reverent lovemaking.


	86. Chapter 82

_**Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support for this story. And Happy New Year, everybody!**_

* * *

It started out innocently enough—a little scratch in his throat, a couple of sneezes he punctuated with "Pardon me," and a few coughs.

His protestations that "I don't get sick-not sick enough to go to bed" were all for naught, because by the middle of September, Earl had fallen victim to a nasty early flu bug making its way around the city. His voice was all but gone, he could not stop sneezing or coughing, and he had the worst pain in the middle of his forehead.

And so it was that Earl had no choice but to let his understudy go on for him for a few days.

He had the air conditioning off in his apartment when the front door buzzer rang. Wrapping the blanket more tightly around him, he trudged to the front door and opened it to reveal Martha standing there with an overnight bag in one hand and two large bags from the pharmacy down the street in her other hand. He blinked. "Don't you have a show tonight?" he rasped.

"I have an understudy too," she reminded him. "Darling, you look dreadful."

"At least I look the way I feel," Earl mused as Martha swept into his apartment.

She deposited the pharmacy bags on the coffee table and disappeared into the bedroom with the overnight bag, returning a moment later without it. Earl was still standing in his entryway, in a pair of blue-and-white-striped pajama bottoms and an old gray crewneck t-shirt. He had a frayed but nevertheless still warm sky blue blanket wrapped around himself to ward off the chills that were wracking his frame.

Martha braced a palm against his forehead. "Feverish," she declared. "Do you have a thermometer?"

"For people or for meat?" Earl asked.

Martha gave an eye roll worthy of Kate Beckett. "I thought as much," she said. She dug into one of the bags from the pharmacy, removing a new digital thermometer in its packaging, and after tearing the packaging open, she read the instructions, dashed into the bathroom to quickly wash the thermometer, then returned to the living room with the thermometer extended toward Earl. "Open up," she said.

"Is this really necess-" He was cut off by a coughing spell. When he recovered himself, Martha shoved the thermometer into his mouth, under his tongue.

"Yes, it's necessary," Martha replied. She steered him over to the couch, gently pushing on his shoulders until he was sitting down. "The air conditioning is off. Do you have chills? Don't talk, just nod or shake your head."

Glassy-eyed, Earl bobbed his head once. "I figured that was the reason for the blanket," Martha replied. The thermometer beeped and Martha removed it from Earl's mouth. "101.3," she announced. "I'd say I got here just in time." She went to the kitchen, rinsed off the thermometer, and returned it to its protective plastic case. Then she pulled out her phone and called the deli down the street, arranging for a delivery of chicken soup for Earl and a corned beef sandwich on rye bread for herself.

Returning to the pharmacy bags once more, she removed a steam vaporizer still in the box, a bag of cough drops, a bottle of DayQuil, a bottle of NyQuil, and a large jug of a fruit-punch-flavored sports drink. Earl sat slumped on the couch, watching Martha. The last items she removed from the bag were a small spiral-bound notepad and a package of black Bic ballpoint pens. She sat down on the couch next to Earl and handed him the pad and pens. "Save your voice," she said. "I have soup on the way from the deli down the street. After you've eaten, you're taking some cold medicine. And before you eat, you need something to drink. We can't have to getting dehydrated."

She was up again then, pouring the fruit-punch-flavored sports drink over some ice cubes in a glass in his kitchen. She returned to the couch with the drink and handed it to him. While she had been getting his drink, he had opened the pens and written something on the pad, which he handed to her to read while he drank from the glass.

" _You're my ministering angel."_

"I don't know if the fever is making you delirious or what," Martha began.

Earl plucked the notepad from her hand and scribbled something below the first sentence.

" _I'm serious. Never had anyone to take care of me when I was sick before. Good thing I never get sick."_

"Yes, I would say it is," Martha said. "Does your throat hurt?"

Earl shook his head no.

"Earache?" Martha asked next.

Again, Earl shook his head no.

"Well, that's good at least. Chills, I presume, between the lack of air conditioning and the blanket?" Martha asked.

Earl dipped his chin in a nod.

"Drink this," she said, picking up the glass of fruit-punch-flavored sports drink over a handful of ice cubes that she had set on a copy of _TIME_ magazine on the coffee table and handed it to Earl.

"You're bossy," he rasped.

Martha grinned unrepentantly. "And you love it," she retorted.

Earl nodded once more before taking a long drink from the glass. He leaned back against the couch with a sigh.

The food arrived a short time later, and Earl managed to eat most of the soup. After polishing off her sandwich, Martha went and got the DayQuil for him. "Try this. It should help," she told him.

After dutifully taking his DayQuil, Earl looked at Martha with a wry smile. "No nurse's costume?" he rasped.

"I'm saving that for when you're well and can truly appreciate it," Martha replied without missing a beat.

Earl laughed before dissolving into another coughing fit.

"And **that,** my love, is why you are now going to refrain from talking," Martha said, putting special emphasis on the last three words. "I know, it's difficult, damned near impossible, for either one of us to shut up, but sometimes, we simply must, for our own good."

Earl sniffled as he scribbled something on the note pad before handing it over to Martha.

" _If I'm a good patient, when I'm better, will you be a naughty nurse?"_

Martha laughed, that brilliantly throaty chuckle that never failed to make goose bumps form along Earl's spine and up and down his arms. "Absolutely," she promised. "But you have to be **completely** recovered first."

Earl wrote on the pad again. _"Yes ma'am."_

Martha good-naturedly 'harrumph'ed at Earl referring to her as 'ma'am,' but she knew he had done it specifically to get a rise out of her, so she was really just taking the bait.

And a few days later, Earl had recovered completely, and Martha dashed out to a nearby costume shop to get a nurse's uniform, complete with cap...not that she wore it for very long.

* * *

Their next sonogram confirmed that both Kate and Rick had been correct in their respective intuitions: their twins were boys.

"Two boys," Rick kept saying as they left Dr. Elliott's office and headed home. "Not that I doubted it, but now it's all...official."

"Remembering what you were like as a kid?" Kate teased.

"Yes," Rick replied seriously. "If they're anything like me...oh god, are we in trouble!"

"There's no one else I'd rather be in trouble with than you, Rick," Kate replied, "because together, we always find a way **out** of trouble. And I know we can do this."

"All the same, I'm going to pray that their Beckett genes are dominant," Rick said.

"You've never had boys before," Kate realized. "That's at the root of this, isn't it?"

Rick lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. "Kind of," he admitted. "Between Alexis and Lily, I know everything there is to know about parenting a girl. Boys… That's all new territory for me. It's going to take some getting used to, and I'm gonna screw up."

"Babies are very forgiving," Kate assured him, lacing her fingers through his, "and very sturdy. And I'm already picturing you with our sons, and you're going to be an amazing father to them."

"I suck at sports," Rick reminded her.

"So I'll teach them how to hit a baseball, and how to shoot a basketball, and if they're interested in football, we'll refer them to Mark's stepfather," Kate replied. She paused, then said, "You do know, for all the times that Ryan and Espo have kidded you about your metrosexual tendencies, that they're just busting your chops, and that has no bearing on what kind of dad you'll be to boys. And there's more to life than sports. Our boys might be the next Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada...or they might trip over their own feet with every other step they take."

"I guess it's just really hitting me now that I didn't grow up with my father, and that I don't trust my father," Rick said. "I never want any of our kids to say that about me."

"They won't," Kate assured him. "You are there for every step with Alexis and Lily, and you'll be there for every step with Reece and...um..." Stopping herself, Kate trailed off.

"'Reece'?" Rick asked.

"My dad's middle name," Kate replied. "I was thinking of it for a first name for one of the boys."

"Reece Alexander Castle," Rick mused aloud. "I like it."

"Really?" Kate asked.

"Yeah," Rick replied. "Unless you were thinking 'Reece Rodgers'-"

"No, I was thinking 'Reece Alexander' too. So then we're decided? ''Reece Alexander' is a definite?" Kate asked.

"It is as far as I'm concerned," Rick replied.

"Okay, then," Kate said, smiling. "Have you had any thoughts about a first name for our other son?"

"Actually, I have," Rick replied. He smiled then, a genuine smile.

"Well?" Kate asked. "You know we have to have these kids named before we tell everyone, or Ryan and Espo are gonna be lobbying for namesakes."

"Jacob," Rick said. "Jake."

"Jacob Rodgers Castle," Kate mused. "Jake Castle. Reece and Jake. Alexis, Lily, Reece, and Jake." She looked at Rick, her eyes shining with pure happiness. "Yeah," she said softly, decisively. "Yeah."

Rick leaned in and kissed her then. She returned the kiss with equal ardor. "Alexis is at the loft with Lily," Kate said breathlessly when she finally broke the kiss. "I think we should tell them first, so that they can be in on the announcement to everybody else."

"You sound like you have a plan in mind for telling everyone else," Rick mused as they headed back to the loft.

"I think I have the beginnings of a plan," Kate said. "Alexis and Lily can help us flesh it out." She explained what she had in mind to Rick on the drive back to the loft.

When they walked through the front door, announcing that they were home, Lily jumped up from her tea party and ran to meet them at the door. "Mommy! Daddy!" she exclaimed happily, reaching up for hugs and kisses. Alexis followed after Lily and greeted them each with a hug and a kiss as well.

"Alexis, can you stick around for a little while? We have something to tell you and Lily," Rick said.

"Sure," Alexis agreed amiably. "It's way more fun hanging out with you guys than going over my notes for my Human Rights Law Clinic, and I need a break. So what's up?"

Rick carried Lily over to the couch, and he sat down with her in his lap. Lily adjusted herself when Kate sat down beside Rick so that she was sitting half on her mother's lap and half on her father's lap. Alexis sat down on Rick's other side.

Rick and Kate exchanged a look. At Kate's barely perceptible nod, Rick looked from Lily to Alexis, then let his gaze encompass both of them. "Lily, Alexis...You're going to be big sisters."

The news registered with Alexis first, who let out a shriek of happiness followed by an "Oh my god, that's AMAZING!" before hugging Rick, then squishing Lily and Kate up together in a big bear hug.

"That's not all," Rick said.

"It's not?" Alexis asked, drawing back so that she was no longer squishing Lily, and so that Kate could breathe.

"It's twins," Kate said with a big smile.

Alexis's eyes widened in surprise and she was struck speechless.

"What's 'twins'?" Lily asked.

"Twins means you're getting two baby brothers instead of just one," Rick said.

"Baby brothers?" Lily asked.

"Twin boys?" Alexis asked, her voice an octave higher than usual.

Kate nodded. "Identical," she said.

"Are you ready for that, Mom?" Alexis asked.

"Like I told your dad, I handled him, Ryan, and Esposito for eight years. These guys? Piece of cake," Kate said, resting a palm on her belly.

"I'll be a good daughter and not remind you that you said that when they're both screaming their heads off at the same time this time next year," Alexis said.

"I would appreciate that," Kate said. "Seriously, though, I know it's not always gonna be easy, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Would we?"

And Rick, looking more confident than he had since they'd left Dr. Elliott's office, smiled and said, "No, we wouldn't."

Lily, who had been quiet up to now, looked at her parents solemnly. "You're gonna have baby brothers for me?" she asked them.

"That's right, Sweetpea," Rick said. "You're gonna be a big sister."

"Where are my brothers now?" Lily asked.

Rick's expression was like a deer in the headlights, and Alexis bit her lip to keep from laughing out loud. Kate splayed her hands over her belly and said, "They're in here, Lily, the same place you were before you were born."

Lily's brow knit as she stared at Kate's belly. "How long do they have to stay in there?" she asked.

"Until February," Kate said.

"I'll still be your Sweetpea, right?" Lily asked, looking from Kate to Rick.

"You will **always** be our Sweetpea," Rick promised.

"But I'll hafta share you and Mommy with my brothers, like Sarah Grace has to share Nick with Uncle Kevin and Aunt Jenny," Lily said.

"Well, yes, you will," Kate replied, smoothing a hand through Lily's hair. "But you'll always be our Lily, and we'll always love you all the way to the moon and back."

"So, wait, you told Lily and me first?" Alexis realized then.

"We did," Rick said, meeting Kate's gaze before they both turned their attention back to both girls. "And we would like you to join us in breaking the news to the rest of the family."

"What do you say, Lily? Do you want to help us give everybody a big surprise?" Kate asked Lily.

"Okay," Lily agreed.

"Count me in," Alexis added.

Rick and Kate took turns explaining their ideas to Alexis and Lily. Before Alexis went back to her place that night, they had set the time and place for telling everyone else—Saturday evening at the loft—and they would make the necessary preparations in the ensuing three days.

Alexis left after another round of hugs and kisses for everyone, and congratulations to Rick and Kate.

"Alexis my big sister," Lily said while Rick and Kate were giving her her bath that night.

"That's right," Kate replied.

"And I'm big sister to my brothers, like Alexis," Lily continued.

"You and Alexis will both be big sisters to your brothers, yes," Rick told her.

Before she fell asleep, Lily said, as she always did, "Night-night, Mommy, I love you. Night-night, Daddy, I love you," and gave first her mommy and then her daddy a goodnight hug and kiss.

On this night, she added, "Night-night, my brothers, I love you too," and she gave Kate a hug around the belly, resting her cheek against the small bump that was her brothers.

After Lily was asleep, Kate said, "Lily's going to make a great big sister. But we have to make sure we still have plenty of time for her, and that she doesn't feel left out, especially once Reece and Jake are here." At Rick's smile, Kate asked, "What?"

"You just called our sons 'Reece' and 'Jake,'" he said.

"Those are the names we agreed on," Kate pointed out.

"Yes, yes they are," Rick said. He moved closer, pulling up her shirt to look at the just-noticeably-visible bump on Kate's abdomen and gently covered it with his hand. "Peanut, Jellybean, it's your dad again. Mommy's gonna be the one teaching you about sports, because she's kicka—I mean, she's kickbutt that way, but I'm gonna be here for you too."

"You guys have the best daddy in the whole world," Kate said, resting her hand atop Rick's. She looked at Rick then, cupping the back of his head with her other hand. "I can't wait to see you with our sons. It's going to be different, yes, but you're going to be just as amazing a father to Reece and Jake as you are to Alexis and Lily. I know it."

"I promise I won't teach them to borrow police horses naked," Rick said with a completely straight face.

"I would hope not!" Kate exclaimed.

"This is gonna be so amazing," Rick said.

"It really is," Kate agreed as she let her hand slide from the back of Rick's head to cup his cheek and leaning in to meet his kiss.


	87. Chapter 83

_**Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story, and to all my guest reviewers, thank you for taking the time to read and review.**_

* * *

Rick and Kate invited everyone to the loft on a Monday night, when Martha and Earl were off from _My Fair Lady,_ but asked them, and Jim Beckett, to arrive half an hour before everyone else. Alexis and Lily were upstairs in Lily's room, and after their parents had arrived, Rick and Kate asked them to man the front door while they took care of something important upstairs.

Everyone arrived in dribs and drabs, and finally, in addition to Jim, Martha, and Earl, Javier; Kevin and Jenny minus Sarah Grace and Nick, who were with Jenny's parents, since Jenny had worked that afternoon and then met Kevin at the 12th Precinct before heading to the loft; Lanie and Alan with Will; Victoria and Gerald; and finally, Madison and Mark, who had gotten his cast off the previous Friday and was ready to look for a new place to live with Maddie.

Rick, hearing the buzz of conversation downstairs, looked at Kate, Alexis, and Lily. "Sounds like almost everyone is here," he said. "I'll just go check." He ducked out of Lily's room.

"Okay, Lily," Kate said, hunkering down so that she was eye to eye with her little girl. She straightened Lily's collar. "You know what to do, right?"

Lily nodded. "We're gonna surprise everybody!" she exclaimed.

"We sure are," Kate said, brushing her hand along the back of Lily's head, cradling the base of her skull for a moment. "Alexis, are you ready?"

"I'm all set," Alexis replied. She surprised Kate by hugging her quickly when Kate stood up. "Thank you so much for letting me be a part of this."

Kate hugged Alexis back, then said, as she released Alexis with a squeeze to her shoulder, "You're just as much my daughter as Lily is. Honestly, the idea for this announcement was mine. Your dad agreed to go along with it."

"Yeah, I figured that out when I realized the theme," Alexis said with a fond chuckle. "But I'm sure that's only because you told him putting it on the Jumbotron in Times Square or hiring a skywriter was out."

"You know us both so well," Kate replied.

Rick reappeared in the doorway to Lily's room then. "Okay, the gang's all here. Are we ready?"

"I'm ready," Kate said.

"I'm ready," Alexis echoed.

"I'm ready," Lily piped up. The others smiled at each other and then at Lily. Rick picked Lily up and perched her on his hip, but Lily said, "No, Daddy. I'm a big girl. I walk."

Rick and Kate exchanged a look. Lily was a very outspoken two-going-on-three now that it was early October. Rick remembered Alexis's insistence on walking when she was two, and knew that it was a good thing, and that there were still going to be plenty of opportunities for him to carry her around in the future.

"If you all don't come down here in the next ten seconds, we're gonna charge up the stairs!" Lanie shouted from the living room.

"That's a cue if I ever heard one," Earl said.

"Okay, we'll be right down!" Kate called back.

"Remember, Lily, they can't see our backs yet, not until Mom and Dad give us the signal," Alexis said as Lily jumped up and down excitedly.

"Okay!" Lily exclaimed.

Very few of the people gathered in the living room were thinking in the direction of an addition to the family. They were mostly thinking this was either about something involving Kate's work as a City Councilwoman, or about Rick's next book, since, while everyone, including Kate, was mum on the details, it was common knowledge within their family circle that the book was serious literature, and not a murder mystery, Nikki Heat or otherwise. Jim Beckett and Lanie had their suspicions, but they were the only ones.

Kate, Rick, Alexis, and Lily descended the stairs and entered the living room and said hello to everyone. The four of them were all dressed identically in jeans, sneakers, and...baseball warm-up jackets? New York Yankees warm-up jackets, to be exact.

Javier's first thought was that this had something to do with the upcoming World Series, assuming the Yankees held on to their playoff momentum and made it to the Series, but Alexis and Castle weren't baseball fans. Beckett, yes. Alexis and Castle went to the occasional game with him (Alexis) or with Beckett (Castle), but calling them fans would be stretching it a bit far.

Alexis removed Lily's jacket and her own. They were wearing baseball jerseys—white with blue pinstripes, but instead of the interlocked 'NY' logo of the New York Yankees, the letters 'B' and 'C' were interlocked on their jerseys.

Kate and Rick removed their own jackets, and they were wearing jerseys identical to Alexis and Lily.

Looks were exchanged around the room. The interlocked 'B' and 'C' obviously stood for 'Beckett' and 'Castle.' So this probably didn't have anything to do with either Kate's City Council work or Rick's new book after all.

Wheels were turning in most of the brains in the room. Jim was the first one to put it together. His eyes alight, a hopeful smile on his face, he exclaimed, "Katie, you're pregnant again!"

The beatific look on Kate's face was all the answer Lanie needed before she jumped to her feet and exclaimed, "I KNEW IT! Javi, Kevin, pay up!" She looked at Kate triumphantly as she accepted ten-dollar bills from both Javier and Kevin. "FINALLY, I win a bet about you guys!"

"Yes, I'm pregnant again," Kate confirmed.

"But there's a little more to it than that," Rick added.

Now everyone looked confused. "What more is there to being pregnant than being pregnant?" Madison asked.

"Okay, girls," Rick said as he and Kate shifted their gazes to their daughters.

"Now?" Lily asked.

"Now," Alexis told her, and the sisters spun around, showing off their backs of their jerseys.

The back of Alexis's jersey had a big number 1 on it.

The back of Lily's jersey had a big number 2 on it.

And then Rick and Kate reached under the couch, where they had stashed the onesies that matched Alexis and Lily's jerseys, unfurled them to reveal that they were identical to Lily and Alexis's jerseys—white with blue pinstripes, the interlocked 'B' and 'C' on the front left side...and then, in a move they had practiced repeatedly, Rick and Kate turned the jerseys around to show everyone the backs.

The onesie jersey in Kate's hands had a number 3 on the back.

The onesie jersey in Rick's hands had a number 4 on the back.

Kevin put it together first, as he had with the announcement about Lily. "Twins!" he exclaimed.

"Twins," Kate confirmed. "Identical twins."

"And they're boys," Rick concluded. He and Kate gently laid the onesies aside and took off their own jackets, revealing jerseys that matched all four of their childrens' jerseys. Then they turned around, revealing that the backs of their jerseys said MOM and DAD.

Everyone was silent for one long, surprised moment as the revelation that Rick and Kate were having twins sunk in. Kate swept Lily up in her arms, knowing that the further along she got in her pregnancy, the more difficult it would be for her to carry Lily around, and wanting to savor every moment with Lily as her only baby. This was more new territory for Kate, being the mother to more than one little child. She knew the twins would be demanding beyond anything she or Rick had experienced with Lily or Alexis, if only because there would be two of them at the same time. But she also knew that she and Rick could and would be able to do this, and that they would have the love and support and, when they truly needed it, the help of every person in the room with them.

Then, all at once, Kate's reverie was broken when a wave of family came rushing at her, Rick, Alexis, and Lily.

"Two little Castles? Kate, do you have any idea what you're getting yourself into?" Lanie asked, only half-jokingly.

"I'm looking forward to it, Lanie," Kate replied. Lanie gave Kate a careful hug, because of Lily, perched on Kate's hip, her arms wrapped around her mommy's neck. "And you bet with Javi and Kevin?"

"Those two clowns honestly didn't think there was even a chance you were having a baby," Lanie scoffed. "Besides, after all the money I lost on you and Castle before you ever got together, I was about due to make some money off of you guys! And you, Miss Lily, you're gonna be a big sister."

"Like Alexis, and like Sarah Grace," Lily replied.

Alan approached then, holding Will. "Congratulations!" he exclaimed. "And if you ever want some practical experience, Will here is more than happy to be of assistance!" He kissed Kate's cheek, then moved over to Rick. "Two boys!" he exclaimed. He leaned in. "Just so you're aware, they pee on you. Like, all the time. But somehow, you don't mind."

"You don't mind," Lanie said. "I've heard you laughing when Will gets you, Alan. Don't deny it."

"It's the sleep deprivation," Alan said. Then he added in a stage whisper to Rick, "Most of the time."

Madison was practically squealing. "You're having two more little Castle babies!" she exclaimed excitedly as she gave Kate and Lily a big bear hug. "I knew you wanted little Castle babies all those years ago! And two little boys now. Wow."

"Wonderful news," Mark said with a smile as he shook hands with Rick and nodded at Kate.

"Heaven help you, Kate," Victoria said, but she was grinning as she said it. "Two more like Castle?"

"I thought you liked me now, Victoria," Rick said, mock-wounded.

"I do," Victoria replied. "But Martha has told me some stories about what you were like as a little boy. Kate, I recommend you have a long chat with her before these boys make their debut."

"When will they be making their debut?" Jim asked as he approached with a misty-eyed smile.

"February," Kate replied. She gave her father a wistful smile.

Jim's hand flew to his mouth. He was unable to speak at this news. He engulfed Kate and Lily in a bigger bear hug than Madison had a couple of minutes earlier. Then, after recovering himself, he took Lily from Kate. "You're gonna be a big sister, Lily Jo! What do you think about that?"

"I have little brothers, Grandpa," Lily replied.

"'Snips and snails and puppy dog tails' times two!" Earl exclaimed. "Congratulations, Rick, Kate, and to the big sisters as well—Alexis and Lily."

Martha was laughing. "I knew this would be your reaction, Mother," Rick said as she hugged him.

"Oh, I'm not laughing only because you're going to know what it's like to have sons like you, Richard," Martha replied. "I truly am happy for you and Katherine. And if these boys are anything like you, not only will they keep you on your toes, they will ultimately bring you the joy that comes from raising your sons to be good men."

"Well, you certainly did that, Mother," Rick replied.

"I do feel I should share a few stories from Richard's youth with you, though, Katherine," Martha said.

"Stories, or peccadillos?" Kate asked.

"A mix of both," Martha said. After hugging Kate, she said, "You and Richard are wonderful parents to Alexis and Lily. I know you'll be wonderful parents to these lucky little boys."

"It's the merry-hearted boys that make the best men," Kevin piped up then. "That's an old Irish proverb, and since these little guys are gonna be half Castle, this is one proverb I'm absolutely certain will be coming true." He hugged Rick and Kate, and Jenny followed suit. Then Kevin cleared his throat and said, "And if you're looking for names-"

"Yeah if you're looking for names-" Javier piped up then.

"Sorry, guys," Kate interjected. "We've already named them. We want you to be godfathers again, but you won't have any namesakes."

"And you're set on these names?" Kevin asked.

"We are," Rick said.

"So who will we be formally meeting come February?" Jenny asked.

Kate rested one hand on her belly, and Rick covered Kate's hand with his. "Reece Alexander Castle," Kate said. She looked at Rick.

"And Jacob Rodgers Castle," Rick said. "Reece and Jake."

"'Reece'?" Jim asked, at the same time Martha said, "'Rodgers'?"

"Yeah, we want to name one of the boys after you, if that's okay with you, Dad," Kate began.

"Do I look like it's **not** okay with me?" Jim asked, not even bothering to hide the tears welling in his eyes again.

Martha was just staring at Rick with one hand over her heart. "I know I didn't keep the name," Rick began, "but I am the man I am because of you, Mother. I wanted to honor you by giving one of the boys your surname."

"Richard, I..." Martha swallowed hard. "I am so honored."

Then there were more tears and hugs.

"You got all the grandparents in there," Javier said before hugging Kate and slapping Rick on the back. "That's the way it should be."

"So, Javi, Kevin, are you guys up for two godsons?" Kate asked him.

"Absolutely," Javier replied.

"So am I," Kevin piped up.

"Do Victoria and I get to be godmothers again?" Lanie asked.

Rick and Kate looked at Jenny and Madison carefully and saw only smiles on their faces. They hadn't actually discussed whether Reece and Jake would have different godmothers than Lily, but it felt right for the kids to have all the same godparents. "Yes," Kate and Rick replied in unison.

"I accept," Victoria replied with a big smile. "And if you ever need help keeping them in line, I'll be happy to have a godmotherly talk with one or both of the boys."

"Our kids are all gonna grow up together!" Lanie exclaimed then, realizing it for the first time. "And the boys will outnumber the girls once Reece and Jake get here, with Will and Nick."

"Well, after this, we're done," Rick said. He and Kate had already made the decision. In fact, Rick was going to ask Dr. Elliott for a referral to a urologist for a vasectomy; that was how done he and Kate were.

"So are we," Jenny said as Kevin nodded. They had already taken care of birth control permanently as well.

"Well, we're not done yet, but we're not ready for another one yet either," Lanie said.

Javier and Alexis looked at each other, but said nothing.

"So the girls might still outnumber the boys eventually," Victoria said.

"And even if they don't," Gerald Gates said, "this is a room full of strong women. All of these boys are going to grow up knowing and respecting strong women, because we'll all see to that."

The impromptu celebration broke up when it was time for Lily to go to bed, with one more round of hugs and congratulations and then good nights as everyone took their leave.

Javier drove Alexis home. "So, two little brothers," he said.

Alexis beamed. "It's going to be amazing," she said. "It's going to be a lot of work, but Mom and Dad have a built-in village with all of us to help them." She paused, then said, "You're not upset that they're not naming one of the boys after you?"

"Nah," Javier replied. "Nick's named after me. I didn't really expect Beckett and your dad to name one of their kids after me, although it would've been nice. And Ryan doesn't have a namesake."

"Yet," Alexis said. "I figured that's something we'd do. Someday."

Javier looked over at Alexis. "You want kids? With me?" he asked. They hadn't talked about that yet in any kind of depth or detail.

"Of course I do," Alexis replied. "Eventually. I'm just old-fashioned enough that I'd like to be married first, and married for a while. At least a year, maybe two. And I want to finish law school and get a job, but yeah. You don't see us with kids?"

They had reached Alexis's apartment building now, and Javier parked the car and turned off the ignition before turning to look at her. "I absolutely see us with kids. Married, and with kids," he said. "I don't know much about dominant versus recessive genes, but I keep picturing a redheaded little girl."

"You do?" Alexis asked.

"Yeah," Javier replied.

"I, um, sort of have names picked out," Alexis admitted.

"'Sort of'?" Javier asked with a knowing smile.

"Okay, I definitely have names picked out. One for a girl, one for a boy," she replied somewhat sheepishly.

"Feel like sharing them?" he asked. After Alexis told him the names, his smile grew wider and he said, "Yeah. I really like those."

"Really?" Alexis asked.

"Really," Javier replied. He moved closer to her, framing her face in his hands. "I'm going to propose to you, Lex. But I want to surprise you with it. I want it to be special, and memorable, because that's what you deserve."

"Well, whenever you propose, I promise I'll say 'yes,'" Alexis replied, her arms going around him. "I want a life and a family with you, Javier."

"I didn't think I'd have a life and a family until you, Alexis," Javier replied. "I mean, my life was going along okay, but you changed everything for me. You brought the color and the laughter and the magic that I didn't even know I was missing into my life. I want to grow old with you."

"That's sounding a lot like a proposal," Alexis said, only half-teasing.

"Trust me, you'll know when I propose," Javier replied before they kissed.


	88. Chapter 84

_**Thank you all for your continued support of this story. This chapter takes place in October and early November 2019. Some very big things are coming up for the Castle clan in 2020, so we're getting closer.**_

* * *

After announcing the impending arrival of Reece and Jake to their family, Rick and Kate immediately started preparing for their births. Alexis, Martha, and Lanie teamed up to plan a baby shower for January, after all of the holidays and their attendant happy chaos and celebrations were over. Martha's old room was slowly transformed into a nursery for the boys over the course of the next several months. Alexis insisted on helping Rick paint the nursery, as she had done with Lily's room; the paint color he and Kate agreed on was "Hyper Blue," and Alexis let it slip to Javier, although Kate outright told Martha, so it didn't take long for everyone to start teasing Rick about having two hyper miniature versions of himself running around before too long. They started buying the furniture for the boys' nursery, realizing they would need two of almost everything. Lily transitioned to a toddler bed in mid-October with a minimum of fuss, all excited about being a big girl and a big sister and fascinated by Mommy's daily (or so it seemed to both Kate and Lily) growing tummy, so they only needed to buy one crib, and they still had Lily's changing table, and the rocking chair Jim had lovingly refinished and passed along, but they still needed two dressers and another crib and swing, and they also decided to buy another rocking chair, finding as close a match to Johanna's rocking chair as they could. So the room was painted, and the furniture mostly in place, except for the rocking chairs, in fairly short order.

October was a busy month for the whole family. Alexis and Jim were both thriving at Columbia, and, seeing how stressed Alexis was about her final year and what would be coming next, Jim made a special effort to sort of take Alexis under his wing, assuring her that she would get through this last year, and sharing stories of both his and Johanna's final years in law school.

"I wish I'd known Johanna," Alexis said at the end of one of the weekly lunches Jim had begun inviting her to. "I wonder what she would have thought of my dad...and Gram...and me."

"She would have loved all of you," Jim said with a wistful smile. "No doubt about it."

"What kind of grandmother would she have been?" Alexis asked.

Jim laughed. "Oh, she and Katie would be butting heads constantly, because Johanna would have let Lily Jo get away with just about everything, and Katie would always have to be the bad cop, and Johanna would have claimed grandmother's privilege, and Katie would have been positively outraged that Johanna was letting Lily get away with things she never, in a billion years, let Katie get away with when she was growing up."

"I bet she and Gram would have been thick as thieves," Alexis mused.

"They would have," Jim agreed.

Alexis checked her watch. "Lunch with you is always great, Jim, but unfortunately, I have just enough time to get back to campus for my Topics in Criminal Prosecution and Defense class."

That reminded Jim of something. "Have you ever seen the movie _The Paper Chase_?"

"No, I haven't," Alexis replied as she put on her jacket.

"You get a few free hours, you should watch it, maybe with Javier," Jim suggested. "If you can get past the clothes and the hair, since it's from the early '70s, it's an excellent film, and I think John Houseman's character will remind you of someone we both know at Columbia."

"Thanks for the film recommendation," Alexis said, "and for lunch." She bent and hugged him goodbye, then shouldered her purse and backpack before leaving the restaurant.

Jim signaled their server for the check, then, after paying and leaving a generous tip, returned to his office at Columbia to catch up on some paperwork.

He was surprised when Javier showed up at his office a little over an hour after Jim himself returned to the office from his lunch with Alexis.

"Is this a bad time, Mr. Beckett?" Javier asked after he had knocked on the door and heard Jim invite him to come in.

"Javier. No, not at all. Come in, please. Have a seat," Jim replied, gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Thank you," Javier replied, closing the door behind him. "I won't take up too much of your time. It's just that all the lawyers I know are public defenders or at the D.A.'s office, and so they can't help me out on this."

Jim pushed aside his paperwork. "And what, exactly, is it that you're seeking legal help with?" he inquired.

"A prenuptial agreement," Javier replied.

The silence that descended on the small office fell as heavily and swiftly as an anvil. Jim blinked a couple of times, then said, "I just came from lunch with Alexis. I didn't know you two had gotten engaged."

"I haven't actually proposed yet," Javier admitted.

"Then isn't researching prenuptial agreements sort of putting the cart before the horse?" Jim asked.

"I'm not researching prenups. I want one," Javier clarified.

"Alexis doesn't strike me as the type of person who would want one," Jim replied, "and I don't recommend continuing along these lines without seriously talking it over with her first, Javier."

"I know that Castle is...well, rich," Javier replied. "It's not something any of us have ever really talked about, but we've all been to their loft, and to the Hamptons house, and Alexis went to private school from pre-K through high school, and Columbia's Ivy League. I know Castle's footing some of the bills, and that Alexis stands to inherit probably a significant sum of money someday in the very distant future. But I'm not after her money."

Jim exhaled. "It sounds to me like you and Alexis need to sit down and have a serious talk about money and prenuptial agreements," he said. "I know you're not after her money. I'm sure Katie and Rick know you're not after her money. And I'm certain Alexis knows you're not after her money. But you can't just unilaterally decide to get a prenup, Javier. Speaking as both a lawyer and a family member, you **have** to talk to Alexis about this."

Javier ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah," he said after a long moment. "I guess I should talk to Alexis about this, shouldn't I?"

"It's an absolute must," Jim urged. "Your intentions are honorable, but you can't make this decision alone, Javier."

Javier nodded. "You're right," he said. He stood up and extended his hand to Jim to shake. "Thank you, Jim." After shaking Jim's hand, Javier left the office.

When he was alone again, Jim looked at the picture of Johanna he had on the corner of his desk, in between the pictures he had of Katie and Rick and Lily, and a copy of the picture the judge had been kind enough to take of himself, Katie, Rick, Alexis and Martha at Katie and Rick's wedding. He liked Javier; always had. The man had been part of Katie's team at the 12th Precinct for years, had had her back before Rick came along, and on at least one occasion Jim knew about when Katie and Rick had been on the outs, right before they'd gotten together at last. Katie never had given him all the details, but he knew that it had had something to do with Johanna's killers, and that Katie and Detective Esposito had been suspended for it. "They have a lot to learn," he said, addressing Johanna about Alexis and Javier, "but after a rip-roaring argument about the pre-nup, I think they'll be all right. And I **don't** think they'll end up with one. They really don't need it."

* * *

Rick and Kate were both working in the office (neither of them thought of it as just Rick's office any longer, and they were in the process of making arrangements to buy the empty loft next door so that they could expand the office and the living room before, as Martha so presciently and eloquently put it, "your living room décor solely resembles FAO Schwarz in its glory days"), ears peeled for the sleeping Lily, when Kate saw it again: the telltale signs that her husband had yet another headache. He'd had far too many of them lately.

Uh huh, there it was: Rick's hands went to his face and he rubbed his eyes. Kate had noticed the squinting had begun in earnest a couple of months ago now.

And now that Rick had rubbed his eyes, he was massaging his temples with his fingertips, even as he leaned in more closely to the laptop screen. She knew he was just reading emails, since his book was set to be released two days before Thanksgiving, Black Pawn hoping to cash in on big holiday sales of _Something Worth Saving_ , the "complete departure in genre from Richard Castle, certain to become a classic of serious literature in its own right." (The PR department at Black Pawn was nothing if not totally committed to Rick as one of their star authors and completely optimistic about this "complete departure in genre" from him.) But that was enough.

Now Rick's fingertips migrated to his forehead, pressing against his forehead as he lowered his chin to his chest.

Kate quickly saved her work—notes for her next City Council meeting on what she and the other members of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services had been working on in their committee meetings regarding a local law to amend the New York City Charter in relation to social services for the wrongfully convicted—and set her laptop aside, got up from the couch they had added to the office several months back, swapping the two leather chairs for the more comfortable, roomier couch, and crossed the office until she was standing behind Rick's desk chair, where he was seated in front of his open laptop and still applying pressure to his forehead.

"Babe," she said gently as she began massaging his temples herself, making a mental note to work her way to the back of his neck. "I really don't think you can put off going for an eye exam any longer. The squinting, the headaches, the burning eyes..."

Rick sighed. "You're right. I know you're right. I just..."

"You just what?" Kate asked as she began massaging the back of his neck and the base of his skull.

"I know I'm 50 now, but I guess I didn't expect that I'd feel it this...this keenly," Rick confessed. "I never really thought about getting old. Now it's this creeping thought of dread that ambushes me without warning. I need glasses. When I was shaving this morning, I found some gray whiskers along my jawline. That's the first time that's happened. My knee, from that skiing injury years ago? It was popping like bubble wrap today. Not hurting, just popping. Lily kept giggling and asking me to do it again."

Kate stopped massaging Rick's neck, gently spun his chair around, and seated herself on his lap. "So that's what it is," she mused as her arms went around his neck.

"That's what what is?" Rick asked as his arms went around her waist, one hand resting on her ever-growing baby bump.

Kate brushed an errant strand of hair off his forehead before letting her hand drop back to his shoulder. "We've got a lot of changes happening all at the same time," she began. "We have twins on the way...your book is about to be released and it's not like anything you've ever written before...Alexis will graduate from law school next spring and she and Javi could get engaged at pretty much any time between now and then...we're working on potty-training Lily...Martha and Earl are very serious about each other...I'm busting my tail on the City Council. It's a lot to take in, a lot to adjust to. And yes, you had a landmark birthday this year. I've got one coming up in a few weeks.

"But we're not getting **old** , babe. We're just getting old **er.** And there's a big difference there." She framed his face in her hands and looked deeply into his eyes. "I spent a lot of years not even thinking about getting old, or getting older, because I really didn't believe deep down that I would get older. I went through such traumatic changes, the very foundation of my family was completely destroyed when my mom was murdered, and it took fifteen years for me to finally get closure and get justice for her, which never would have happened if not for you.

"Even at my worst, even at my most closed-off, when anyone else would have thrown up his hands and walked away forever...even when we went months without speaking to each other at all, spent years ignoring what was right there in front of us because of fear and insecurity, which was probably more me than you...You never gave up. You knew my heart better than I did. You made it okay for me to believe and to trust again, you made me want to be my best self. You made me want this life with you that we now have. You've always had my back, you've always believed in me and in us, even when I didn't, when I couldn't, when I was too scared to, and you taught me the power of forgiveness...of forgiving myself for so many things...of being forgiven when I hurt you so much worse and so much more deeply than you deserved."

"Before I met you, I was already a two-time loser at marriage, and love hadn't been particularly kind to me," Rick reflected. "But you were unlike any woman I had ever met. How could I **not** fall completely in love with you? And how'd you get so good at talking me down when I get like this, which has been happening way too much lately, I know."

"What is too much?" Kate replied rhetorically. "It's a lot of big changes all at once, babe. I get it. Change is never easy. But we'll get through it like we get through everything else: together. I was such a mess for so long, but you've never been anything but patient...overall, I mean...and we've been through some of the worst nightmares humanly possible. But we're still here. Through all the narrow escapes and near tragedies, the PTSD and the lost summers, we made it. We're still here. And that's what matters.

"I remember when my mom turned 40," she continued. "Her work friends at her law office threw her one of those ridiculous 'Over the Hill' birthday parties, with the black balloons and streamers and gag gifts and jokes about Geritol and knitting needles. She thought the whole thing was ridiculous. Dad and I knew better than to make any cracks about her age. She always said that age was just a number; you're only as old as you feel. And she didn't feel a day over 25.

"The only people who are old, Rick, are the ones who were born old to begin with. You were born young, and you're always going to be young. You might have gray whiskers, and a knee that pops like bubble wrap, and you'll start wearing glasses, which will look great on you. Someday I'll probably be wearing glasses too, and we'll both have gray hair and matching pillboxes. But in here..." She laid one hand over his heart. "In here, you will be forever young. And so will I, thanks to you, and our kids."

Before Rick could reply, he and Kate both felt a fluttering in her abdomen. As tired and red as Rick's eyes were, they instantly lit up like a Christmas tree. "Was that-?" he asked.

"I think so," Kate replied excitedly. They both gently pressed their hands over her baby bump and waited.

Several seconds later, they were rewarded with more movement. "Kate!" Rick exclaimed excitedly.

"They're moving," she replied, her eyes welling with tears as a big grin lit her whole face. "At least one of them is, anyway. Hey, Reece, hey, Jakey, it's Mommy."

"And Daddy," Rick added. "We felt you guys move, or at least we felt one of you move." They had been through this with Lily, of course, but it was no less amazing or miraculous to them this time.

They kissed, tenderly, both overwhelmed by the rush of emotion at feeling at least one of their sons move for the first time.

Two weeks later, Rick returned home after being fitted for his new glasses. Kate, Lily, Alexis, and Javier were all at the loft; Alexis and Javier had come over for dinner. When Rick walked through the front door, four pairs of eyes looked directly at him and studied his face in various modes of contemplation.

Rick had chosen lightweight semi-rimless frames with rectangular lenses, and was more than a little relieved that he did not need bifocals. The earpieces were slim and solid black, the frames themselves made of titanium. The top half of the frames were black titanium, and the lenses themselves comprised the bottom half, resting directly on the bridge of Rick's nose.

"Lookin' good, Dad," Alexis approved.

"They work for you, Castle," Javier added.

"Thanks, pumpkin, thanks, Esposito," Rick said. He took off his coat and hung it up, then entered the living room, where everyone was sitting. He hugged Alexis hello, exchanged back slaps with Esposito, then went over to where Lily and Kate were sitting on the couch. He picked Lily up to give her a hug hello. Lily hugged her daddy back and regarded his glasses solemnly. "Mommy says I can look at your glasses but no touching them," she said.

"That's right," Rick agreed. "What do you think of them, though, Sweetpea?"

"You still look like you, Daddy," Lily said.

"She's right," Kate said, managing to struggle up from the couch unaided for once (now that it was early November, Kate was entering her sixth month of pregnancy with the twins, and she was starting to slow down out of necessity, but so far, she was taking the weight gain, the ungainliness, and the difficulty sleeping through the night because of repeated trips to the bathroom and an increasing inability to find a comfortable sleeping position in stride). "You do still look like you." She moved closer to Rick so only he could hear her and said quietly into his ear, "And you look incredibly sexy in them too."

"Really?" Rick asked as Kate moved away from his ear.

"Really," she said. "As long as I don't fall asleep first, I'll show you just how sexy I think you look in those glasses later."

"You're on," Rick said.

"I certainly am," Kate murmured. Rick waggled his eyebrows suggestively, making Kate laugh. The oven went off then, and they all sat down to dinner together, where the conversations over the lasagna, green salad, and garlic bread ranged from Alexis's classes to Kate's City Council work to the book signing Rick would be doing on Black Friday to upcoming plans for Thanksgiving.

Rick looked around the table at this part of his family and marveled at how he had ended up here. Yes, a lot of things were changing. But these people, and the rest of their big, crazy, wonderful, chosen family who were not at the table tonight, would always be the constants in Rick's life, no matter what, and that was all he needed to know to be certain that whatever life threw at him, even when he was uncertain and insecure, as he had been lately, he could make it through with Kate backing his plays, and with the unwavering love and support of all of these amazing people he was blessed to call his family.


	89. Chapter 85

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

Lily knelt on one of the grown-up chairs as she watched her daddy put together the breakfast tray for Mommy. Today was Mommy's birthday. Last week had been something called Mommy and Daddy's wedding anniversary, and Lily had spent the night at Gram's, and Pops, Grandpa Jim, and Alexis and Uncle Javier had all come over for lunch that day. So the anniversary was just for Mommy and Daddy, but Mommy's birthday was for everybody.

"Okay," Daddy said. "We have scrambled eggs, and-"

"Don't forget the coffee, Daddy. Mommy _**needs**_ her coffee," Lily interrupted.

"I'll never forget Mommy's coffee, sweetpea," Rick said with a smile. He knew how Kate was about her coffee. "We have the coffee."

Lily looked into the mug. "You put a heart in it!" she exclaimed.

He had.

"We have toast," Rick continued.

"And orange juice," Lily concluded. "For my brothers."

Rick did a double take. "Lily, how did you know about that?" he asked.

"You and Mommy and the doctor talked about it the other day," Lily replied. Kate had had a checkup two days ago with Dr. Elliott. Lily and Alexis had both accompanied them to get a look at their baby brothers _in utero._ Both girls were amazed at the 3D imaging that allowed them to see the boys as the tiny little people, albeit tiny little people still growing, that they were. Kate's pregnancy, though being treated as high-risk because it was twins, she was, as of today, officially 40 years old, and her medical history, was progressing well. Everything was normal, but she was going to have to start taking it a little bit easier now that she was heading into her final trimester.

"Boy, are we in trouble when you learn how to spell, Lily," Rick mused as he pulled the single long-stemmed red rose from the back of the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, where he had hidden it the night before (Kate was no longer bending over to get things from the bottom shelf of the refrigerator), and added it to the breakfast tray.

"Alexis is teaching me my ABCs!" Lily exclaimed, and then she launched into an enthusiastic rendition of "The Alphabet Song."

Rick listened proudly as Lily made it through the song almost entirely mistake-free. (She sang "L-M-N-O-T" instead of "L-M-N-O-P," but she repeated the "T" in the proper place. Alexis was working with Lily on it, though.)

Kate, still asleep, heard Rick and Lily in the kitchen, which woke her up with a smile on her face. Then she got her usual good-morning greeting from the boys, who were always very active in the morning, kicking and moving around in her ever-growing belly.

"Good morning, Reece, good morning, Jake," she greeted the boys softly. "Take it easy, would you, please? I don't really feel like getting out of bed to go to the bathroom again yet, because the bed's really soft and warm, and I'm pretty sure your dad and Lily are about to bring me breakfast in bed, because it's my birthday." She began rubbing gentle circles on her belly and continued talking softly, which she had recently discovered made the boys calm down at least a little bit in the womb. She hoped they were this relatively easy to soothe once they were born.

"Today's my birthday," Kate continued. "Just a few more months, and you guys will be picking a birthday. But there's no rush. You've got to stay where you are until February. February's a good month for a birthday, though. Your Grandma Johanna was born in February. She'd be thrilled about sharing a birthday month with you guys, and she would love you guys just as much as she'd love Lily, and Alexis. Your sisters are crazy about you, especially after the other day, when they saw you on the ultrasound. I think you're gonna look like your daddy, and he thinks you're gonna look like me. But whatever you look like, you guys are already so loved. I'm going to be the best mom to you that I can be, like I am to your big sisters. And your daddy...I know he's a little concerned because you're boys and he's only been a dad to girls so far, but I just know he's going to be amazing with you guys."

Lily came darting into the bedroom then, carrying a box wrapped in red paper covered in multi-colored cupcakes with lit birthday candles sticking out of their festively frosted and sprinkled tops on alternating lines with the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" in letters of every color of the rainbow. "Happy Birthday, Mommy!" Lily exclaimed.

Rick followed after her with a breakfast tray. "Happy birthday," he said as Kate sat up, pushing her hair out of her eyes, and propped herself up against the headboard. He leaned down and kissed her quickly, while Lily bounced impatiently at the foot of their bed.

"Be careful, Lily Johanna," Kate said. "You don't want to fall and get hurt."

"Or spill Mommy's breakfast," Rick added.

Lily immediately stopped bouncing and plopped down on her knees, still clutching her birthday present for her mommy.

"Everyone's going to be here for lunch," Rick said, "but you and the boys need breakfast."

Kate looked at the tray and smiled at the heart in her coffee. Then she looked up at Rick and smiled the smile that was for him alone, and he was struck all over again by the fact that Kate Beckett—correction, Kate Beckett _**Castle—**_ the most extraordinary, remarkable woman he had ever known, was his wife and the mother of his children and as madly in love with him as he was with her.

Kate marveled at the undisguised love in Rick's eyes, in every line of his face. There she sat, heavily pregnant with twins, her hair a mess, no makeup, barely awake, and he was looking at her like he had on their wedding day.

The moment was broken by Lily, who said, "Drink your orange juice, Mommy. It's good for my brothers."

Now it was Kate who looked surprised. "How does she know about that?" she asked.

"The doctor told you to drink orange juice, Mommy," Lily replied seriously.

Dr. Elliott had, in fact, reminded Kate about her sons' folic acid needs just two days ago, and Lily and Alexis had both been at that appointment, so the girls could see the twins on the 3D ultrasound along with Kate and Rick.

"Yes, she did," Kate agreed, "because it's good for the babies." Although the coffee both looked and smelled divine, with Lily now watching her like a hawk, Kate picked up her juice glass and drained half of it, which made Lily smile.

"Can you open my present now, Mommy?" Lily asked after Kate had consumed about half her breakfast. Now that she was going on three—a very intelligent and precocious going on three, of course—Lily was much more aware of birthdays and what they meant. Rick and Kate were both excited for Christmas with Lily this year, because they knew this would be the first one that she really fully understood and was totally excited for.

"Yes," Kate said. Lily carefully made her way up the bed; all three of them were still in their pajamas, and Rick was sitting up on his side of the bed now. Lily crawled in between them and, with both her little hands, held out her birthday present to her mommy.

"I made it," Lily said as Kate took the brightly wrapped box from her.

"With minimal help from me," Rick added. "I did wrap it, though."

Kate tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box to reveal a slab of rolled-out clay with Lily's handprints in it, and the words 'Lily, Age 2, Nov. 2019' carefully written in the clay in red before it was baked.

"A friend of Mother's teaches art classes and did the glaze, filling in the inscription with red paint after Lily picked it out," Rick explained.

"It's beautiful," Kate said. "I love it. And I love you, Lily. Thank you."

Lily carefully wound her little arms around her mommy's neck and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek, which Kate returned after hugging her back. "You're welcome, Mommy."

Kate kissed Lily again, then looked over at Rick. "You want to give me your present now too?" she asked.

"Later," Rick replied mysteriously. "Much later."

Kate honestly had no idea what Rick had gotten her. Their anniversary had been just a week ago, and he had gotten her a new wooden jewelry box with the first two lines of an e.e. cummings poem carved into the lid-"i carry your heart with me/i carry it in my heart"-while she had gifted him a new watch, which was inscribed 'RC—Our love is timeless. Always, KBC,' knowing he'd love that she used all three of her initials, which she rarely did, and which he definitely did.

She noticed the time then. "If we're going to make it to church, we're going to have to get moving," she said, carefully pushing the covers off and getting out of bed, still holding Lily's handprints.

"How are Peanut and Jellybean this morning?" Rick inquired as he lifted Lily up and they got out of the bed. "Behaving themselves?"

"The usual," Kate replied. "Besides, now that I'm going to have to start slowing down soon, I want to go to church while it's still an option. Besides, some of the family is meeting us there."

Sure enough, when Rick, Kate, and Lily arrived for the 9:00 AM service at St. Peter's, Alexis, accompanied by Javier, Jim, Martha and Earl were all already there and had saved seats for the others.

After the service, everyone else went home to change clothes before heading to the loft for Kate's birthday afternoon. After Kate, Lily, and Rick had gotten changed, Rick got to work on lunch: prime rib with baked potatoes and mixed vegetables.

Alexis and Javier arrived first, followed closely by Jim, and Martha and Earl, all laden with packages except Jim, who was smiling mysteriously and promising that his gift would be delivered at 1:00 sharp.

The Ryans arrived next, then the Masters', the Gates', and finally Madison and Mark, who was two months out of his cast and into physical therapy while he and Madison continued their search for the perfect apartment together.

Lunch was a lively and spirited affair, with conversation flowing easily and happily. Rick had made macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets for Sarah Grace and Nick and Lily, so everyone was happily eating and talking. Lanie excused herself to nurse Will about halfway through dinner when he woke up fussing in his carrier.

Alexis and Javier had watched the movie version of _The Paper Chase_ at Javier's on their last date night, and Alexis and Jim were comparing the Professor Kingsfield character in the movie to one of Alexis's professors, whom Jim also knew, a man named Brighton.

At the next City Council meeting, one of the bills Kate and the other members of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services was ready to be voted on by the whole City Council, and everyone was excited about the possibility that Kate could be involved in getting legislation passed to help the Fire and Criminal Justices Services of the City of New York.

Madison and Mark were now concentrating their search for an apartment on the Upper East Side, but had yet to find anything that they were really excited about, a place where they really saw themselves living.

Rick was a bit nervous about the book, but he was also looking forward to the book release party, which everyone, except for the littlest kids, would be attending.

After lunch, everyone adjourned to the living room. "When do we get the cake and ice cream?" Nick asked.

"Nick, manners," Jenny warned her son.

"After Aunt Kate opens her birthday presents," Sarah Grace informed her little brother.

"Oh! Okay!" Nick said, rushing toward the pile of presents on the coffee table.

"Hey, those are my mommy's presents, not yours!" Lily shouted, rushing after Nick, with Sarah Grace rushing after Lily, the girls' mission to guard Kate's birthday presents from an overzealous, eager-for-cake-and-ice-cream Nick.

"Just think, this time next year, you'll have three kids here all the time," Victoria told Kate and Rick with a smirk.

"And we're looking forward to it," Rick said. Kate looked at him, and he smiled at her. The closer they got to the actual birth of the twins, the more confident Rick was becoming in his ability to be just as excellent a father to the boys as he was to Lily and Alexis.

Lanie returned with a calmed down, and full, Will, and everyone settled in while Kate opened her presents, letting Lily, and Nick, and Sarah Grace, help her with the unwrapping.

Alexis's gift was a coffee mug that said 'World's Best Mom.' She ducked her head shyly when Kate made a big to-do about the mug.

Madison and Mark's gift was more from Madison, a nod to her and Kate's history as friends: the Bon Jovi box set on CD. "You've gotta get your kids started right with their musical education, Becks," Madison said.

Lanie, Alan, and Will's gift was a box of empty memory cards for the digital camera. "We go through three a month," Alan said. "They fill up faster than you'd think."

Kevin, Jenny, Sarah Grace, and Nick had gotten Kate a gift certificate for a spa day at a spa that catered to pregnant women; Jenny's sisters had chipped in to give her a day there both times she was pregnant, and she thought Kate would enjoy the pampering.

Martha and Earl's gift was a sterling silver bracelet that Martha had designed that contained all of the immediate family's birthstones: Rick's, a diamond (April); Kate's, a topaz (November); Alexis', a tourmaline (October), which was a turquoise color; Lily's, an emerald (May); and two amethysts for February, one for Reece and one for Jake.

"Now we're praying the boys don't come early for more than the obvious reasons," Earl quipped. "Although we did keep the receipt, so if those little scamps decide to show up in January, we'll take the bracelet back and have them exchange the amethysts for garnets."

Kate was almost speechless. "Martha, Earl, this is beautiful, but it's too much," she said.

"Nonsense," Martha said. "Do you like it, Katherine?"

"I love it," Kate replied truthfully.

"Then it's not too much," Martha replied.

Jim's gift arrived then; he had had another rocking chair made that was an exact replica of Johanna's old one that he had given Kate before Lily was born. Lily, Sarah Grace, and Nick were confused as to why Kate and Jim were both crying over a rocking chair, but it didn't take too long for Kate to get her rioting hormones under control.

Javier had a connection at Yankee Stadium and had gotten hold of a pair of tickets for Opening Day for Kate. "If I'm not working that day, I'll even help baby-sit if you decide to take Castle to the game," he said.

Victoria and Gerald's gift was a bottle of Kate's favorite wine. "I know you're not exactly collectors," Victoria said, addressing both Kate and Castle, "and that you can't drink now, obviously, Kate, but you'll have plenty of occasions coming up where you can put that to good use."

The wine was the last gift Kate had to open, which she realized when she looked at Rick and he said, so only she could hear, "Later."

Everyone headed into the kitchen except for Kate and Rick. Kate had sat on the couch to open her gifts, and wouldn't be able to get up on her own, with her center of gravity so completely thrown off by the twins.

Alexis and Martha had gotten the cake—a simple sheet cake with blue-and-white frosting that proclaimed 'Happy Birthday Kate!' in blue cursive frosting letters—ready, with two number candles, a '4' and a '0' to signify Kate's 40th birthday. Kevin and Javier appointed themselves keepers of the ice cream—Neapolitan, plain chocolate, mint chocolate chip, plain strawberry, French Vanilla, and Potato Chip Fudge which, somewhat to her chagrin, Kate had developed intense cravings for about two months ago that still hadn't ceased.

Alan was holding Will, and Jenny was holding Nick. Sarah Grace and Lily were seated at the kitchen island, Lily on her knees. Jim lit the candles, and then everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Kate.

At the end of the song, Lily said, "Make a wish, Mommy."

And looking at Rick, standing next to her; Lily, kneeling on a chair at the kitchen island; Alexis, with Javier's arm around her shoulders, smiling at her over the cake; her dad, looking on proudly, if somewhat wistfully, since Kate knew that he, like she, was thinking of her mother right now; the rest of their smiling family and friends gathered around, including the growing next generation; and the movements within her of her and Rick's sons, Kate could only think, _It already came true._

Then she thought of something, closed her eyes, opened them again, and blew out the candles in one breath.

* * *

Much later that night, after all their family and friends had gone home, they'd had dinner, and Lily had had her bath and bedtime stories and prayers and was asleep, Rick disappeared into the office, then returned carrying a small box wrapped in silver foil with a tiny matching bow in one hand, and a flat package wrapped in the same paper that Lily's gift had been wrapped in in the other. Kate was on the couch, and Rick placed the larger package in her lap and sat down next to her.

Kate opened the package, pulled back the tissue paper, and in the box was a copy of Rick's first serious literature novel, _Something Worth Saving_.

"It's the first copy," Rick said softly. "It's yours."

Kate took the book out of the box, setting the box, tissue paper, and crumpled wrapping paper to the side, and opened the book to the dedication.

" _To Kate_

" _Muse, lover, fighter, and partner in everything_

" _Always."_

Kate looked up from the dedication to see Rick watching her anxiously. She beckoned him closer, and he moved the box, tissue paper, and crumpled wrapping paper to the floor. When his knee was touching hers, she put the book on the coffee table in front of them, then put her arms around his neck. "I love it," she said. "And I love you. And I can't wait to read the book."

"Whatever happens with the book, whether it's a hit or a flop, I'm glad I wrote it," Rick said. "And I never would have even thought of going in this new professional direction if not for you, Kate. You inspire me every day."

Then he held out the smaller box. Kate took her arms from around his neck to unwrap the gift. She removed the ribbon, tore off the wrapping, and opened the hinged lid on the little black velvet box. "Oh, Rick," she whispered.

Winking up at her in the dim light of the living room was a pair of diamond-encrusted earrings in the shape of the infinity symbol. She looked from the earrings to Rick, who was looking back at her with his heart in his eyes. "My love for you is infinite," he said softly. " _ **We**_ are infinite, Kate. Our family is infinite. There is no darkness that scares me, because you're the light breaking through."

"You're my light too," she whispered, resting her forehead against his. "You and our kids, our family."

"I love you so much," Rick replied. He drew back just enough to look into her eyes. "Happy birthday, Kate."

Then Kate, with the earrings in their box still in one hand, put her arms around Rick's neck again, covered her mouth with his, he responded to her kiss, his arms wrapping around her lower back, and neither of them said anything for quite a while.


	90. Chapter 86

_**Thank you all so much for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story, and a special shout-out to the guest reviewers who take the time to leave reviews every week, or almost. It means more to me that I could ever say.**_

* * *

Alexis emerged from the bathroom, fastening her charm bracelet around her right wrist. When she entered the living room, Javier stood up from the couch and gave a low whistle. Her long-sleeved, scoop-necked, fitted red cocktail dress was proof positive that she was one redhead who could rock a red dress. She carried a simple black clutch purse, and wore black, open-toed, 3-inch heels.

"You look amazing," Javier replied, looking at Alexis in awe.

"So then the concealer covering up the steamer trunks under my eyes isn't really noticeable?" she asked anxiously.

Javier wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his chest. "Not at all," he replied, giving her a quick hug and kissing the top of her head as she rested against him for several seconds.

She pulled back and tilted her head as she looked at him. "Are you lying to me right now?" she asked.

"No," he assured her. He slid his hands up her back to rub her shoulders, the muscles as tight as steel cables beneath his hands. "What was it Beckett's dad told you?"

"It's a marathon, not a sprint," she replied with a sigh. "I just wish it wasn't so difficult to turn my brain off, at least the part obsessing over school, just for tonight. This is a big night for Dad. And it's a big night for us too: our first book party as a couple." She brightened then. "You know, if it hadn't been for the last Derrick Storm book party, you and I never would have met, and neither would Dad and Mom."

"Yeah, Ryan and I didn't get to go to that one," Javier mused. "I've never heard the story of Beckett and Castle's first actual meeting."

"You haven't?" Alexis said, surprised.

"Nope. In all these years, it never came up," Javier said.

"Well, I was sitting at the bar, doing my homework, and Gram was chatting up some guy, and Dad came over to me and complained that just once, he'd like to hear someone say something new to him, something he hadn't heard countless times before," Alexis said. "Then we both heard a female voice say, 'Mr. Castle'?

"Dad pulled a Sharpie out of his inside jacket pocket and said, 'Where would you like it?' as he turned around, meaning his autograph."

Javier laughed out loud. "And it was Beckett," he said.

"All business, holding up her badge, and announcing that she was Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD, and she'd like to ask Dad a few questions about a murder that took place earlier that night," Alexis recalled with a smile.

"I bet Castle never heard that before," Javier mused.

"I'm entirely positive he hadn't!" Alexis exclaimed. "I stood up, pulled the Sharpie out of his hands as he stood there in total shock, and said, 'That's new.'"

"So that's how it began," Javier said. "That's so them." He paused. "You're sure I don't have to wear a tie to this thing?"

"It's a book launch party. I can guarantee you that Dad won't even be wearing a tie. And I'm sure Mom passed the word to Kevin, Alan, and Gerald," Alexis told him. "Your jacket and dress shirt are enough."

Javier nodded once, then helped Alexis into her coat before donning his own overcoat. Then they headed out into the cold November night, bound for Rick's launch party for _Something Worth Saving,_ his first serious literature novel.

At the loft, Jim was seated on the couch with Lily, having eagerly volunteered to baby-sit tonight. It wasn't that he didn't want to attend Rick's book party, but he felt it was more important that Martha attend, and since the rest of their family and friends were also attending, he was happy to spend the evening with Lily.

Rick and Kate emerged from their bedroom then, Rick in a black suit with a gray button-down shirt open at the collar, and Kate in a long navy blue maternity dress of soft jersey with ¾-length sleeves and navy blue lace overlaying the bodice. "Mommy, you look beautiful!" Lily exclaimed breathlessly.

"Thank you, sweetie," Kate replied, putting a hand at the small of her back, which was a little achy.

"And Daddy, you're hamsome," Lily pronounced.

Kate fought to hold back a giggling snort. Lily's mispronunciation was fitting for Rick, who could be something of a ham. But she also knew he was nervous about the reception this book would be getting. "Yes, he is," she agreed, opting not to correct Lily.

"Thank you, sweetpea," Rick replied.

Jim looked concerned then, as Kate rubbed the small of her back, but Rick gave him a look that let him know that everything was all right, and this was just normal, final trimester stuff. The last thing Kate wanted was to be smothered or coddled right now. Luckily, Rick had some experience dealing with pregnant Kate, although this pregnancy had its differences from when she was pregnant with Lily, beyond the obvious.

"Thanks again for baby-sitting tonight, Dad," Kate said as she headed over to the couch, with Rick trailing after her.

"I'd never pass up a chance to spend time with my Lily Jo," Jim replied with a smile. "Enjoy your evening."

Rick was as accommodating to his fans as he could be, but he wouldn't deny some nervousness about this particular book launch party. This novel was so different from every other novel he had ever written and published. Tonight could be misleading. Of course everyone would read it because they were curious about this major departure from form by him. Whether or not they would like what they read—and it was more the fans who worried him than the critics—remained to be seen. So he wasn't entirely certain he'd enjoy the evening in the way Jim's comment intended.

But one thing Rick was absolutely certain of: he would have Kate, Alexis, his mother, and the rest of their family of friends around him tonight, and whatever happened with the book—although in his heart of hearts, Rick wanted this new literary effort of us to be successful; not necessarily Bestseller successful, but at least a modest success, although if it was a complete flop, he'd pick himself up, dust himself off, and go on with his career—he would be all right.

Jim picked Lily up and rose from the couch, walking over to Kate and Rick. "Be good for Grandpa, Lily," Kate said.

Jim grinned. "She always is," he replied proudly.

"Night-night, Mommy," Lily said as she stretched out of Jim's arms to give Kate a hug and a kiss, which Kate returned.

"Night-night, Lily," Kate replied, smoothing a hand down the back of Lily's head. "I love you to the moon and stars and back."

"I love you to the moon and stars and back too," Lily said with a smile. Then she turned her attention to Rick. "Night-night, Daddy."

"Night-night, Lily," Rick said, scooping Lily out of Jim's arms and giving her a big hug and a smacking kiss on the cheek. Lily gave Rick a smacking kiss on the cheek in return and a hard squeeze around the neck. "I love you, sweetpea."

"I love you too, Daddy," Lily replied. Knowing that Rick had a secure hold around her waist, she flung her arms out to her sides as far as they would stretch. "All the way to the moon and stars and back!"

Rick smiled and gave Lily another kiss. "Mommy and I will come and check on you when we get home," he promised.

"Okay," Lily replied. Rick set her on her feet, and she walked over to Kate and leaned in close to Kate's baby bulge. "Night-night, Reece, night-night, Jake. Be good." She placed one of her little hands on the bulge, and her eyes grew as wide as saucers, and her mouth dropped open, when she felt the babies kick. "Mommy, they heard me!" she exclaimed. "My brothers heard me!"

"They sure did," Kate replied.

"Grandpa, Reece and Jake heard me!" Lily excitedly told Jim.

Jim smiled at Lily's excitement. "They're your little brothers. They're going to look up to you, Lily Jo."

Lily frowned slightly, puzzled. "What does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that they're going to look to you to learn how to do things," Jim replied. "They aren't going to know how to do the things that you do when they're born. As they grow, they'll be ready to learn, and you'll be one of the people to teach them."

Rick and Kate slipped out while Jim and Lily were talking about Lily's role as a big sister. The town car was waiting for them downstairs. Although they had recently upgraded to an Audi Q7 SUV in anticipation of Reece and Jake's upcoming arrivals, Black Pawn was treating this book launch party like a movie premiere, complete with a red carpet, and press and photographers behind velvet ropes to take pictures of all the arrivals, and no arrival was more eagerly anticipated than that of the author himself, and his wife/muse, pregnant-with-twins, highly decorated and retired NYPD Homicide Detective and Captain and now City Councilwoman.

"Mother and Earl will be in their element on the red carpet," Rick said as the driver took them to the party. "And everyone else should get a kick out of it too."

Knowing Rick was nervous, Kate threaded her fingers through his. "Babe, you've got this," she said confidently.

"I haven't been this nervous since the release party for _Flowers for Your Grave_ ," Rick confessed. "Of course, that one was a lot smaller. And I made out like everything was great, like I was on top of the world. But I had everything riding on that book. The only thing I wanted to do was write, and that was my one shot...after, literally, years of rejections. I'm glad I wrote _Something Worth Saving,_ but I don't know if it's going to be well-received." Rick took off his glasses, pulled his pocket square from the breast pocket of his jacket, wiped the glasses clean, and put them back on, before giving Kate one of the most vulnerable looks he had ever given her. "I want to succeed at this, Kate. I don't have to rule the _New York Times'_ Bestseller list, and I've always taken what the literary critics say with a grain of salt. Sometimes a five-pound bag of salt, to be honest. I want to leave more of a legacy as a writer than murder mysteries. They have their place, I'm proud of having written them, but I've written about death long enough. Now I want to write about life."

Kate reached out and straightened the collar of Rick's shirt, which didn't really need straightening. "I haven't gotten past the fourth chapter yet, but I love it so far," she said, "and not just because you're my husband. Yes, it's very different from every other book you've ever written. As far as wanting to write about life instead of death now, I understand that completely, babe. That's one reason I went into politics. I devoted so many years to getting justice for the dead, to helping their survivors get closure, and now...now I want to help the living. It doesn't change how proud I am to have served, to have been a Detective and a Captain on the NYPD for as long as I was. But we both spent so long living with death, now...now, we live with life. I know that's an awkward way to put it, but-"

She was cut off when Rick leaned over and gently kissed her. "I knew you'd understand," he said.

"Always," Kate replied.

The town car pulled to a stop at the curb. They had arrived at the party. "Are you ready?" Kate asked.

"You know, I really think I am, thanks to you," Rick replied, squeezing her hand. She squeezed his hand back.

They walked down the red carpet arm in arm, and they had photographers and reporters shouting at them the whole way. But all they could see was their family, who were all waiting at the doors for them.

"There they are!" Alexis shouted.

Standing grouped together, every one of them shouting, waving, clapping, or cheering, and all of them dressed to the nines, were Alexis, Javier, Martha, Earl, Kevin, Jenny, Lanie, Alan, Victoria, Gerald, Madison and Mark.

And then a young man who could only be described as the living embodiment of a hipster—complete with skinny jeans, equally skinny tie loosened at the collar of a wrinkled, untucked button-up shirt, and fedora—came rushing up the red carpet towards Rick and Kate: Rick's publisher Adam. "Rick!" he exclaimed, his face flushed with excitement. "You're finally here! Oh, hello, Mrs. Castle." He actually tipped his fedora to Kate, who just barely managed to suppress her eyeroll. "Rick, it's amazing! The book...People are actually in there **reading** it! Everyone wants you to sign their copies! Thank God I bought four two-packs of Sharpies."

"They're reading it in there?" Rick asked, surprised.

"I know I haven't been to a lot of 'em yet, but it's the quietest book launch party I've ever been to!" Adam exclaimed. He scratched at his goatee. "And a couple of the people reading it the hardest—I mean, sitting there, letting the ice melt in their drinks, ignoring the food, not putting the book down or reaching for their phones—are the critics for the _New York Times Book Review_ **and** _The New Yorker_! And I heard a rumor that a reviewer from _The Atlantic_ is here, but I haven't been able to confirm or deny that yet. I'm workin' on it, though."

Just then, a thirtysomething woman who had just stepped outside for a smoke spotted Rick and was so startled that she dropped her cigarette and lighter. "He's here!" she shrieked. "Richard Castle is here!" She rushed back inside, still shouting at the top of her lungs that Richard Castle had arrived.

"Sir, do you think we should call for hats and bats?" Kevin asked Victoria Gates, only half-jokingly.

"I'm hoping things don't devolve to that point, Ryan," Victoria replied seriously.

Adam sprinted back inside to assure "the adoring masses" that Rick was on his way.

Rick and Kate walked into the middle of all of their family and friends, who greeted them both with hugs, and in Rick's case, the men all gave him handshakes, fist bumps, or back slaps. Martha's and Alexis's eyes both shone with pride, as did Kate's when Rick turned to look at her, her arm still tucked into his elbow.

"I haven't read all of your books yet," Alan admitted, "but I've read about half of them, and I can't wait to get started on this one. This is some reaction!"

"Do you ever get used to it, Castle?" Madison asked.

"I can only speak for myself, but no, I've never gotten used to it," Rick replied. "Although it's a lot better now, because I get to share it with people I truly care about, and who truly care about me."

"Yeah, Castle, we love you too," Lanie said.

"And we're really proud of you," Kevin added.

Adam poked his head out the door, his clothing wrinkled, his tie totally undone, and his fedora askew on his head. "They're about to turn into animals in here, Rick!" he shouted. "Your public awaits! THIS IS SO AWESOME!" Then he disappeared into the crowd once more.

"Okay, that guy's kind of annoying," Javier said.

"That's my publisher, Adam," Rick replied.

"Annoying in a charming way," Javier amended quickly. Alexis didn't even try to hide her laughter.

"He can be a bit much, but he's relatively easy to get used to," Rick replied.

The readers inside had obviously set aside their books upon receiving the news that the author was about to make his grand entrance, because the crowd noise sounded like a stadium concert.

"'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more'!" Martha exclaimed.

"Except there are no English dead," Earl pointed out.

"There are no dead at all," Rick said. He looked deeply into Kate's eyes then. "Not for us. Not anymore."

She squeezed his hand. "Not anymore," she echoed.

"You're the man of the hour, Mr. Castle," Victoria said. "You and Kate lead the way."

Everyone formed up behind them, arm in arm—Alexis and Javier; Martha and Earl; Kevin and Jenny; Alan and Lanie; Gerald and Victoria; and Mark and Madison.

The double doors opened, and the room exploded with cheers and applause, all for Rick, as a spotlight landed on him. He looked at Kate beside him, smiling proudly. She took his hand and placed it on her bulge, and he felt Reece and Jake kicking. He looked over his shoulder at the rest of their family and friends, with the exceptions of Lily and Jim, lined up behind them, all of them also smiling at him.

Rick was only dimly aware that Alexis and Alan had their phones out and were recording the response.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Adam's voice rang out from a cordless microphone then as the spotlight swung to him. "Our author has arrived! He will be signing books at the table to my right in just a moment! I give you the man of the evening, and the author of _Something Worth Saving..._ Richard Castle!"

The evening was a whirlwind. He didn't get to spend much time with his family and friends. Kate sat at the table where Rick signed copies of the book until he had writer's cramp. She watched Rick be as gracious as always with his fans, and remembered the book party where they had met over ten years ago now, and she saw both similarities and differences in him from that night to this one.

Rick gave sound bite interviews to so many journalists and reviewers, and posed for so many pictures both alone and with Kate, that he lost count, and when he saw Alexis and Javier posing for pictures, he went into Papa Bear mode, but they assured him that it was all right. "Dad, you've protected me from this my whole life," Alexis said. "But I'm all grown up now. I can handle it. And I'm so proud of you, not just for this book, but for...well, **you**. I want the whole world to know I'm your daughter. Your oldest daughter."

Of course, all of their friends and family would be getting personally autographed copies of _Something Worth Saving_ in the next couple of days.

Jim was waiting up, and Lily was long since asleep, when Rick and Kate arrived home, Kate carrying her flats (heels became a memory along about month five of her pregnancy). Jim had actually seen a little blurb from the party on the 11:00 news.

After saying good night to Jim, with Jim promising to text Kate and let her know he'd made it home safely, Kate and Rick went upstairs to check on Lily, who was sleeping peacefully in her toddler bed after her exciting night playing tea party and reading books with her beloved grandpa.

"You were incredible tonight," Kate said when she and Rick were in the hall outside Lily's room.

"I'm still in a daze," Rick reflected. "I've had so many of these launches, and I guess I really wasn't expecting this one to be what it turned out to be."

"It was a big night for you," Kate agreed. "I'm so happy for you, and so proud of you."

"I can't believe now that I was so nervous about tonight," he reflected. "I should have known everything would be okay. It was a book launch party. I met you at a book launch party. Good things happen at book launch parties."

"Can you believe it's been over ten years?" Kate asked.

"We've had quite a decade," Rick agreed. He moved closer for a hug, and as he held Kate in his arms, he felt the boys kick against his stomach, which was pressed against Kate's growing baby bulge. Feeling Reece and Jake move within Kate, as with Lily before them, would never cease to fascinate and thrill Rick. "And we're just getting started."

Kate was about to kiss him, but she yawned instead. Rick chuckled fondly, gave her a quick kiss, and said, "Time to sleep now, for all of us." Then he bent and addressed the boys. "That includes you guys, Peanut, Jellybean."

As they headed to their own bedroom, Kate laid her head on Rick's shoulder, and their arms went around each other's waists by instinct. And when they were in their pajamas and in bed, as had become his custom, after kissing Kate good night, Rick lifted her sleep shirt and kissed her baby bulge twice, once for each of their sons, before settling down beneath the covers, Rick spooning Kate, his arm gently draped over her baby bulge, and Kate's hand resting on top of Rick's hand as they drifted off to sleep.


	91. Chapter 87

_**I owe a great deal of this chapter to the official website of The New York City Council, which was absolutely invaluable with its information and video of City Council meetings. Although I fictionalized the names of Kate's fellow Council members, the Public Advocate of New York City, and the Council Speaker, as well as most of the clergy members, I drew on the videos of City Council meetings that I watched for the order in which business was brought before the City Council. The Reverend Jay Gooding and his church, Miracle Revival Temple COGIC in the Bronx, are real, and he did lead the Invocation at a real City Council meeting, from which I borrowed for the Invocation at this City Council meeting. Also, the statistics Kate quotes are factual, and are from 2017.**_

 _ **Thank you to everyone who continues to read, review, favorite and follow, both guests and members of the site here. This chapter takes place in December 2019, the week before Christmas, so we're getting closer to some really major events.**_

* * *

Not for the first time since learning she was carrying twins, Kate was grateful that meetings of the full City Council, which were called Stated Meetings, took place at 1:30 in the afternoon, with rare exceptions.

Now that it was the week before Christmas, and she was heading into what she referred to as "the stretch run of this pregnancy" (and then immediately having to explain what a stretch run was to Rick, the non-term-knowledgeable baseball fan, the first time she used the term), this might actually be the last City Council meeting Kate was able to attend. At her last OB appointment, Dr. Elliott had assured Kate and Rick that everything was proceeding normally and the boys were fine, but that the odds right now were most likely 80-20 that, for her own health and well-being as well as that of the babies, Kate would need to drastically reduce her schedule come January, for the last six or seven weeks of the pregnancy, since the boys were due on February 15. Dr. Elliott estimated that both boys weighed nearly six pounds. Kate's old cardiologist had been consulting on this pregnancy since Kate had entered her second trimester, and there was no undue strain on her heart, but, as Dr. Elliott said, "We want to keep it that way, and it's much better to err on the side of caution than not, since this is technically a high-risk pregnancy." Since Kate's only goal was safely bringing Reece and Jake into the world, and growing gray and old together with Rick as they raised their children, she was fine with bedrest, although both Dr. Elliott and Dr. Prentiss, the cardiologist, had said that Kate wouldn't necessarily be on bedrest, at least not the entire time. They just wanted her to take it easy, as opposed to being constantly on the move most of the day every day chasing after Lily and keeping office hours and arguing over legislation and attending City Council meetings.

"If anything, consider it an early maternity leave," Dr. Prentiss had told Kate and Rick. "We'll re-evaluate in January."

Of course, the other reason Kate was grateful that this full City Council meeting was taking place now was because it was at this meeting that the bill she and the rest of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services had been hammering out since July was finally ready to be voted upon by the full Council, and Kate would be the one speaking about the bill before the vote was taken.

She had not yet taken her seat in the City Council Chambers, which were located in City Hall, as the meeting had not yet been called to order by the Public Advocate for the City of New York, who presided over all City Council meetings. Rick, Lily, with a bag of snacks and toys, a change of clothes, and extra Pull-Ups (because Lily had seen a well-worn copy of _Princess Potty_ at the Ryans' during her most recent playdate with Sarah Grace, Nick, and Will Masters, and Sarah Grace had proudly read the book to Lily; upon returning home, Lily had waited until after dinner to inform her parents that she was done with diapers, that they were for babies, and she wanted to use the potty like a big girl. Rick and Kate were all for it, even while they recognized the insanity of beginning to potty train Lily approximately two months before they would be bringing newborn twins home), Jim, Earl, Martha, and Alexis, who was still winding down from the semester she had recently completed and incredibly grateful and relieved to be on Christmas break, were with Kate. Lily was sitting in Kate's chair, awed by the big chair and the big table and all the people, as this was the first City Council meeting she had attended that she was old enough to take notice of what was going on around her.

Kate shuffled the short stack of index cards she had made notes upon for when she spoke about the bill in front of the entire Council. "How are you doing?" Rick asked softly.

"I'm only a little nervous," Kate replied. "It's one thing when the bill is in committee, because I know everyone there fairly well. I don't know everyone here well. I don't think I've even had any committee work with any of the representatives from Staten Island." Kate wouldn't be up for re-election until November 2021, thank goodness, because she was already planning to run for a second term, and trying to campaign while pregnant with twins would have gotten her on bedrest for sure, or at least that was her thought. Still, she didn't see her fellow City Councilwomen and Councilmen socially; her life was too busy and too full, and she knew that a group of the single-for-whatever-reason (never married, divorced, widowed) Council members of all ages and from all five boroughs and both political parties did have regular nights out at dinner, sporting events, and some of them even held joint town hall-style meetings with their constituents if they were from the same borough. Kate worked hard for District 1 of Manhattan, but she had her own family, soon to expand, and while she was friendly with her fellow Council members, especially the ones who served on committees with her, she simply didn't have time to socialize with other Council members.

"You're gonna be great," Rick assured her.

Ryan and Esposito walked in then, and when they spotted the immediate family, Ryan called, "Hey, Beckett!" and waved.

Everyone turned at the sound of Ryan's greeting, even Lily. "Hey, Ryan, hey, Espo!" Castle greeted them. "Glad you could make it."

"Well, it's not every day Beckett is presenting a bill before the entire City Council," Esposito replied.

"And you were looking to get away from the paperwork for your latest case, and this was as good an excuse as any," Kate replied knowingly.

"Okay, the avoiding paperwork thing is true," Ryan admitted, "but we really are here to support you, Beckett."

"I know," Kate replied, smiling at them. "And I'm glad you could make it."

"Will all non-Council employees please leave the floor of the chambers?" the Public Advocate asked then, speaking directly into her microphone. "There is additional seating upstairs in the balcony. Thank you."

Rick swept Lily up into his arms, out of Kate's chair, then gave her a quick kiss. "Go get 'em," he told her.

"Yeah, Mommy, go get 'em," Lily piped up, echoing her father.

Jim moved in then to hug Kate. "I'm so proud of you, Katie," he told her as they hugged. "Your mom would be too."

"Give them h-e-double hockey sticks, Katherine," Martha said, censoring herself because Lily was right there, and then hugging Kate when Jim had stepped back.

"That's what I did when the bill was in Committee, Martha," Kate said. "This is supposed to be easier than that. Or so I've been told."

"Good luck, Kate," Earl told her.

"You got this, Beckett," Esposito assured her.

"Absolutely," Ryan agreed. Then they both hugged her at the same time.

"You're going to be amazing, Mom," Alexis said. She and Kate hugged, and the babies kicked while they were hugging; Alexis felt it against her abdomen. "See? Reece and Jake know it too."

"May everyone please have their seats? May we close the doors and clear the aisles?" the Public Advocate said then as she made the call to order.

Kate's family went upstairs, where Victoria and Lanie were already waiting, Lanie with Will sleeping in his combination car seat/carrier. After exchanging greetings with the rest of the family, everyone settled into seats in the balcony, which was otherwise deserted, while the Public Advocate called for everyone to rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Everyone on both the floor and in the balcony rose, faced the American flag, and, with hands over their hearts (Lily, standing in between her daddy and her Grandpa Jim, put her hand over her heart the way everyone else did, but didn't say the words because she didn't know them yet), recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

"Please be seated," the Public Advocate said at the conclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone resumed their seats. Lily climbed up into Rick's lap as everyone focused on the floor before.

Kate glanced up to the balcony and saw Rick, the girls, her dad, Martha, Espo, Ryan, Lanie, and Victoria all seated up there. She caught Rick's eye and he winked at her. She flashed him a brief smile back before the Public Advocate announced, "Roll call. Adamson."

"Present," Councilwoman Adamson replied.

"Ayala."

"Present."

"Azarola."

"Here."

"Baardwijk."

"Here."

"Beckett."

"Present," Kate answered.

"Bogdanovic."

"Here."

"Cameron."

"Present."

And so the roll call went until all 49 of the 51 members of the City Council present, and the Speaker, who was called last, had answered.

"All quiet in the Chambers, please!" the Public Advocate announced after the roll call was completed. "All rise for the Invocation." Everyone on the floor and in the balcony stood. "Today we have some members of the Bronx clergy, Minister Timothy Smith, Deacon Michael Ford, Pastor Dr. Jeff Jackson, Dr. Rabbi Joshua Schwartz, and they are led in the Invocation by Pastor Jay Gooding of Miracle Revival Temple COGIC, 1555 Macombs Road, in the great borough of the Bronx. Quiet in the Chamber."

Pastor Gooding stepped forward then and prayed, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth. First, we thank Thee for allowing us a brand new day, and a brand new mercy. I pray that a spirit of unity be magnified and exemplified in this city, in this country, and in this state. As we invoke Your presence upon this Council in these Chambers, we pray Your blessing in their governing of our great city. We ask You to continue to grant Your favor and Your wisdom upon our Public Advocate, Kamala Washburn, our Speaker, Sean Jeffries, and all the Council members, who have the awesome task and responsibility of being our policy makers. Grant them the knowledge and wisdom to make policies that are fair and just for us all.

"I pray that You would also bind us together in the spirit of oneness. Help us to always walk in a common unity that will allow us always to be a community where there is diversity, a community that can embrace the spirit of love, a community where there may be grudges but where we can replace those feelings with generosity, a community that even when we don't agree, never becomes disenchanted.

"I pray that from these Chambers, every person of every borough be served with justice, righteousness, dignity, and liberty for all.

"In closing, I pray that as prayer and planning is made in these Chambers, that Your peace and purpose be manifested in this city.

"These things we ask in Your name and for Your sake. Amen."

"Amen," everyone intoned. "Please be seated," Ms. Washburn, the Public Advocate said, and everyone sat down again.

The Invocation was entered into the meeting record then, followed by remarks about the gun buyback program that the Bronx D.A. had held in coordination with Pastor Gooding's church the previous month, which took 99 guns off the streets.

In some ways, Rick, Kevin, Javier, and even Victoria all thought that the ensuing business of the meeting was the City Council equivalent of paperwork after closing a case at the 12th Precinct: for the most part boring, but necessary.

Lily clambered from Rick's lap to Jim's while the Minutes of the two previous full City Council meetings were adopted; it was revealed that there were no messages or papers from the Mayor; and a series of code letters and numbers that were identified as Communication from City, County, and Borough Offices were declared received, ordered, printed, and filed. She then climbed off Jim's lap and comically (to everyone in the balcony) tiptoed past Jim and Rick and Alexis to climb up in Martha's lap, Martha having seated herself in between Alexis and Victoria Gates. (Rick was on Alexis's other side, and Jim was next to Rick).

Martha gave Lily her LeapPad, and Lily became engrossed in one of her learning games while the City Council meeting continued with the declaration that there were no Petitions and Communications at this time, and while the Land Use callups were adopted by a roll call vote of 45 to 4, with three "nay" votes and one abstention.

After all of that, Speaker Jeffries took to his podium again and spoke directly into his microphone. "Today we are voting on a local law to amend the New York City Charter in relation to social services for the wrongfully convicted, as introduced by the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services. We will now hear the summary of the Committee's report by one of its members, Councilwoman Kate Beckett."

Hearing her mommy's name, Lily looked up from her LeapPad, and the rest of her family was laser focused on Kate now too as Kate stood up at her seat, looked at the top index card in her small stack, then looked up at the balcony, at the members of her family who were present, before taking a deep breath and speaking directly into her microphone.

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Madame Public Advocate, and my fellow City Council members," Kate began. "When the law is broken and criminal acts are committed, we depend on our justice system, in the form of the NYPD and the courts, to find the perpetrators of these crimes, to give them a fair trial by due process of the law, and when lives are lost or violated as a result of these crimes, to bring justice, closure, and a feeling of safety for those who suffered that loss or that violation with the knowledge that the person or persons who did that to them can't do it again because they are in prison. The importance of getting justice and closure for the victims of crimes is immeasurable.

"But our system is not perfect. And sometimes circumstantial evidence is all but screaming one thing, and when followed to what appears to be a logical conclusion turns out to be a mistake, and in those instances, the miscarriage of justice has resulted in wrongful convictions. Innocent people have spent months, or years, behind bars for crimes they did not commit. In those instances, exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes is only the first step in them reclaiming their lives.

"As of October of last year, 2,110 individuals nationwide have been exonerated and released from prison. More than 10 percent of exonerations have come from New York State," Kate continued, really warming to her subject now.

In the balcony, Jim was assailed by the bittersweet memory of Johanna's passion for this same group of overlooked individuals, of those wrongfully convicted individuals she personally had helped, and knew that she would be just as proud of Katie right now as he was. Rick, also knowing Johanna Beckett's personal career history, knew that this was the bill that Kate had been the most excited about in her time on the City Council to date, the one that meant the most to her, the one that she fought the hardest for, not only because of her mother's work in this area but also because of her years on the NYPD.

"Those New Yorkers spent an average of 9.18 years in prison for crimes they did not commit," Kate continued. "Exonerees face many of the same hurdles as other released prisoners, including obtaining housing, employment, and medical care. However, exonerees are often ineligible for re-entry services that states provide to parolees and released prisoners. Wrongful convictions also take an economic and emotional toll on the families of the accused. Under New York State Law, compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment does not include the provision of social services.

"This bill would require the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice to coordinate with relevant City agencies to promote the availability of social services for wrongfully convicted individuals and their immediate family members. The MOCJ would also be required to develop methods to increase the coordination of such social services, and provide outreach and education on the availability of such services for exonerees and their immediate family members.

"The Pledge of Allegiance that we recited at the beginning of this meeting ends with the phrase, 'with liberty and justice for all.' It is up to us to ensure that there truly _**is**_ justice for all, including those who were wrongfully convicted of crimes which they did not commit."

Rick stood up and almost applauded, but Alexis grabbed his arm to keep him from making any noise. Surprised, he looked at his firstborn, then smiled sheepishly before reclaiming his seat.

Ms. Washburn, the Public Advocate, then went through a roll call vote on the bill. Lily left Martha's lap for Alexis's lap then. When everyone had voted, with Speaker Jeffries once again last, Mrs. Washburn announced, "The bill is passed by a majority vote of 49 in the affirmative, 0 negative and 0 abstentions.

"Mr. Speaker?"

"Today's Stated Meeting is adjourned," Speaker Jeffries announced. "And since this is the last Stated Meeting of the calendar year, I would like to wish all of you a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, happy Solstice, or if you don't celebrate any holidays this time of year, then I hope you enjoy your break."

Kate remained at her seat, accepting congratulations from nearby fellow Council members and from her fellow members on the Committee for Fire and Criminal Justice Services, while Rick led the family downstairs from the balcony to meet her.

"You were awesome!" were the first words out of Rick's mouth. Lily was holding Alexis's hand; Javier and Kevin trailed after them, Javier carrying the bag of Lily's things. Lanie was carrying the awake, alert, and noncrying Will, and Victoria carried Will's empty carseat/carrier. Jim, Martha, and Earl brought up the end of the family procession.

"So what happens next?" Martha asked eagerly. "When will this bill become a law?"

"It goes to the Mayor now," Kate replied. "He has 30 days to either sign or veto the bill. Of course, he'll be taking some time off for the holidays starting next week. If he sends it back to us, we can override his veto with a 2/3 vote. If he signs it, or takes no action at all, then the bill officially becomes a law."

"Mommy, are you on Christmas break now like Alexis?" Lily asked.

"I am," Kate said, beaming down at Lily before bringing up her gaze to encompass the rest of the family present.

"Yay!" Lily cheered.

"Yay!" Rick mimicked Lily, which made everyone chuckle.

"You did very well, Kate," Victoria said seriously as everyone began to bundle up against the cold. "I know that some of us at 1PP will be talking to the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice about this very bill in the New Year."

Will started fussing then, and the telltale smell coming from his diaper told everyone why he was so loudly signaling his displeasure. "Mommy duty calls," Lanie said. "I'm with Victoria, though. This bill is definitely needed, and it's something that will do a lot of good for a lot of people."

"Well, that's why we're here, right?" Kate said. "It's why all of us who are involved with the NYPD and the law do what we do. It's why my mom did what she did."

"That's right," Jim said with a proud smile.

Javier's phone vibrated in his pocket then. He stealthily removed it and checked it; one new voicemail. Being about 95% certain who it was, he slipped the phone back into his pocket for the time being, because if he **was** right about the caller's identity, he couldn't take the call right this moment.

Kate was ready to go home and just hang out with her family, including Alexis, Martha and Earl. Jim had some finals to grade that he wanted to get finished before Christmas next week, followed by his annual trip to his cabin for New Year's, but he would be joining them for dinner that evening, and Lanie needed to change Will and wanted to get him home since Alan was coming home early so they could finally decorate for Christmas (the Castle Christmas Wonderland had been in place for most of the month of December), and Victoria needed to get back to work, as did Javier and Kevin.

"So are you gonna be at the loft or at your place later?" Javier asked Alexis as they were saying goodbye.

"The loft. If that changes, I'll call you," Alexis told him. "How much more paperwork do you have to get done today?"

"At least another two hours," Javier said. "Maybe three."

"But I will see you later?" Alexis asked hopefully.

"Absolutely," Javier replied. They kissed, and then they all broke off to go to their respective homes or offices.

In the car on the way back to the 12th Precinct, Javier checked his voicemail message, and the caller was exactly who he had thought it was. Kevin was driving, and when Javi put his phone back in his pocket, Kevin said, "I do get to be your best man, right? I know I couldn't have you be mine, but I really wanted to, Javi."

"What?" Javier asked, startled.

"That voicemail you just listened to," Kevin replied as he stopped at a red light. "It was the jeweler, letting you know that Alexis's engagement ring is ready, right? So when are you popping the question? Christmas Eve? Christmas Day? New Year's Eve?"

"How did you know?" Javi asked, panicking for one moment because he was afraid Alexis knew somehow, and he really wanted this to be a surprise.

"I saw the ring brochures on your desk the week after Thanksgiving," Kevin told him as the light turned green and he moved his foot from the brake pedal to the gas. "I'm the one who covered them up with file folders when you got that deer in the headlights look when Alexis stepped off the elevator to surprise you for lunch after she took her last final. I didn't figure you'd want her to see them."

"All right, yes, I got Alexis an engagement ring, but I'm not actually planning on proposing for Christmas or New Year's. That's too cliched, too hokey. It's gotta be just the right moment," Javi insisted.

"Yeah, funny thing about those right moments. They tend to come at you out of nowhere. Look where and how I ended up proposing to Jenny," he said.

"Which is why the Precinct is also not on my list of places to propose," Javi replied. "It's gonna be not something that anyone else we know has done, and it's gonna be about us, and it's gonna be the most right moment possible, whenever and wherever that is."

"So you're really not gonna ask her for Christmas or New Year's?" Kevin asked.

"I'm really not," Javi insisted. "Unless the perfect moment should present itself. But yes, you can be my best man. I wouldn't have anybody else."

"I accept," Kevin replied with a smile. "And whenever you do ask her, I know she'll say yes." Then Kevin realized something and his eyes widened. "You do realize this means Beckett and Castle are gonna be your in-laws?"

"Yeah," Javi replied, "I do realize that. But you and I were joking when we used to call them 'Mom and 'Dad.' I'm not gonna call them that for real. I still haven't worked up to their first names yet."

"There's time," Kevin said as he pulled into a parking spot in front of the 12th Precinct.

"I'm not callin' Beckett and Castle 'Mom and Dad,'" Javi insisted as they got out of the car and headed into the precinct.

"No, but you might eventually call them 'Kate and Rick,'" Kevin replied.

"You don't even call them 'Kate and Rick,'" Javi pointed out.

"That's true, I don't. But Jenny does. And they're 'Aunt Kate and Uncle Rick' to my kids. Oh, man! Your kids are gonna be calling Beckett and Castle 'Grandma and Grandpa'!" Kevin exclaimed as they got on the elevator.

"Not for a few years yet," Javi said. "Just slow your roll there, Best Man. The wedding's gonna have to be enough for you now."

Kevin smiled. "It is," he said. "Seriously, I never would have predicted it, but you and Alexis are as right together as Jenny and me, and as Beckett and Castle, and as Lanie and Alan."

"You are not to breathe a word of this to anyone, not even Jenny, until after we've announced our engagement," Javi told him seriously.

"Oh come on, I _**have**_ to tell Jenny! It's one of the unwritten rules of marriage," Kevin insisted as the elevator doors open and they walked out onto the floor.

"No, Ryan, nobody hears a word of this until Alexis and I tell everyone ourselves," Javi insisted vehemently.

"Oh, all right," Kevin grumbled. "But you are gonna ask her soon, right?"

"I'm gonna ask her when the moment is right, and not one second before," Javi said as he removed his overcoat and sat down at his desk. And he meant that. He didn't know when that right moment would arrive, but when it did, he would be ready with the ring.


	92. Chapter 88

_**Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing. As to potty training Lily, she is 2 1/2 years old, and that was the age I started potty training my little girl, so I was drawing on my own experiences there. This chapter closes out the year 2019. And 2020 is going to be a very eventful year for the entire Castle family as I've written them in this story. :-)  
**_

* * *

Lily refused to go to sleep at her usual bedtime, and even the extra hour (until 8:30 PM) that her parents willingly extended her bedtime until on Christmas Eve. As much as Kate would have liked to blame the sugar cookies, and the presence of all three of her overly indulgent, especially on this night, grandparents, she knew that Lily's refusal to go to sleep until she literally dropped from exhaustion around 11:15 PM was mostly genetic, because she had inherited Rick's love of Christmas.

Leaving cookies and milk for Santa Claus, and carrots for the reindeer, was nothing short of a Broadway production, with Rick and Lily double- and triple-checking that they had everything. Jim recited "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" from memory, which brought back long-buried memories of Christmas Eves past for Kate. Even Reece and Jake sensed the excitement, as Kate's multiple trips to the bathroom attested, because the boys were responding to everything going on around them.

Madison and Mark had dropped by earlier, with presents for everyone and the news that they had found a condo on the Upper East Side and their offer had been accepted. They would be moving to their new place in early January.

Kevin, Jenny, Sarah Grace, and Nick were with Jenny's family tonight, and would be hosting Kevin's family tomorrow for Christmas Day, but they would be coming to the Castles' on Christmas Day in the evening, which, as Rick said, would make the holiday last that much longer.

Lanie, Alan and Will were also hosting all of their immediate blood family—Kate had received more than a few frantic texts from Lanie throughout the day, and even a couple this evening—and would be coming over on Christmas Day evening along with the Ryans, and Victoria and Gerald Gates.

Lily finally crashed in Rick's lap while they, Kate, Alexis, Javier, Jim, Martha, and Earl were gathered in the living room by the tree, watching _Elf._ Once Rick was certain she was really asleep, he leaned over to Kate and said softly, "Do you want to come up with me to put Lily to bed?"

The twins had finally settled down, maybe a side effect of the decaffeinated cinnamon tea Kate had been sipping on throughout the movie. "Yeah, I do," Kate whispered back.

Having overheard this quiet conversation between husband and wife, Jim and Martha immediately sprang into action, helping Kate get up off the couch while Rick gently shifted the sleeping Lily in his arms so as not to wake her. Rick carried Lily upstairs, and after Kate thanked her dad and Martha for getting her up on her feet, she waddled after Rick and Lily.

"Mom's got to be so uncomfortable," Alexis fretted after Rick, Kate, and the sleeping Lily had disappeared upstairs, "and I've been around a lot more since I've been on Christmas break, but I never hear her complain."

"And you won't," Jim replied. "If Katie's complaining to anyone, it's Rick, but I'm not even certain about that. She wants these boys, just as much as she wanted Lily, just as much as she wanted Rick, and you, Alexis, and you, Martha. Whatever it takes, whatever she has to go through, she'll do it. She's always been that way. Gets it from her mother. Johanna didn't really turn on me until the delivery room."

"The maternal instinct is primal," Martha agreed, "and very strong. Katherine is an amazing mother. It's a joy to watch her with Lily, and with Alexis, and it'll be a joy to watch her with Reece and Jake."

"I'm still having a hard time picturing Beckett and Castle with three kids under three years old at the same time," Javier admitted. "They're really gonna be jumping, that's for sure."

"Well, that's what they have us for," Martha replied, gesturing to herself and Jim and Earl.

"Absolutely," Jim agreed.

Alexis chuckled. "Remember when I walked in that morning and you were holding and feeding that baby boy that Mom and Dad had brought home, and they were just completely exhausted, and I asked how long I'd been gone?" she said to Martha.

"I remember that kid," Javier replied. "Castle kept callin' him 'Cosmo,' and Beckett did not like that name."

"Of course I remember," Martha replied. "Your dad was very out of practice at that point, and Katherine had never had that kind of experience before. It was a baptism by fire, to be sure. They've been through all of this now with Lily. Of course, two at a time is going to be a different challenge."

"It must not have fazed you because of your years in the theater," Earl mused, looking at Martha.

"We are night owls, aren't we, dear?" Martha said.

"Yes, we are," Earl agreed. "I'm still in awe that I get to be a part of all of this. But I've got a lot to learn."

"And several excellent teachers," Martha replied, threading her fingers through Earl's.

Upstairs, Rick changed Lily into her pajamas, and then Kate tucked her in. "Sweet dreams, Lily," she whispered, managing to bend down far enough to brush a kiss across Lily's cheek. "I love you so much, baby girl. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, sweetpea," Rick whispered as he hunkered down by Lily's toddler bed to kiss her goodnight after helping Kate straighten up to a standing position once more. Rick then straightened the string of Christmas lights that went up in Lily's room the day after Thanksgiving every year. Lily had definitely inherited Rick's love of all things Christmas, but she had a special affinity for the strands of tiny multicolored Christmas lights, and had since she was a baby.

Rick and Kate stood at Lily's bedside, watching her sleep. "She's going to wake us up before dawn to open presents and stockings," Rick said.

"I'm sure she will," Kate replied with a smile. "She loves Christmas, just like her daddy. And you and Lily have made me love Christmas again. And next year is really going to be nuts, with three kids."

"Are you concerned about that?" Rick asked seriously.

"I'm looking forward to it," Kate replied honestly. "Our Christmases are already so wonderful. Once Reece and Jake are here, they're only going to get better. I'm already wondering if we'll be putting up lights in the nursery like we do in Lily's room. Maybe we should just do that anyway, huh?"

Rick leaned in and kissed Kate's temple. "You're incredible," he said.

"Christmas is supposed to be a happy time," Kate replied, looking into Rick's eyes. "It's meant to be a season of hope and joy and peace and magic and miracles and dreams coming true. I never thought I'd see it that way again...until you. Lily only magnified those feelings, and Reece and Jake are going to magnify them more. We have years ahead of us of the kids waking us up before dawn, crawling in bed with us, jumping on the bed, rushing us downstairs to the Christmas tree. I can't wait for all of that. I especially can't wait for it because I get to experience all of it with you."

"We're going to have that," Rick promised Kate then. "All of it. For years...decades."

"I know," she replied with a smile, threading her fingers through his before they took one last look at the sleeping Lily and quietly stole out of her bedroom and back downstairs.

When Rick and Kate returned downstairs, the movie had ended. Alexis and Javier were bundling up. "We're going to Midnight Mass," Alexis said, carefully hugging Kate and kissing her on the cheek before giving Rick a goodbye hug and kiss. "We'll be back after that, and we'll do our best not to wake anyone."

"Merry Christmas, pumpkin," Rick said.

"Merry Christmas, Alexis," Kate added.

"Merry Christmas, Dad, Mom," she said. She and Javier had already said their good nights and wished a Merry Christmas to Martha, Earl, and Jim.

Javier carefully hugged Beckett, then shook Castle's hand. "Merry Christmas, Beckett, merry Christmas, Castle," he said.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Javi," Kate replied with a smile.

"Merry Christmas, Esposito," Rick echoed.

After Alexis and Javier had departed for Midnight Mass at Javier's home parish, St. Malachy, Martha and Earl said their good nights, promising to return bright and early in the morning.

"We can't promise to hold Lily off until you get here," Rick warned his mother.

"Of course not," Martha said, scandalized by the mere suggestion that her youngest granddaughter should have to wait any amount of time to open her presents and her stocking on Christmas morning. "That's why we'll be bringing our own gifts to watch her open."

"It's a good thing the workmen finished their construction last week," Kate said only half-jokingly. Now there was a huge playroom right next door to her and Rick's shared office. It only made sense, since they were about to double the amount of toys they already had, and the kids could use the playroom for many years to come. Not for the first time, both Kate and Rick were thankful that they had been able to buy the adjacent loft when it came on the market and expand their home in preparation for their family's upcoming growth.

When Martha and Earl had headed back to Martha's for the night, it was just after midnight. Jim Beckett was standing at the fireplace, looking at the stockings hanging in a row. Much fuss had been made over the new additions this year: a red stocking with a snowman on it and the name 'Reece' embroidered across the top, and a green stocking with a grinning elf dressed in red-and-white stripes and the name 'Jake' embroidered across it, to go along with Lily's white stocking with an embroidered string of multi-colored Christmas lights decorating the front of it, Alexis's green stocking with an angel on it; the red stocking with silver bells on it that bore Martha's name, and the green stocking right next to it with a Nutcracker soldier on it that was Earl's; the Christmas stockings Jim had unearthed from his attic, a snowflake on his own red stocking and a horse-drawn sleigh on Johanna's white-backgrounded stocking; a gingerbread man on a red stocking for Javier; and the green stockings hanging side by side, one with Santa Claus in all his finery on it and Rick's name across the top, and the other with a smiling Mrs. Claus on it and Kate's name across the top. (Kate had gotten that stocking as a gift the first Christmas she and Rick had celebrated together; he had said then that he hadn't gotten her anything, but he had actually gotten her the stocking and filled it with gift cards and trinkets, arguing that technically he hadn't gotten her an actual wrapped gift, and so that was the stocking she used instead of her childhood stocking, which had candy canes and the name 'Katie' on it.)

Kate followed her dad's line of sight and smiled when she realized he was looking at Reece's and Jake's stockings. "And next year, they'll be here," she said.

Jim grinned. "Yes, they will," he replied. "Any last-minute Santa's Workshop type of help you need from me, Rick?"

"No, it's all taken care of, Jim," Rick replied.

Jim nodded. "Well, before I head up to the guest room, I want to talk to you two," he said. "I know Lily will have us all up before the crack of dawn, so I'll be brief. You two are excellent parents. And it's no secret that I love being a grandfather. It's also just common sense to point out that when the boys do make their debut, you two are going to need help in those early months." He focused on Kate now. "None of this being too proud or too stubborn to ask for help either, Katie. You know what it's like to have a baby, but twins is a whole different ballgame.

"I'm not moving in," Jim hastily added. "But I am retiring from the firm. My last day will be December 31. I'm going to teach one course at Columbia next semester. But the rest of my time, I'm going to spend being a grandpa, and helping you out with _**all**_ of the kids as much as you need. And I've discussed this with Martha; she's going to be giving you a slight variation on this...well, later today. Earl will also be involved, although never having been around newborns, he's more nervous about it than Martha and I are. We're not trying to usurp the two of you as parents. We just want to make sure that you have the help you're going to need as you adjust to having three children as opposed to only one...and also because we want to be able to spend as much time as possible with our children and our grandchildren."

"I know I've never been very good at asking for help," Kate said, "but I think I've gotten better in the last decade...after a few false starts and mistakes."

"You have," Jim agreed. "Which is one of the many things I have to thank Rick for."

"Jim, I... _ **we**_ don't know what to say," Rick said as he and Kate exchanged a look.

"Say you won't tell Martha I already told you about her plans to cut back on her work for the next year or so," Jim began.

"Agreed," Rick replied.

Jim looked at Kate then. "And then say that you'll let us help you when you need help, whatever the situation, whatever's going on, because we're here, and we love all of you, and we want to help you," Jim said.

Rick and Kate exchanged another look. "Agreed," she said, echoing Rick.

Jim smiled. "Good, I'm glad we've got that settled," he said. "Now, I'm going to go to bed, because Lily will undoubtedly have us all up before dawn." He hugged Kate, then hugged Rick, and after they said their good nights, Jim retired upstairs to the guest room, and Rick and Kate went to the master bedroom.

"We have an amazing family," Kate said when they were settled in bed.

Rick spooned Kate, kissing the back of her neck before letting his hand rest on her baby bulge. "And it's only going to get more amazing," Rick murmured before he fell asleep.

Kate was smiling as she drifted off herself, knowing that Rick was right, and that Reece and Jake would only make things more amazing when they finally arrived.


	93. Chapter 89

_**Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing. Your enthusiasm and support for this story mean everything to me.**_

 _ **This chapter covers January 2020. And thank you to the guest reviewer who pointed out to me that Jim gave Kate another rocking chair for her birthday, so I quickly rewrote Jim's gifts: Yankees uniforms and caps for Lily, Reece, and Jake all three, and baby books for Reece and Jake.  
**_

* * *

The second Saturday in January, everyone gathered at the loft for Kate's baby shower. The kids were all also present—Sarah Grace, who had just turned 6 the previous week; Nick, who was almost 4; Lily, going on 3; and Will Masters, the current youngest at 9 months of age.

"We should get a picture of all the kids!" Alan exclaimed. "And then we can do it again when the twins are a few months old. This is the next generation, after all."

"We are _**not**_ putting our baby in a bald wig for Halloween so he looks like Captain Picard!" Lanie informed Alan in a tone of voice that let everyone know this was not the first time they had had that conversation.

Alan looked slightly deflated. "How did you know I was thinking that already?" he asked her.

"Wives know all," Lanie said. "Will went as Han Solo for Halloween a few months ago. I'd like a little more input into his costume this year."

"I wonder if they make Luke Skywalker flight suits that small?" Rick mused aloud.

Kate just looked at Lanie. "Now do you see what you started?" she asked.

"Oh, like Castle wouldn't have eventually asked Alan that," Lanie retorted.

"As entertaining as this argument no doubt has the potential to become," Alexis said, amused, "we have a mountain of presents waiting to be opened, and Madison brought all this delicious food that Javier, Kevin, Mark, and Jim are looking at like it's Shark Week, so maybe we should get this show on the road."

"As always, Alexis, you are the voice of reason," Martha applauded, rolling her eyes with a fond smile on her face as Earl deftly snatched a stuffed mushroom cap off a plate teeming with them in full view of everyone.

"Decades of practice come in handy," Alexis replied wryly.

Kate and Rick were seated side by side on the couch. "Peanut and Jellybean behaving themselves?" Rick asked so only Kate could hear.

"For the moment," Kate replied.

Kate had been taking it easier than she ever had in her entire life for the past month. Dr. Elliott had predicted that Reece and Jake would probably make an early appearance, in the early part of February instead of closer to their February 15 due date, but she stressed that both babies were healthy and of good size and weight, and that as long as Kate made it to at least February 1, lung development should not be a big concern, if it was a concern at all.

Kate had let Jenny and Lanie talk her into doing a baby registry online, if only to make it easier for everyone to shop for the boys. This was the first time that everyone had been able to gather since Christmas Day, and even on Christmas Day, not everyone had been there at the same time. She, Rick, and Lily had attended Sarah Grace's sixth birthday party at the beginning of the month, but Alexis was swamped as her final semester of law school ramped up, Nick had been down with the flu a couple of days after his sister's birthday but was now fully recovered, and Kevin and Jenny had taken great pains to keep Sarah Grace from getting it, and managed to succeed, so they had their hands full, and Javi and Kevin were on a case at the time, so only she and Rick had made the party, loaded down with everyone's birthday gifts for Will.

Most of the wrapped packages were on the large side. She and Rick already had the cribs, dressers, and changing table, and Rick had hauled the rocking chair that Jim had lovingly restored before Lily was born upstairs and into the nursery after they had finished taking down all of the Christmas decorations. But some of the other items they knew they would need, after Lanie and Jenny had insisted that Kate and Rick could not just put items like onesies and pacifiers on the registry, were surely underneath some of that stork- and balloon- and baby blue wrapping paper.

Lily grabbed a flat package off the top of the stack and carried it over to the couch, presenting it to her parents with a flourish. "This is my present for my brothers," she announced.

"That's right," Martha said. "Pops and I took Lily shopping, and she picked these out all by herself."

"Well, once we explained about them," Earl added.

"Yes," Martha added.

Kate looked at Lily. "You picked out a present for your little brothers?" she asked.

"Yup," Lily said with a vigorous nod. "Open it, Mommy!"

Kate eagerly tore into the package as everyone watched, no one more anxiously than Lily.

Kate brushed the tissue paper aside (Martha had had the gift wrapped at the store), and revealed two onesies. The white onesie was emblazoned with multi-colored block letters proclaiming "LITTLE BROTHER," and the sky blue onesie was similarly emblazoned with multi-colored block letters proclaiming "LITTLEST BROTHER." Rick gazed at the onesies in the box and then met Kate's misty-eyed gaze and found his own eyes growing watery.

"Do you like them?" Lily asked anxiously.

"Sweetpea, they're wonderful," Rick proclaimed, reaching out and lifting her onto his lap, since Kate's lap was nonexistent these days.

"This is just right," Kate assured Lily. "And Reece and Jake are going to look great in these."

"We'll have to get you and Alexis 'Big Sister' shirts," Rick said.

"Already got 'em, Dad," Alexis called across the room.

"Oh," Rick said. "Well, good. Then we know what picture we'll be taking first when you meet these guys for the first time."

"Thank you, Lily," Kate said, giving Lily a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Yes, thank you, Lily," Rick echoed, giving Lily a hug and a kiss after Kate had hugged and kissed her.

Her little face aglow, Lily announced, "Mommy and Daddy like my present!"

"We sure do," Kate agreed.

The beaming Lily remained on her daddy's lap, watching as Uncle Kevin and Uncle Javi began to haul the bigger presents over so Mommy and Daddy could unwrap them.

Kevin and Jenny's gift was two baby baths and plenty of accessories—washcloths, bottles of baby bath wash (regular _**and**_ the formula for cranky babies), and hooded bath wraps that looked like yellow ducks. Sarah Grace and Nick had each chosen one special rubber duckie for each of the babies, even though they wouldn't be old enough to play with the bath toys for several months.

Martha and Earl's gift was a double stroller in which Reece and Jake would sit side by side. Rick and Kate had debated whether the double stroller should hold the boys seated side by side or front and back, and in the end, they had agreed that they'd rather have the boys seated side by side. Martha and Earl had chosen the exact stroller Kate and Rick had put on their baby registry.

Madison and Mark's gift was two new baby swings. Rick and Kate still had Lily's baby swing, in their storage space, but her swing was rather worn, since Lily had spent a great deal of time in the swing as a baby, so when Madison went shopping for her and Mark's gift, she just decided to get two new swings.

Victoria and Gerald had gotten two new Pack 'n' Plays, which would prove invaluable in the next couple of years, and see a lot of use.

Lanie and Alan's gifts required explanation. There were two gifts from the Masters' because they were smaller gifts, and when Kate unwrapped three packages of what looked like miniature blue birthday party hats—the cone-shaped contraptions were covered with clouds and airplanes—she and Rick were both puzzled. "Birthday hats?" Kate guessed.

"Peepee teepees," Alan corrected.

Rick and Kate exchanged a look. "What now?" Rick asked.

"Peepee teepees," Alan repeated. "One thing you'll learn having boys is that they have a serious lack of aim when you're changing their diapers."

"And another thing you'll learn is that your precious darling sons will nail you every opportunity they get, whether intentional or not," Lanie added. "I am **serious** , Kate, Castle. You have **got** to keep them covered at every diaper change. That's what those are for."

Kate studied the peepee teepees intently before looking up to meet Lanie's gaze. "So you put this over their little..." she began.

"Exactly," Lanie replied. "And when they pee—and it's almost always a 'when' and not an 'if' in my experience—the pee goes in the teepee and not on you or Castle."

"And since you're having two boys, we got you two dozen of them," Alan added. "Those things are lifesavers. Clothing savers. Shower savers. And they're washable."

"Good to know," Rick said.

Lanie and Alan's other gift was the Twin Z Pillow, an oversized nursing pillow that was big enough to hold both boys, and had enough room to support their little bodies, one on each side of Kate, and would also provide back support for Kate while she nursed. She was planning to nurse both boys, but she had already spoken with both Dr. Elliott and Lily's pediatrician, and the most likely scenario was that by the time Reece and Jake were three months old, they would have to have bottles because it would be next to impossible for Kate to keep up with their feeding needs by solely nursing. But of course, she would still nurse the boys whenever she could, and the rest of the time, she would pump and they would be bottle fed, and they would probably eventually have to add supplemental formula.

Alexis and Javier's gift was a double baby carrier, called a TwinTrexx. "You can use it front to back, side to side, or you can take it apart and each of you can carry one of the boys," Alexis explained, "and it will hold the boys when they're between seven and twenty-five pounds."

Jim presented his gift last: two blank baby books, one for Reece and one for Jake, and, unable to resist, two miniature New York Yankees uniforms and baseball caps. He also had a Yankees uniform and cap in Lily's size. Lily squealed with excitement at the unexpected present, since she had been told multiple times by Mommy, Daddy, Gram, and Alexis that the presents today were for her brothers.

"Maybe you and I can go to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium this year, Lily Jo," Jim added as Lily modeled her cap and jersey, which she had haphazardly buttoned so that the top button wasn't in the correct slot, in her excitement. "And you can document everything for Reece and Jake like you've been doing for Lily, and they can match."

Kate already knew that she'd be having a picture of all three kids in their Yankee gear from Jim taken and framed as his Father's Day present this year. He was an amazing grandfather, not that Kate had ever doubted he would be. She wished, as she often had since finding out she was pregnant with Lily, that her mother was here to enjoy all of this, to spoil the kids, to laugh and say "I told you so" when they drove Kate crazy.

Since it was easier for Jim to move than for Kate to move, he sat down on the couch on the other side of her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her cheek against his shoulder. "Dad," she said.

"I know, Katie," Jim replied, gently rubbing her back between her shoulder blades.

Everyone talked and ate after the gifts had been opened, enjoying being in each other's company, catching each other up on their news. Jim's retirement from the law firm had come as a surprise to everyone but Kate, Rick, Martha, and Earl, who already knew about it. "I'm still teaching Contracts at Columbia Law School, for this semester at least, but when May gets here, I'll probably be taking a sabbatical, at least for the fall semester," Jim said. "I want to spend as much time as possible with my grandchildren and help you out as much as you need me to," he concluded, looking at Kate and Rick as he said this last part.

"Earl and I will be on hand as well, as much as you'd like," Martha said. _My Fair Lady_ had closed the previous November, and Earl was now helping Martha teach her acting students, since he had a few skills that she didn't, and his stage combat class was a big hit.

Alan had gotten a promotion, and Lanie was now planning to stay home with Will until he was ready for preschool. "Potty training will be upon us before we know it," Lanie said. "Speaking of lack of aim..."

"It won't be that bad, Lanie," Martha assured her. "I trained Richard on my own. You'll have Alan to help."

"I'm already planning to do the Cheerios thing," Alan said with a chuckle.

"Just be prepared to clean them out of the little potty after Will makes them float," Jenny said. Everyone looked at Kevin then, who blushed slightly.

"Okay, yeah, that part's gross, but Nick had fun and learned to aim, and that's what matters, right?" Kevin said.

"So, two mini Castles," Victoria said. "God help you, Kate."

"I handled Rick, Javi, and Kevin for eight years, Victoria," Kate reminded her former captain. "I'm sure I can handle these little guys."

"Well, you'll have no shortage of help," Alexis said. She frowned slightly. "Although I'm not sure how much help I'll be able to be for the first...well, by the time I take the bar, probably the first six to eight months."

"All you have to do is be a great big sister," Rick told Alexis. "We know you have your own life and lot of big, important things coming up: graduation, studying for the bar exam, passing the bar exam, your first job."

Javi felt Kevin's eyes on him and shot his best friend a quick glare. He had not proposed yet, still waiting as he was for the right moment. But he knew it would come.

Much later, when all of the gifts had been put away in the nursery, when Lily had been read to sleep and tucked in for the night, Rick found Kate in the nursery, which was all ready now. The walls had been painted Hyper Blue, dozens of diapers and onesies and sleepers and pairs of impossibly tiny socks were stocked in the dressers, the cribs and changing table had been assembled, both rocking chairs were now in the room; all that was missing was the babies, but they had a little while to go yet.

Kate was sitting in one of the rocking chairs, looking around the room. "I can't wait to see who they are," she said. "Lily had always had so much personality, from the time she was in the womb. We might want to consider signing these guys up for peewee soccer when they're old enough. They may look exactly alike, but I'd bet that they're going to have different personalities."

"Complementary personalities, maybe," Rick mused, kneeling beside Kate's chair. "One that acts like you, one that acts like me."

Kate's response to that was laughter. "You know," she said when she recovered herself, "if that is what ends up happening, I'll be fine with that."

"And I will be totally gray-haired by the time they start preschool," Rick said.

"It'll look good on you, babe," she assured him. She reached out a hand and cupped his cheek in her palm. "Just like the glasses do. And our sons will do just as much to give me gray hair, I'm sure, no matter what their personalities."

"Best of friends, worst of enemies," Rick said. "I couldn't wish for anything more than that for them. That, and that they, and Lily, and Alexis, despite the massive age difference, will always have each other's backs."

"We'll make sure of that," Kate said.

"We will," Rick agreed. "And all of our kids will be as remarkable as their mother."

"And I hope they all inherit their father's heart," Kate said, leaning in to rest her forehead against Rick's.

* * *

Javier and Alexis had exchanged keys to each other's apartments almost a year ago, and since it was a particularly nasty late January day, and he and Ryan didn't have a case and were actually caught up on their paperwork, Javier used his key to let himself in to Alexis's apartment a little after 3:30, planning to surprise her with dinner, since she would be in class until 5.

He pulled up short when he saw her backpack and purse on the floor by the coffee table, her laptop closed on top of the coffee table, and a stack of unopened textbooks on the couch. "Lex?" he called.

Alexis shuffled out from the bedroom, her face pale and pinched with pain, her eyes large, both arms wrapped around her middle, wearing an NYPD t-shirt she had swiped from him, a baggy pair of gray sweatpants, and her slippers. "What are you doing here?" she asked, surprised.

"I knocked off work early because we didn't really have anything going on," he replied. "I figured I'd surprise you with a home-cooked dinner. I thought you had class until 5 today?"

"I was supposed to, but I just couldn't make it through," Alexis replied. "My stupid period decided to come early, and as if it isn't bad enough all the stress has thrown off my cycle, I feel like total crap." Then, realizing what she had just said, she blushed almost as red as her hair.

Javier removed his coat and tossed it onto the nearest chair, then crossed the room, took Alexis's hands in his, and led her back to the bedroom, where he motioned for her to get back into bed. When she had done so, he sat on the edge of the bed and took one of her hands in his. "We've been together for almost three years, Lex," he said. "We've never really talked about it, but I am aware of your cycle, and when your time of the month usually is. It wasn't supposed to be until next week. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's just a natural part of life. What do you need?"

"I need the ibuprofen I took about twenty minutes ago to kick in and at least take the edge off this pain," Alexis said.

Javier grabbed the pillows from his side of the bed and put them under Alexis's feet, slightly elevating her feet. She'd already taken a pain reliever. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and did a quick Internet search. "Do you have a heating pad?" he asked several seconds later.

Alexis blinked. "No," she replied.

He nodded as he scrolled down his phone's screen. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he said. "Keep your feet elevated, and call me if you need me, or if you think of anything you want me to pick up while I'm out." He bent and kissed her quickly, then headed out.

Alexis laid back against her own pillows, wishing the damned ibuprofen would kick in already, although she had to admit that propping up her feet helped. Her cramps were only ever this bad when she was stressed, and she had to admit, she was stressed to the max by this final semester of law school.

She was trying to remember the last time her cramps had actually been this bad when she heard the front door open and Javier call out, "Alexis, I'm back!" He entered the bedroom a few minutes later, carrying a couple of bags from the nearby pharmacy. "Feeling any better?" he asked hopefully.

"Not really," Alexis replied, mustering up a wan smile.

"Well, let's see what we can do about that," he said. He began unpacking his purchases. The first thing he unpacked was a heating pad. "According to what I read, heat helps the pain," he said as he took the heating pad out of the box, crouched down to plug it in, turned it on High, and then gave it to Alexis. She gratefully draped the heating pad over her abdomen and within a couple of minutes, the heat was making the pain gradually lessen.

Next he removed a box of herbal tea. "This is supposed to be really good for cramps," he said. "I'll go heat some water, if you'd like a cup now?"

"Please," Alexis said, eager to see if the tea would help.

She heard the tea kettle whistle, and Javier returned with a steaming cup of tea a few minutes later. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Not really," Alexis replied. She took a sip of the tea, detecting both chamomile and a hint of raspberry in it.

"Okay," Javier said. "We'll wait on dinner, then." He paused, then said, "If you're up to it, you could take a warm bath. That's also helpful, or so I read." Then he thought of something else. "I should have asked before I went to the pharmacy. Do you have the supplies you need, since you got it earlier than usual?"

"Yeah," Alexis assured him. She took another sip of her tea before setting the cup on the nightstand. She adjusted the heating pad and, having kicked off her slippers before Javier had propped her feet up, Javier propped his back against the footboard of the bed and gave Alexis a foot rub.

Within half an hour, Alexis was sound asleep. Javier had read that sleep was very important during a woman's menstrual cycle, and he knew better than the rest of the family just how ragged Alexis was running herself, how hard she was pushing herself, determined as she was to graduate law school with a 4.0 GPA and just how often she burned the candle at both ends, studying into the night and most of every weekend, limiting the time they had to go out, although honestly, Javier was just as happy to stay at Alexis's apartment or his, order in, and watch a movie, on the occasions he could get her to unwind enough to take ninety minutes or two hours to watch something funny, or some romantic comedy that, more often than not, they would pick apart a la _Mystery Science Theater 3000_. Maybe part of it was having Castle for a dad, and Martha for a grandmother, being raised primarily by the two of them, with Beckett's input and example starting when Alexis was at the still-impressionable age of fifteen, but Alexis didn't go in for the damsels in distress, or the dithering rom-com heroines who took until the next-to-the-last frame of the movie to realize that the man they belonged with had been right in front of them from almost the opening credits of the movie. Alexis went in more for badasses like Princess Leia in the original _Star Wars,_ the movie that launched the whole franchise, or the bold and fearless heroine, like Princess Buttercup in _The Princess Bride_ , or a classic speaks-her-mind-and-if-you-can't-deal-with-it-that's-your-problem heroine, like Katharine Hepburn in pretty much every movie she'd ever made, or Ingrid Bergman in _Spellbound;_ after they had seen the first _Thin Man_ movie with William Powell and Myrna Loy, Alexis had come up with enough comparisons between Nick and Nora Charles, and Castle and Beckett, to write a paper on them. Javier had seen some obvious similarities between Nick and Nora, and Castle and Beckett, himself, although not as many as Alexis. And Javier had laughed until he had almost cried when Alexis had humorously destroyed _Notting Hill_ the one time they had watched it.

Javier covered Alexis, who was curled into a fetal position with the heating pad, which had an automatic shut-off after two hours, with a blanket, then fixed himself a sandwich and ate before locking up, making sure all the lights and appliances were off, and making sure that Alexis's laptop and phone were both charging. He set the alarm on his own phone before brushing his teeth, stripping down to his t-shirt and boxer briefs, and settling himself in bed next to Alexis, who was so exhausted she was lightly snoring. He lay there just watching Alexis sleep until he fell asleep himself, and he gladly slept without any pillows because her feet were still propped on the two pillows from his side of the bed.

Alexis awoke before Javier's phone alarm went off the next morning. Although she had skipped dinner the night before, she felt better than she had in a long time. She wasn't as tired as she'd routinely been for the past month, and her cramps were gone, even though the heating pad had long since grown cold and the ibuprofen she had taken had long since worn off. Javier was sound asleep next to her, lying on his side, his head flat on the mattress because she had had her feet propped on his pillows all night. She smiled at his sleeping form, love and warmth bubbling up inside her at the memory of how he had taken care of her last night.

After a trip to the bathroom, she headed to the kitchen to fix breakfast for herself and Javier. She had just started a pot of coffee when Javier emerged from the bedroom, still in the t-shirt and boxer briefs he had slept in, scrubbing both hands down his face in an effort to wake himself up. "I woke up, and you weren't next to me," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better," Alexis replied. "I think the sleep did me just as much good as the heating pad and the ibuprofen and the tea and propping my feet up." She pecked a kiss on his cheek before turning her attention back to the pancakes she was cooking on the stove. She had pulled her hair back in a messy ponytail, she was still in his NYPD t-shirt and her baggy gray sweatpants and her slippers, and she had never looked more beautiful or more like home to him in that moment.

"I'll be right back," Javier said, turning and leaving the kitchen.

Alexis figured he was going to use the bathroom or brush his teeth, something like that.

When Javier returned to the kitchen, he was wearing his pants, his white t-shirt tucked into them, and his hands were behind his back. Alexis scooped the finished pancakes onto a plate, and carried them to the small breakfast nook, where she set the plate on the table. Javier had turned off the burner in the meantime, and he was looking at Alexis intently. She asked, "What, do I have something on my face? Creases from the pillowcase or something?"

"No," Javier said with a smile. "You're beautiful." He took a couple of steps closer to her and then stopped. "I'm only going to do this once in my life, so I'm going to do it right," he said.

Ryan was right, he reflected, about the right moment. Javier knew that _**this**_ was the right moment he had been waiting for and thankful that he had been carrying his engagement ring for Alexis with him since picking it up from the jeweler.

Alexis's eyes widened and her jaw dropped when Javier got down on one knee in front of her. Looking up at her, he said, "I love you, and I will love you forever. I want to take care of you and be by your side and make a future and a life and a home and family with you." He brought his hands out from behind his back and opened his right hand, revealing a small black velvet box. He opened the lid to reveal a simple round cut solitaire diamond set in a platinum band. With his heart in his eyes, Javier gazed deeply into her eyes and said, "Alexis, will you marry me?"

Tears swam in Alexis's eyes and her heart pounded as she looked at Javier, on one knee, holding an engagement ring. "Yes!" she exclaimed. "Yes, Javier, of course I'll marry you!"

Beaming, Javier got to his feet, pulled the ring from its box, and slipped it on the third finger of Alexis's left hand. The ring was a perfect fit, and they both looked down at the ring on her finger, admiring it before Alexis framed Javier's face in her hands and said, "I love you too."

Then, morning breath be damned, as their pancakes cooled on the kitchen table, they sealed their engagement with a kiss.


	94. Chapter 90

_**Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support for this story. We're now at the end of January and beginning of February 2020.**_

* * *

Lily was outgrowing naptime, to Kate and Rick's chagrin, although her pediatrician assured them that this was normal; she was almost three years old, after all, and some kids simply gave up daytime naps at that point. She was not sleep-deprived, with a regular bedtime at 7:30, and no reason to stay up late except for special occasions, such as Christmas Eve, which had been a month ago.

Rick, thankfully, had finished the mini-tour he had managed to negotiate with Black Pawn for _Something Worth Saving_. Given Kate's pregnancy with the twins, he refused to travel any farther afield than Pennsylvania, so the readers and fans in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and the tri-state area were the ones who got pictures with Rick and autographed copies at the book signings. He refused to be gone overnight. There were no indications that Kate would go into premature labor—at least, not extremely premature labor—and they had plenty of family and friends who would have happily spent a night or two with Kate and Lily at the loft while Rick was out of town, or out of state, but he wasn't having it. Luckily he had enough clout, and Adam went to bat for him with the publishing house's board, that Black Pawn was able to grant him this request. Even with the limited personal appearances and number of signings, he had still made _The New York Times_ Bestseller List, albeit at a still-respectable number four, where he peaked.

Kate wasn't on full bedrest, because it wasn't necessary, but she was on maternity leave, since the boys were due February 15, and it was now January 30. Everyone but Rick, Kate, and Lily were nervous wrecks that Kate was going to go into labor at almost any minute.

Well, everyone except Alexis and Javier, since they hadn't heard from either of them in a couple of days.

Rick and Kate were both in the new playroom with Lily, who was looking at one of her picture books, sitting on the couch in between Kate and Rick.

Kate's phone rang then. It was her father. "Hey, Dad, what's up?" she greeted him when she answered the phone.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Jim replied. "I got a text a few minutes ago from Alexis, asking me to meet her at your place. You're not in labor, are you, Katie?"

Kate chuckled. "No, Dad, I'm **not** in labor. I'll tell you myself when I am."

Rick's phone chimed with a text message then. "Just a second, sweetpea," he told Lily as he removed his phone from his shirt pocket.

The text was from Kevin and read, "Javi's taken the last couple days off, and he just called and asked me to meet him your & Beckett's place. Is Beckett in labor?!"

Rick quickly typed back, "No, Kate's NOT in labor. But we're here, so come on over."

Kevin had clearly been waiting for an answer, because the reply bubbles blinked on Rick's phone screen for several seconds before Kevin's reply came through: "Leaving the 12th now. Be there soon."

Before Rick could reply to Kevin, his phone rang, and he answered it without looking at the Caller ID. "Hello?"

"Hi, Dad. You and Mom and Lily **are** at home, right?" Alexis asked.

"Yes, pumpkin, we're here," Rick replied.

"Great, because Javier and I are on our way, and so are a few other people, hopefully," she replied.

"They are," Rick assured her.

And at that precise moment, Rick heard the front door open and Martha call out, "Hello, everyone! Where are you?"

"And your grandmother just arrived," Rick told Alexis. "Most likely with Earl in tow."

"I invited them both," Alexis said. "Anyway, we're on our way too, so we'll be there shortly."

"Okay, we'll see you when you get here," Rick told Alexis.

"We're in here, Martha!" Kate had called out while Rick was still on the phone with Alexis.

Martha and Earl walked through the office and into the playroom. The playroom had turned out wonderfully, Rick and Kate's shared vision for the space—all but the most special toys of Lily's, and someday of Reece and Jake's as well, on shelves and in large toyboxes; a bright blue rug covering the floor; sturdy furniture that would be able to handle the actions and misadventures of growing children while remaining comfortable enough for their parents and other family members to use as well, in the case of the couch and the large, overstuffed recliners; scrubbable white paint on the walls—having translated perfectly from their mind's eyes to the architect's and contractors' work. "Alexis wanted us to meet her here," Martha said. Lily closed her book and handed it to her father before scrambling down from the couch and running to give her Gram and Pops both welcome hugs.

The knock at the door that Rick went to answer was Jim Beckett and Kevin Ryan, who had run into each other in the lobby.

When everyone was assembled in the playroom, and Rick had resumed his seat next to Kate on the couch, Kate threaded her fingers through his hand. "Are you ready for this?" she asked so only he could hear, since they both had a very good idea of what was coming when Alexis and Javier arrived.

"I have to be," Rick said simply. He sighed deeply, and Kate squeezed his hand reassuringly. He squeezed her hand back. "Esposito's a good man. They love each other. And I want Alexis to be happy. But it's not going to be easy for me."

"I know," Kate replied, kissing Rick's temple before the front door opened again and they heard Alexis calling out a 'hello.'

"Alexis!" Lily shouted, dashing into the living room.

"No running in the house, Lily Jo!" Jim called as he hurried after the little girl. Martha, Earl, and Kevin followed Jim and Lily into the living room.

"Help me up?" Kate asked, holding out her other hand to Rick.

"Always," Rick replied, pulling Kate to her feet. They were the last to arrive in the living room, where Alexis and Javier were standing side by side, Alexis with her hands behind her back, and Javier with an arm wrapped around her waist, both of them facing the others wearing excited grins with an undercurrent of nervousness on their faces.

"We wanted you all to be the first to know," Alexis said. Then she brought her hands out from behind her back and held up her left hand facing outward, revealing the ring sparkling on the third finger of her left hand. "Javier and I are engaged!" she exclaimed happily.

The room exploded with cheers, congratulations, and people rushing forward to hug Alexis and Javier.

Everyone, that is, except Rick and Kate—Kate because it was impossible for her to rush anywhere given her advanced pregnant state...and Rick because although he had known that this was going to happen, and he had been trying to prepare himself, it was still the first step towards a very big change in his life and Alexis's life and in their relationship. His firstborn daughter had never been a married woman before, but now she was going to be.

Kevin, standing behind and to the side of Javi, had his hands on Javi's shoulders and was jostling him about playfully. "I'm gonna be the best man!" he exclaimed.

"In that case, we need to have a word about the bachelor party, Kevin," Alexis said seriously.

"Don't worry, Lex, it's not going to be anything like the impromptu bash Castle and I put together for Ryan in Atlantic City," Javier promised.

"It better not be," Kate said.

Javier cut his gaze to Rick. "You **told** Beckett?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course I told her," Rick replied. "What am I, stupid?"

"I told Jenny," Kevin piped up.

"I think somebody better tell me," Alexis said.

"I'd like to hear about this too," Martha said eagerly.

Jim piped up then. "Don't worry, ladies. Earl and I will make certain nothing **too** untoward or disreputable happens at Javier's bachelor party," he promised.

"That's right," Earl added.

"And the first person who says 'Then what's the point of having a bachelor party?' gets the Beckett treatment," Kate said, fixing everyone with her infamous Detective Beckett stare.

"Mommy, Daddy, what's a batch-er party?" Lily asked then.

Alexis laughed and picked Lily up. "It's 'bache **lor** party,' Lily," she informed her little sister, "and that's not something you need to know about yet. There is something I need to know, though. When Javier and I get married, will you be a flower girl for us, along with Sarah Grace?"

Lily, eye to eye with Alexis, looked into her big sister's eyes and said, "What would I do as a flower girl?"

"You'd get to wear a pretty dress and shoes, and walk down the aisle with Sarah Grace ahead of me and Dad, and scatter flower petals from a little basket while you walk," Alexis replied. "What do you say?"

"What color will my dress be?" Lily asked. Jim burst out laughing in the background, reminded of Katie as a little girl, always wanting to know everything about everything, an endless fount of questions.

"Well, we'll all go shopping and pick it out together. I haven't really thought much about colors yet," Alexis admitted.

"I don't like yellow," Lily informed Alexis earnestly.

"Neither do I, so I can promise your dress, and the flowers, won't be yellow," Alexis replied.

Lily looked over her shoulder at her parents. "Mommy, Daddy, can I be a flower girl for Alexis?" she asked.

"Of course you can, Lily," Kate said with a smile.

"Yay!" Lily cheered, her little arms shooting into the air above her head in triumph.

Alexis and Javier had already received hugs and congratulations from Kevin and Martha, and Jim and Earl had both hugged Alexis and shaken Javier's hand. Now the engaged couple approached Rick and Kate, with Alexis still carrying Lily. She set Lily on her feet, and Lily skipped over to her grandparents and Uncle Kevin, crowing, "I get to be a flower girl! I get to be a flower girl!" over and over again.

Before Alexis or Javier could say anything, Kate reached out, grabbed Alexis by the hands, and pulled her into as much of a hug as she could, given the size of Kate's belly. "Congratulations, Alexis, I'm so happy for you," Kate said.

"Thanks, Mom," Alexis said softly into Kate's ear as they hugged.

When she released Alexis, Kate beckoned Esposito closer. "You know you're getting the best girl in the whole world here," she said, nodding at Alexis.

"I know," Javier replied seriously. "And I'm never going to take that, or her, for granted."

"Good, because you know I'm totally capable of kicking your...you-know-what," Kate said seriously, censoring herself because Lily was in the room, "if you ever treat Alexis with anything less than the love and respect she deserves."

"I know you are," Javier replied. "But you don't have anything to worry about, Beckett. I'd die for Alexis. She's the center of my world."

"I know that feeling," Kate said. She looked from Javi to Alexis and back again. "Be happy. Be good to each other. And most importantly, communicate, preferably in a timely manner." She and Javi hugged then.

Rick and Alexis were just staring at each other. Rick blinked, and for just an instant, he saw Alexis at five years of age, him taking her to her first day of kindergarten, watching as she headed over to the cubby holes to put away her backpack and jacket, and how she didn't look back at him, having already given him a hug and a kiss and told him she loved him in the hallway outside her classroom.

He blinked again, and she was fifteen, confessing to him that she had once jumped a subway turnstile.

A third blink, and Rick was back in the moment, looking at his firstborn, all grown up, a few months away from graduating from law school, and engaged to marry the man she loved who loved her back. "Look at you," he said, "all grown up."

"Look at **you**...mostly grown-up," Alexis replied with a watery chuckle. "I remember when it was just the two of us too, Dad. And it was great. But all this..."

"Oh yeah, way better, without a doubt," Rick replied. "You love him. Do you love him in a way you never thought you could love anyone? Do you love Esposito the way that I love Kate, Alexis? Does he love you the way Kate loves me? Because you deserve nothing less than that, pumpkin."

"I **do** love him beyond anything I thought I could ever feel, Dad, and he loves me the same way," Alexis assured her father. "This is forever. Javier's my forever, and I'm his."

Rick nodded once, shortly. "I already knew that," he admitted, "but I needed the reassurance from you."

"Anytime," Alexis said.

Then Rick and Alexis were hugging tightly. "I love you, pumpkin," he whispered.

"I love you too, Dad," Alexis whispered back. They held the hug for several seconds, and then Alexis pulled back, looked into her father's eyes, and said, "Just because I'm getting married doesn't mean I won't still need you in my life."

"Things are going to change, though," Rick said with a somewhat rueful smile.

"Yes, they are, in more ways than one," Alexis agreed. "But they're good changes, Dad."

"That they are," Rick agreed.

Rick put his arm around Alexis's shoulders, and then regarded Esposito. "You saw the kinds of things I did to keep Kate safe when she was a cop," he began.

"Yes," Esposito said, remembering every instance that Rick risked his own life to save Kate.

"I know Kate can kick your you-know-what if you ever step out of line in any way, shape or form with Alexis," Rick continued, "but I'll do it too. And you can scoff if you want to, but I will not be anywhere near as easy on you as Kate would be."

"Beckett wouldn't be easy on me at all," Esposito replied.

"Exactly," Rick agreed. "You treat my daughter right, you love her with everything you've got, and never, under any circumstances, call me 'Dad.'"

"I promise, Castle," Esposito said seriously. He reached out to shake Castle's hand, and Castle grasped Esposito's hand, then surprised him by pulling him into a one-armed hug.

Alexis then turned her attention back to Kate. "Mom, I have something to ask you," she said. "Javier and I don't want a big wedding. Kevin's going to be the best man, and Lily and Sarah Grace will be the flower girls. We're going to leave it up to Nick if he wants to be the ring bearer, and he probably won't, and we're not going to force him, and neither will Kevin and Jenny."

"Even if Nick agrees to be in the wedding, he'll just be a ceremonial ring bearer. Four-year-old boys are not to be trusted with items as small and valuable as wedding rings," Kevin interjected then.

"I'm going to need a matron of honor," Alexis continued. "I know it's a lot to ask, because we're thinking an August wedding, early September at the latest, because neither Javier nor I believe in long engagements. And honestly, there's no one else I'd rather have as my matron of honor than you, Mom. Of course, you'll have the boys, and they'll only be about six months old, and I know it's probably not fair to ask you to pull double duty as mother of the bride **and** matron of honor, but-"

"Of course I'll be your matron of honor, Alexis," Kate interrupted her. "We'll make it work."

"Yes, we will," Rick added. "Whatever you two want, you've got it."

Alexis hugged Kate again. "Thanks, Mom," she said. Then she looked at Javier. "Well, we have the wedding party set. We'll need to nail down a date, and we're planning to start looking at venues this weekend. Maybe Madison would let us have the rehearsal dinner at Q3?"

"I think that's a given," Kate replied. "All you'll have to do is ask her."

"We'll need to shop for dresses, and the guys will have to get fitted for tuxes. We were thinking white tuxedo jackets with black bow ties, cummerbunds, and pants, since we want a late summer wedding," Alexis continued.

"And then there's the reception," Martha chimed in. "The flowers, the cake, the music, the photographer, the wedding rings, the marriage license, an officiant..."

"We haven't even finished telling people we're engaged yet," Javier said.

"You can do this in six or seven months," Kate said confidently.

"We ended up pulling everything together in about three hours when we got married," Rick agreed, looking from Kate back to Alexis and Javier. "Six months will be plenty of time."

"Especially since we don't want anything really big or overblown," Alexis agreed. "I've got graduation coming up, and then the bar exam, and becoming a big sister again twice."

"This is going to be a very eventful year for all of us," Kate said.

"In the best possible ways," Martha said, and everyone agreed with her.

* * *

A few nights after Alexis and Javier had come over to announce their engagement, Kate was awakened shortly after 2:30 AM by a pain in her belly. Her hands went automatically to the heavy curve of her abdomen. She had experienced more heartburn and indigestion while carrying these twins than she ever had in her life. She took a few deep breaths, and when the pain subsided, she managed to get out of bed and shuffle to the bathroom for some Tums. She brought the bottle of antacids back to bed with her after chewing and swallowing a couple of them.

She would have to watch what she ate, she thought. Today was February 3, the day before the anniversary of her mother's birthday, and tonight, as they did every year as close to February 4 as possible, she and Rick, and the rest of their family, would be putting in appearances at the annual fundraiser for the scholarship in Johanna Beckett's name. Kate had insisted on keeping the tradition this year, though she promised Rick they wouldn't stay for the whole thing, which usually ran three or four hours.

The fundraiser was being held at Q3 this year, which had been Madison's idea. Several of Jim and Johanna's old friends and colleagues, and the usual suspects, as Rick had called them after the second annual fundraiser, including some of Rick's mystery writer friends and other people he knew or knew of who had deep pockets, would be attending. And for the first time this year, they were honoring past recipients of the Johanna Beckett Scholarship, since the first few of them had graduated law school and passed the bar years ago and were practicing law in New York City, dedicating their respective careers to those in the legal system without a voice, the kind of people Johanna Beckett had championed in her career.

Since February 4 fell on a Tuesday this year, they weren't sure what the turnout would be on this Monday night, but Kate was adamant about putting in an appearance and staying at least long enough to see those past recipients who would be honored.

Kate's indigestion came and went all that day. She really didn't think much of it, because while her final appointment with Dr. Elliott a few days ago had revealed that the boys had dropped in preparation for being born, Kate was doing everything right, and there was no reason to think that the boys would come prematurely, and even if they did, their actual due date was less than two weeks away now, so there was no reason to think that Reece and Jake wouldn't be fine and healthy whenever they decided to make their debut.

Rick noticed Kate's indigestion—what she insisted was indigestion—around 9 AM. "Are you sure that's all it is? Indigestion?" he asked.

"I overdid it on the Thai food last night," Kate replied. She then addressed the twins. "Hey, Reece, Jake, you guys hear that? No more Thai food for a while. It's not exactly agreeing with Mommy."

In hindsight, Kate's high pain threshold, and the differences in being pregnant with twins versus being pregnant with one baby three years ago, were what would cause her to misjudge the indigestion for what it actually was: the beginning of her labor.

Rick happily kept Lily occupied while Kate enjoyed a long soak in the tub, and since the fundraiser was black tie, Lily perched on her parents' bed while she watched her mother fix her hair and makeup after putting on her deep burgundy maternity formal gown, the only thing that didn't make her look or feel like she was walking around in a pup tent, even if it was a very nice, very formal pup tent.

Once Rick was, as he put it, "tuxed to the max," he and Kate dropped Lily off at Kevin and Jenny's, where Jenny's parents would be watching Lily, Sarah Grace, and Nick. (Lanie and Alan were attending the fundraiser as well, but Alan's parents were in town for a visit, and had happily agreed to watch Will for them at their place while they were at the fundraiser.)

Kate thought to stick a roll of Tums in her clutch purse, and after thanking the O'Malleys, they headed to Q3, with Kevin and Jenny following them.

Q3 was already packed with the fundraiser's invitation-only guests, and the Castles and the Ryans were among the last arrivals. Javier and Alexis; Victoria and Gerald; Lanie and Alan; Martha and Earl; Jim Beckett; and Madison and Mark were all already inside, along with the past scholarship recipients who would be honored tonight, and most of the other guests as well.

"Nine months pregnant with twins, and you look spectacular," Lanie said by way of greeting. "When I was nine months pregnant with Will, I felt and looked like a beached whale and didn't even want to move."

"Yeah, well, I couldn't miss this," Kate replied. She felt another pain then and bent her head, both her hands resting on her belly.

"Kate, are you okay?" Jenny asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Kate said in between slow, deep breaths. "I've had the worst indigestion today."

"I had horrible heartburn with both Sarah Grace and Nick," Jenny said sympathically.

"Indigestion?" Lanie asked, all of her senses on high alert now.

Rick returned from the bar with a bottle of water for Kate and a Scotch for himself then. "I'm fine," Kate insisted as she took the water bottle from Rick, uncapped it, and drank deeply.

Lanie made an "I'm watching her" sign to Rick, pointing at her eyes, then at Kate, then back at her eyes. Rick nodded, and Jenny, for the first time, looked concerned.

"Katherine, darling, if I were you, I'd sink into a chair and not get up for the rest of the night," Martha said.

"If I did sink into a chair, Martha, I don't think Rick, my dad, Javi and Kevin all four could get me on my feet again without renting a crane," Kate replied. "I'll be fine, really."

"If you'd like Lily to spend the night with Earl and me, or with your father, we'd love to have her," Martha said.

"Absolutely," Jim Beckett agreed, having come over and joined the group when Kate was talking about the men needing heavy equipment to get her on her feet if she sat down tonight.

Victoria and Gerald Gates joined them then, glasses of wine in hand. "Good evening, Kate, good evening, Castle," Victoria said. Gerald echoed her greeting.

Everyone just stared at Victoria and Gerald. "What?" Victoria asked.

"You aren't a little...concerned, sir?" Javier asked.

"Concerned about what, Esposito?" Victoria asked. "Kate knows her own mind. She's here because she wants to be here. I'm sure she and Castle are going home early."

Alexis addressed Martha, Earl, and Jim in an undertone. "I'm kind of worried about Mom. She says it's just indigestion, but...Of course, I've never had a baby."

"Sometimes indigestion is just indigestion," Earl offered.

"And sometimes it's the beginning of labor," Martha said. "It wouldn't surprise me one bit if Katherine's in labor by the end of the night."

"It'd be wonderful if the boys could hold off for just a few more hours," Jim mused wistfully. "Johanna's birthday is tomorrow. It would really be something if they were born on her birthday."

"You just might get your wish, Jim," Martha replied.

Kate's indigestion finally exposed itself for what it really was when, while she and Rick were standing and chatting with the three scholarship recipients who were now practicing attorneys after they had been introduced to the entire assemblage by the dean of the law school they and Johanna had attended, Marci Stiles, Geoffrey Wainwright; and Suki Takahashi-Burke, Kate was hit with a crippling stab of pain that she knew was not just indigestion, which was followed mere seconds later by her water breaking.

She grabbed Rick's arm with one hand and clutched her belly with her other hand, bending over and biting her lip to keep from crying out.

Geoffrey Wainwright hastily excused himself and practically bolted from the scene, Marci Stiles looked like a deer in the headlights, and Suki Takahashi-Burke visibly paled as Rick anxiously said, "Kate?"

She looked at him, her eyes wide. "My water just broke!" she exclaimed.

Those four words were enough to bring their family scurrying from their various places in the restaurant. Rick looked down and saw the small puddle growing at his and Kate's feet. "This is it," he said. "This is it! Oh my god, we've gotta get to the hospital, we've gotta call Dr. Elliott, and Lily! What about Lily?" Kate's contraction subsided then, and she looked at Rick anxiously.

"We'll take Lily home with us," Kevin piped up then. "She can spend the night at our place if she needs to."

"I just talked to my mom a few minutes ago, and all the kids are sound asleep," Jenny reported. "Don't worry about Lily. We'll take care of her for you."

"Thank you, Jenny, Kevin," Rick said, relieved.

While the Ryans had been assuring the Castles that Lily would be taken care of, Victoria got on the phone and called for a police escort to come to Q3 so that they would be able to get Kate and Rick to New York Presbyterian Hospital—Lower Manhattan as soon as possible.

"We'll go to the loft and get Mom's bag and bring it to the hospital," Alexis volunteered herself and Javier.

"Earl and I will finish things up here for you," Martha said, "and then we'll come to the hospital."

Alan got off the phone then. "My parents said Will's fine, sound asleep, and we'll be able to stay at the hospital for a while, at least."

Jim stepped forward then. "I'll stay in touch with Kevin and Jenny. I'll take Lily back to the loft and stay with her there if she wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to come home, but until then, I'm coming to the hospital with you."

"We're coming too," Madison said, referring to herself and Mark. "My staff can handle cleaning up and closing up without me."

"I know you only had one Scotch, Castle, but between that and the rattled look on your face, I don't think behind the wheel of a car is the best place for you right now," Mark said then.

Rick fished his keys out of his pants pocket. "You're right, Mark. Can you drive, Mark," he said.

"Absolutely," Mark replied, accepting the car keys from Rick.

The sound of sirens and the flash of red and blue lights painted the night then. "I believe that's your escort, Kate, Castle," Victoria said. "All right, let's move, people!" she declared, and the crowd scattered, clearing the way as Kate and Rick led everyone out the front door of Q3.

"We'll be at the hospital as soon as we can!" Martha called after them as Kate and Rick headed for the front door, with Victoria, Gerald, Alexis, Javier, Jim, Kevin, Jenny, Lanie, Alan, Madison, and Mark trailing in their wake.

Mark and Madison took the front seat, with Mark behind the wheel, of Rick and Kate's SUV, and Rick sat in the back seat with Kate. Mark followed the police escort, and everyone else was behind them in a convoy, except Kevin and Jenny, who headed to their own home, and Alexis and Javier, who split off from the convoy to collect Kate's bag from the loft.

"The boys are coming!" Rick exclaimed to Kate.

"What time is it?" Kate asked him.

Rick checked his watch. "10:51," he said, "why? Do you feel another contraction coming? How many minutes has it been?"

"Not yet," Kate replied. She managed a smile, strained by sincere. "I think Reece and Jake are going to be born on my mom's birthday."

"That's right, her birthday's tomorrow," Rick said.

"That would be so amazing," Kate said, her voice holding the same wistful tone Jim's had earlier in the evening when he had been discussing the same possibility with Alexis and Martha.

The rest of a drive was a blur to both Kate and Rick. They held hands, Rick rubbed her back as best he could with the seat belts restraining them, she laid her head on his shoulder on the next contraction as they breathed through it together.

Then Mark screeched the car to a halt outside the Emergency Entrance of New York Presbyterian Hospital—Lower Manhattan behind the police escort, while the rest of their convoy turning into the parking lot to find parking spaces.

Before getting out of the car, Rick and Kate looked at each other. "I love you, Kate," Rick said.

"I love you too, Rick," Kate replied. She leaned in and she and Rick kissed quickly. Kate broke off the kiss when another contraction came, and at the same instant, the back door of the Audi on Kate's side opened and there was an orderly with a wheelchair. Behind the orderly with the wheelchair, Rick saw Jim, Victoria and Gerald, Lanie and Alan, and Madison (Mark was still in the Audi's driver's seat, with the engine idling, waiting to find a parking space) gathered, looking at him and Kate anxiously.

Rick and the orderly helped Kate out of the car after her contraction ended. As soon as Rick and Kate were out of the car, Mark sped off to park the car, sprinting back to join the others who followed Kate and Rick into the hospital, the orderly pushing Kate in the wheelchair, and Rick walking alongside and holding her hand.

"We're having twins," Kate said when they reached the desk inside.

"Name?" the receptionist inquired.

"Kate and Rick Castle," Kate replied. "Our OB is Dr. Elliott."

The receptionist did a double take. "Oh my god, you're Richard Castle! I've read every book you've ever written! And _Something Worth Saving_...WOW! That is SUCH a departure for you, but it's an AMAZING book!"

"Thank you, I appreciate that, but my wife is in labor and her water has broken, so if you could get us up to Labor and Delivery and find Dr. Elliott, I would appreciate that even more," Rick said.

Alexis and Javier came rushing in then to join the rest of the throng, Alexis carrying Kate's overnight bag. "We're here!" she exclaimed. "We've got your bag, Mom."

"Thanks, Alexis," Kate said. "Why don't you hold onto it for now? I don't need it just yet."

"Okay," Alexis replied.

Dr. Elliott hadn't been at the hospital, and she was the next to arrive in the ER. "Hello, Kate, Rick. You didn't have to wait for me," she said with a joke and a wink. "And black tie formal really wasn't necessary, but I like it. It's not a look I see on my patients often." She laughed warmly, then looked at the crowd gathered around. "All right, family and friends, you may proceed to the Maternity Waiting Room. I'll take it from here, Ernie, thank you," she said, addressing the orderly.

"We'll all be right here," Alexis said. "We love you guys."

"We love all of you too," Rick replied.

"You feel up to driving, Dad?" Dr. Elliott asked Rick, gesturing to the wheelchair.

"Yeah," Rick said, and the others watched as he pushed Kate in her wheelchair onto the elevator, Dr. Elliott holding the elevator doors for them.

Everyone called out wishes of good luck before the elevator doors closed on Kate, Rick, and Dr. Elliott. Kate rested one hand on her belly and the other hand on top of Rick's hand on one of the handles of her wheelchair.

While everyone else waited for the next elevator so they could head upstairs to the Maternity Waiting Room, Jim Beckett checked his watch. 11:27 PM. Another thirty-three minutes, and it would be February 4...Johanna's birthday...and unless things proceeded very quickly upstairs, Reece's birthday and Jake's birthday too. _Just 33 more minutes,_ he thought as he boarded the elevator with everyone else. _33 more minutes, and it'll be your birthday, Johanna, and our grandsons have a good chance of sharing your birthday. I really hope they do share it._


	95. Author's Note: NOT A CHAPTER

_**Due to a harrowing and debilitating bout with the stomach flu, I will not be able to post the next chapter this weekend after all. I'm so sorry, but I promise it will be up next week. At least, I hope I'm well by then. Thanks for all your support.**_


	96. Chapter 91

_**Thank you all for your patience and understanding, and for all of the get well wishes I received while I was recovering from the stomach flu last weekend. I am happy to report that I am completely recovered, and here is the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it.**_

* * *

Once they were upstairs, Kate, with Rick's help, changed out of her formal wear and into a hospital gown and socks, then he quickly stripped off his tuxedo jacket and cummerbund, untied his bow tie, leaving it dangling loose around his collar, and unbuttoned his collar. Then he pulled the scrubs on over his shirt and tuxedo pants, rushing to Kate's side so quickly when another contraction hit her that he almost tripped over his own feet.

Kate was hooked up to a fetal monitor, and a heart monitor for herself, given her history, and one of the machines that tracked the strength and progress of her contractions, and then Dr. Elliott walked in. "All right, let's see what's going on here," Dr. Elliott said as she moved to check Kate.

Kate looked up at Rick, who was looking back at her. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Excited," Kate replied. "Ready to meet these guys." She gently tugged on his hand. "What about you?"

"Ready to meet these guys," Rick echoed. "A little nervous, a little worried." The briefest flash of a shadow shone in his eyes then.

Before Kate could say anything reassuring, Dr. Elliott looked up from her rolling front-row seat and announced, "You're at eight centimeters, Kate. I won't say the hardest part is over, because we both know that would be a lie, but that indigestion you thought had did a lot of the work of labor for you this time."

Dr. Elliott turned her attention to Rick then. "I understand your worry, Rick, but everything looks great. Kate is very healthy, and although this pregnancy was classified as high-risk because of Kate's age and previous medical history, she's done everything as right as she possibly could, so there's no reason to think that this won't be a normal delivery. Although, of course, you're too far along to have an epidural now, Kate."

"I didn't even know I was in labor until my water broke. I can take it," Kate replied determinedly.

"I don't doubt that for a second, Kate. You're the toughest patient I have, physically speaking, and that's a good thing," Dr. Elliott replied.

"And I have something the rest of your patients don't have," Kate said. She reached for Rick's hand again. "I have you," she said, looking up at Rick. Dr. Elliott smiled and excused herself, telling them she'd be back in a little while to check Kate's progress again, and she left the room. "We're a team. There's nothing we can't accomplish together. We're going to bring these boys into the world together, just like we brought Lily into the world together, just like all the times we saved each other, and brought down murderers, and when we saved Ryan and Esposito together, and once we even saved the world, or at least the city of New York." Kate held up her and Rick's joined hands. "Remember that dirty bomb? We were standing there, holding hands, and then you reached out at the last second and yanked all the wires, and it worked. That moment was when I knew for absolute certain that yours was the hand I wanted to be holding all the rest of my life, through everything that was yet to come our way, and that I had to get myself together enough so I could be the one who got to hold your hand for the rest of our lives."

Rick, his hand holding Kate's, bent his head and kissed her hand. "Of course I remember the dirty bomb. I remember everything we've been through together, from the moment you tapped me on the shoulder at the last Derrick Storm book party. By the end of that first case, I knew I wanted to make a lot more memories with you. And as time went on, these were the kind of memories I began to hope and dream about." He gestured around the room with his free hand. "Being with you, loving you and being loved by you, being your husband, having kids with you." He took her hand in both of his now. "You've given me the family I always wanted, Kate. You've trusted me with your life, and your heart, and you've made me happier than I ever thought I could be. You're the most remarkable, amazing person I know, and I'm so proud to be your husband, and the father of your children."

He leaned in to kiss her, but another contraction hit then, and Kate jerked her head, startled by the pain, hitting Rick in the nose in the process. "Oh god, babe, are you okay?" Kate asked anxiously as Rick dropped her hand and then dropped back as a strangled wounded sound escaped his throat, both of his hands flying to his nose, which was bleeding.

"I'm fine," he said, even though he was anything but fine.

Alexis and Javier entered the room then, followed by Jim, Lanie, and Alan. "Whoa," Javier said, pulling up short when he saw Castle with both hands over his nose and blood dripping through his fingers.

"Lanie, check him out!" Kate called through clenched teeth as the contraction continued. Alexis, Javier, Lanie, and Jim all rushed forward, and Alan dashed out of the room and headed down the hall to the men's room they had passed on the way to Kate's room to grab as many paper towels as he could.

"What happened?" Alexis asked anxiously.

"Kate had a contraction and caught my nose with her head," Rick replied, his voice muffled. "Lanie, if it's broken, can you just pop it back in place? I'm not missing the birth of our sons!"

"You sure you didn't say some stupid man thing and Kate didn't just haul off and slug you, Castle?" Lanie said. Alan rushed back in with the paper towels then, and Lanie took them from her husband with a smile.

"No, I didn't say some stupid man thing," Rick replied.

"I'm just bustin' your chops, Castle. Let's get the bleeding stopped," Lanie said, handing over the paper towels. "Sit up," she said, shoving Dr. Elliott's rolling stool under him and gently pushing him down to sit on it. "Keep your head higher than your heart and apply pressure." Rick murmured an okay as he followed Lanie's instructions and pinched the soft part of his nose, biting the inside of his cheek at the pain coursing through his face.

"Are you all right, Katie?" Jim asked, although he was certain he knew what her reaction would be.

"I'm fine, Dad, but I'm worried I broke Rick's nose!" Kate exclaimed.

"Childbirth beats a broken nose," Rick said.

Alexis gave Kate's overnight bag to Javier, then rushed over to her father. "Do you think it's broken, Lanie?" she asked anxiously.

"I'm not sure," Lanie replied honestly. "I haven't looked at it yet."

"Where are the others?" Rick asked.

"Gram and Earl aren't here yet, Kevin and Jenny are checking on Lily and their kids, Deputy Chief Gates and her husband are getting coffee for everyone who wanted it, and Madison and Mark...actually, I haven't seen Madison and Mark since Mark gave me back Dad's car keys downstairs," Alexis said. "Has anyone else seen them?"

Everyone murmured that they hadn't seen Madison and Mark since arriving at the hospital either.

Another contraction hit Kate then, and Kevin and Jenny walked in, filling the room to capacity. Rick had gotten the bleeding stopped, and, spying a dispenser of gloves on the wall in the corner, Lanie took a pair and, after donning them, carefully probed Rick's nose. "An x-ray will tell us for sure, but my professional opinion is that it's probably broken, so you'll need to see someone about it, because you're going to need it realigned."

"Need what realigned?" Kevin asked as he and Jenny entered the room. "Kids are fine. My father-in-law's not too happy I woke him up calling, though."

"Beckett broke Castle's nose," Javier said.

"Seriously?" Kevin asked.

"It was an accident!" Kate exclaimed.

"Okay, this room is now officially a fire hazard!" shouted Dr. Elliott then as she made her way through the crowd. "What is going on?"

"Is there an ENT specialist downstairs?" Kate asked.

"Kate, I'm fine," Rick insisted.

"You're not fine," Kate retorted. "I hit him in the face with my head during a contraction, and I think I broke his nose."

"Seventeen years of delivering babies and I admit, I've seen broken fingers, and even a couple of broken hands on dads, but a broken nose is a new one on me," Dr. Elliott said. "Are you going to make it through the delivery, Rick?"

"Absolutely," Rick vowed.

"Um, Kate," Alan said, since he was standing closest to the machine monitoring her contractions. "You're about to have another contraction."

Javier followed Kevin's lead and took a step back. Jenny rolled her eyes and muttered, "Cowards." Alexis kept looking worriedly from Rick to Kate, and Jim stepped up to Kate's bedside and gave her his hand, which she crushed in her own as the next contraction rolled through her entire body. Alan just stayed out of the way as much as he could.

"Lanie, I'll see somebody later. Would you please just snap it back in place for now so I can focus completely on Kate and help her bring our sons into the world!" Rick exclaimed.

"Okay, Castle, here goes," Lanie said. Rick shouted in pain as Lanie manually realigned his nose.

"I thought Katherine would be the one screaming." Martha's voice cut through the din of noise. She and Earl had just arrived, and Victoria and Gerald Gates, each carrying a tray of cups of coffee and tea, were right behind them.

"You've got a full house," Earl said, peering over Martha's shoulder.

"And it's about to get fuller, so I'm going to need everyone out right now, please," Dr. Elliott said.

Alexis gave her dad a careful hug, then went over and gave Kate a similarly careful hug. "We'll be in the waiting room," she said.

Lanie stripped off her gloves and deposited them in the Biohazard receptacle across the room. "You're gonna do great, Kate," she said, giving her best friend a quick hug. Then she turned to regard Rick. "Castle," she began.

"Thanks for resetting my nose, Lanie," he said.

"Yeah, well, seriously, see a doctor the first chance you get, because that is **not** my area of expertise, as you well know," she said. "The good news, though, is that most broken noses heal on their own. They'll probably splint it, but a few weeks and it'll be good as new." Then she hugged him.

"Make your goodbyes fast, people," Dr. Elliott said not unkindly. Alan, Kevin, Jenny, and Javi all hugged Rick and wished Kate well, and Kate had another contraction, which spooked every man but Rick and Jim, and after they and Alexis had filed out of the room, Martha darted in to hug them both before putting her arm through Alexis's and heading off to the waiting room.

"We'll be waiting for the news," Victoria called to them from the hallway before she and Gerald headed for the waiting room with the others.

That left only Jim in the room with Kate and Rick. He looked at his watch before looking at Kate. "It's 12:04 AM," he said. "It's February 4."

Kate let out a half-sob, half-laugh. "She would be thrilled," she said as tears that had nothing to do with the physical pain of contractions and childbirth spilled from her eyes.

Jim's eyes welled up with tears now too. "She would," he agreed. "And very proud." He leaned down and kissed the top of Kate's head. "I'll be in the waiting room with the others," he said. Then he looked at Rick. "And she would be so glad it's you, Rick. And honestly, she'd also be laughing a little about your nose right now."

Another contraction rolled through Kate's body then. "Okay, Grandpa, that's your cue to leave, and ours to get to the delivery room where the rest of the team is waiting," Dr. Elliott announced then. Jim nodded, looked at Kate and Rick one last time, and then headed to the waiting room to join the others while Dr. Elliott called for two orderlies, who came in to wheel Kate into the delivery room.

Jim scrubbed at his eyes as he entered the waiting room, his jacket and tie undone and his collar unbuttoned, like the rest of the men. Lanie and Jenny, who had both worn heels to the fundraiser, had taken off their shoes. "What's happening now?" Alexis asked Jim.

"Katie and Rick are headed to the delivery room," Jim replied as he sat down.

"Everything is all right, isn't it, Jim?" Martha asked anxiously, noting Jim's watery, red-rimmed eyes.

"Everything's fine, Martha," he said. "I'm just...it's February 4."

The date didn't register with everyone right away, because not all of them knew the date's significance. Javier and Kevin exchanged a look, Lanie's jaw dropped as she realized what was going on, Martha let out a soft "oh," and Alexis caught Javier's gaze after he looked to her from Kevin and then the light bulb went off in her head.

Jenny, Alan, Victoria, Gerald, and Earl all looked bewildered. "What are we missing?" Jenny asked.

"February 4 is Johanna's birthday," Jim replied. "She would have been 69 years old today."

"The boys are going to be born on her birthday!" Alexis exclaimed.

Just then, a loud thunderclap was heard outside. "Jim, you should know better than to reveal a woman's age, especially your wife," Martha said.

Jim smiled, recognizing Martha's teasing for what it was. "You're absolutely right, Martha," he agreed. Then, looking heavenward, he added, "I'm sorry, Johanna. I shouldn't have said that."

Another thunderclap sounded, as loud as the first. "That would be Johanna telling me not to be patronizing," he said. He gave a watery chuckle.

Maddie and Mark finally arrived in the waiting room then. "Baby time yet?" Maddie asked everyone by way of greeting.

"They're in the delivery room, so soon," Victoria answered for the group. "And what detained the two of you?"

Mark was scowling. "A reporter and paparazzo from Page Six left the fundraiser and followed us here. They were trying to get up here, wanting delivery room photos of the newborns of best-selling author Richard Castle and Councilwoman Kate Beckett. They required serious persuasion to leave the premises."

Javier, Kevin, and Victoria all spoke up then, their voices overlapping.

"You should have called us for backup, man!" Esposito exclaimed.

"We could have helped you out, Mark!" Kevin declared.

"That's it, I'm calling for some officers downstairs," Victoria said, her cell phone already in hand.

"I don't think that'll be necessary, Deputy Chief," Mark said. "It turns out that some of the members of the police escort that got us here so fast were still lingering in the parking lot, because they're from the 12th Precinct. They gave me backup. I figured all of you were where you needed to be at the moment. Velazquez did have a message for you, though: that they won't be going anywhere until you tell them to, Deputy Chief. Between the officers, myself, and a couple of hospital security guards, we finally got rid of them."

"Thank you, Agent Fallon," Victoria replied.

Mark unbuttoned his tuxedo jacket, untied his tie, and opened his collar button. "Whatever I can do to help," he replied. He liked all of these people. He was Madison's significant other, and they were on the fringes of the group, because everyone else was related by blood and marriage and the bonds forged in their years of service in the NYPD together, which Mark understood. They were great people to work with, but the people he and Maddie saw the most were Kate and Rick, and Mark didn't make friends easily. He doubted he would ever be as close to Rick Castle as the others here were, but Kate was Madison's oldest and dearest friend, and whenever they could spend time with Kate and Rick, they did.

Madison and Mark sat down in chairs opposite Victoria and Gerald Gates. Everyone was quiet for a long moment, and somewhat fidgety, waiting for news. Finally Alexis broke the silence. "I wonder if they'll let us bring Lily up here later today? She's so excited about the boys."

"She's definitely going to want to see those babies, and Katherine and Richard," Martha added. "Katherine and the boys are going to be staying here for a couple of days, and Lily has never gone that long without seeing her mother before."

"We'll get her up here," Jim said then. "Even if it's only for a few minutes, I would think they would let her up here."

"I'll gown and glove her up if they want," Lanie replied seriously.

"And use plenty of hand sanitizer on her hands," Jenny added.

"We'll make sure Lily Jo gets up here later today," Jim said confidently.

"How much longer do you think it'll be?" Earl wondered. He had no experience with childbirth and newborns.

"That's up to the babies," Martha replied knowingly.

While their family eagerly awaited the arrivals of Reece and Jake, in the delivery room, Kate and Rick remained completely focused on each other, despite the presence of multiple nurses and a lot of machines. "How's your nose?" Kate asked between contractions. "I am **so** sorry."

Rick lowered his head and was able to complete the kiss he had been going for when Kate had hit his nose in the throes of a contraction. "It's okay," he said. "It's going to be all right. It's nothing compared to what you're going through, and it's going to be a great story to tell through the years."

"You're amazing," Kate said, even as she noticed the bruising and the swelling and the dried blood on Rick's nostrils.

"That's supposed to be my line right now," Rick replied.

"You're 100% effaced and completely dilated, Kate!" Dr. Elliott announced happily then. "You know what that means."

"It's time to push," Kate replied.

Dr. Elliott sat down. "Right," she said. "Rick-" She trailed off when she saw that he was already behind Kate, holding her up, giving her something to push back against. "You're both right where you need to be, so Kate, it's time to push."

Rick brushed his lips against her temple. "Here they come," he whispered in her ear.

"Here they come," Kate whispered back.

Then it was time to get down to the business of giving birth—Kate pushing, Rick counting to ten and coaching, both of them breathing.

After Kate had pushed twice, Dr. Elliott announced, "The first baby's crowning! You're doing **very** well, Kate!"

Two more pushes later, Reece Alexander Castle slipped from his mother's womb into the waiting hands of Dr. Elliott, who announced, "Castle Baby A is here! He looks great!" Before the word "great" had faded in the air, Reece was loudly wailing his displeasure. He was wrapped up and placed on Kate's chest, and now Kate and Rick were both crying too.

"Hi, Reece," Kate said through her tears. "Welcome to the world." She stroked his brown hair, still plastered to his head by the fluids of birth. He blinked his eyes open owlishly, and that was when Rick gasped softly.

"Kate, he has your eyes," Rick said thickly, softly, overwhelmed by emotion in this moment. "Hello, Reece. Hi, Peanut." He gently stroked Reece's cheek with one fingertip.

Rick cut the umbilical cord and Reece was whisked away to be cleaned up, weighed and measured, and given his Apgar tests.

Seven minutes after Reece's arrival, Jacob Rodgers Castle made his entrance, crying slightly less than his brother, but just as healthy. "Jake," Kate said when he was laid on her chest. Just hearing his name from his mother was enough to get the newborn's cry to gradually subside. "Hello there, little guy," she said.

"Hi, Jake," Rick said, cradling the back of the tiny boy's head in his palm. "Hello, Jellybean. Both of them have your eyes, Kate. Wow."

"They look so much like you, babe," Kate said. Two mini-Castles. She and Rick had two sons and two daughters now; their family was complete. (Rick had had a vasectomy in Kate's seventh month of pregnancy.)

"They're extraordinary, just like Lily, and like you," Rick said.

"And like you," Kate told him.

After Kate delivered the placenta, and the boys were cleaned up and weighed, diapered and swaddled and wearing their little hats, and they were placed in Kate's arms.

"You're still going to be our guests for two days," Dr. Elliott said, "but you and these boys are perfectly healthy, Kate. Baby A-"

"Reece," Kate and Rick interjected in unison. Reece was mewling slightly.

"Reece," Dr. Elliott corrected herself, "is five pounds, eight ounces, and sixteen inches. And..."

"Jake," they answered in unison again.

"Jake is five pounds, ten ounces, and sixteen inches. They both got a nine on their Apgars, and they'll probably be wanting to eat soon, so we'll get you settled back in your room so you can get ready for that. Congratulations. They're beautiful boys."

"Thank you, Dr. Elliott. For everything," Kate said.

"Thank you," Rick added.

By the time they were settled in their hospital room, Reece was dozing, and Jake was looking around, seemingly observing everything. Rick couldn't stop smiling. Kate was exhausted and elated at the same time.

"They picked a great birthday," Rick said.

"My mom would be over the moon," Kate replied. "My dad is." She looked at Rick. "How's your nose now?"

"I'm still running on adrenaline and endorphins," he replied, "but even when they wear off, it won't matter to me, because this is one of the best days of my life." He was sitting beside Kate, and he leaned down and carefully kissed Jake's forehead, then Reece's cheek, and then Kate's lips, softly, gently. She responded in kind.

"You'd better go and tell everyone the boys are here and we're all okay," Kate said, "and then go down to the ER and have them do whatever they need to do to your nose."

"All right," Rick agreed, "but I'm staying here with you and the boys tonight."

"What about Lily?" Kate asked.

"I'm sure that's already taken care of," Rick replied, "but I'll make sure she gets home to her own bed."

While Kate, Reece and Jake settled into their regular room, Rick made his way to the waiting room. He literally had only one foot in the door when everyone jumped to their feet and started rushing toward him, all talking at once, wanting to know about Kate, wanting to know about the twins, and wanting to know how Rick's nose was.

"REECE AND JAKE ARE HERE!" Rick shouted over the din, and that shut everybody up immediately. "Everyone is perfectly healthy—that's a direct quote from Dr. Elliott. Reece is five pounds, eight ounces, and sixteen inches. Jake is five pounds, ten ounces, and sixteen inches. They both have Kate's eyes, just like Lily, and brown hair like both of us. Reece came out screaming his head off, and Jake was slightly quieter. Reece was born at 12:47 AM, and Jake was born seven minutes later, at 12:54 AM, and yes, they share their Grandma Johanna's birthday, February 4. My nose is starting to hurt now that the adrenaline and endorphins are wearing off, and I promised Kate I'd go down to the ER, and we need someone to take Lily home to her own bed and stay with her."

"We've got that covered already, Richard," Martha assured him.

"Yeah, Dad, we're going to stay at the loft with Lily after we pick her up from Kevin and Jenny's," Alexis replied, gesturing between herself and Javier, and Jim.

Rick headed down to the ER then to have his nose treated, and Kate, Reece, and Jake had a steady stream of visitors.

"They're so tiny," Alexis said in a hushed voice.

"Not from where I'm sitting," Kate replied.

"That's right," Martha agreed. "And you did it without an epidural."

"That's because she's a rock star," Lanie replied.

Everyone wanted to hold the babies, but they were very good about taking turns. Martha held Jake first. "Hello, Jacob," she said. "I'm your Gram, and you are my namesake. Now, I'm going to be just as indulgent with you and Reece as I have always been, and continue to be, with Lily and Alexis. But I'm also going to be your mommy's secret weapon, because I raised your daddy by myself. So any mischief you and your brother decide to get up to as you grow up, I'm sure I've already seen it, or something like it, from your father."

"I'm going to hold you to that, Martha," Kate replied seriously.

Alexis was holding Reece. "They both definitely have your eyes, Mom, but I see a lot of Dad in both Reece and Jake too."

"They both have Castle's nose," Kevin said. When everyone looked at him, he added, "Seriously. Before his injury, I mean."

"Two mini-Castles," Lanie said. "Lord have mercy, Kate, I hope you know what you're in for here."

"We've got it covered, Lanie," Kate replied.

"Three Castles," Victoria mused. "You're a very brave woman, Kate."

"I look at it as blessed," Kate replied honestly.

Alexis handed Reece off to Martha, who handed Jake off to Jim. Victoria, Lanie, Kevin, Javier, Alan, and Madison each had a turn holding both boys as well.

Reece wasn't reacting very well to being passed around. Jake was much more Zen about the whole thing, but Reece got fussy.

Rick returned from the ER then, with his nose splinted and some slight bruising under his right eye. "It's going to heal on its own," he reported. "Very minor break. Infinitesimal. And completely worth it. And I saw LT and Velazquez outside. The whole 12th Precinct sends their congratulations and their love."

Reece was working up to a full wail in Lanie's arms now, and Jenny was holding Jake, who began flailing his arms in response to his brother's cries. "It's really late," Jenny said. "We should get going. But we'll be back tomorrow…or rather, later today."

Jenny carefully placed Reece in Kate's arms. He began to settle down once he was back in his mother's arms as she crooned to him.

Lanie placed Jake in Rick's arms.

Everyone said their good nights and drifted out of Kate's room after a final round of hugs and congratulations.

Alexis, Javier, and Jim were the last ones to leave; Kate had fallen asleep, and Rick had settled the boys in their little wheeled bassinets next to Kate's hospital bed. "We're gonna go," Alexis said. "How are you?"

"About ten feet off the ground, and no, I haven't had any painkillers because I had a drink at the fundraiser," Rick replied.

"Father of four now," Alexis said.

"And big sister of three," Rick replied, looking at Alexis.

"It's all gonna be so amazing," Alexis said.

"And exhausting," Rick said knowingly.

"But worth every second," Jim said.

"Definitely worth every second," Rick replied.

"Is it okay if Javier and I take your car, since Lily's car seat is already in it?" Alexis asked her father then. "We took a cab to Q3 earlier, so we can bring the car back tomorrow when we bring Lily to meet Reece and Jake."

"Yeah," Rick said, digging his car keys out of his pocket again, since Mark had returned them before he and Madison left. He, Kate, Reece and Jake were going to have a lot of visitors later today, he thought.

Javier took the keys from Castle. "Congratulations again," he said, and went in for the kind of bro hug he usually only shared with Ryan.

Alexis hugged her father good night, and then she and Javier left to get Lily from the Ryans' and take her home.

Then it was just Jim and Rick. "You okay to get home, Jim?" Rick asked.

"Yes, I am," Jim assured Rick. "And I'll never be able to thank you enough, Rick. Neither would Johanna." At Rick's questioning gaze, Jim elaborated. "For loving Katie the way you do. For making her so happy. For making me a grandfather. For giving Katie and me the incredible gift of a big, crazy in all the best ways family when we thought it was lost to both of us for good."

Then Jim hugged Rick. "I'll see you later today," he said. Jim kissed Kate on the forehead, and she didn't even stir. Then he leaned over the boys' bassinets, and they were both sleeping now. "Reece, Jake, I'll see you later today. Happy birthday. You share a birthday with a very special lady, and I'm going to tell you all about her as you grow up. And tomorrow, we'll bring Lily Jo to meet you. She's your other big sister. I love all of you." He bent and kissed the top of Reece's head, then the top of Jake's head, and then Jim left, whistling "Happy Birthday" under his breath and thinking of Johanna, Reece, and Jake all three.

Alone at last with Kate, Reece, and Jake, and assured that Alexis, Esposito and Jim would be taking care of Lily and bringing her to the hospital tomorrow to meet her baby brothers, Rick looked down at the boys and could swear he felt his heart grow in his chest. "I think we have a lot of late nights ahead of us," he said softly, "but you guys...I love you. And I will love you and your mommy and your sisters until the end of time. I just ask you to bear with me, because I know how to be a dad to girls because of Alexis and Lily. I didn't have a dad growing up. I still don't, really. But I promise you, I'll learn whatever I need to learn to be the best dad I can to you, Reece, and to you, Jake." He brushed a kiss across each boy's cheek, and then walked around Kate's bed. She was so exhausted, she was actually snoring lightly. "You will forever amaze me, Kate. You're the center of the universe. I love you." Then he carefully climbed into the hospital bed next to her and fell asleep with visions of the future with Kate, Alexis, Lily, Reece and Jake dancing through his dreams.

* * *

When Lily woke up, she was surprised that Mommy and Daddy were not at home, but that Alexis, Uncle Javi, and Grandpa Jim were there, and then Gram and Pops arrived while they were eating breakfast. The last thing Lily remembered was being at Uncle Kevin and Aunt Jenny's with Sarah Grace and Nick and their grandma and grandpa. While they ate breakfast, Alexis explained that she and Uncle Javi had brought Lily home and tucked her into her own bed, and she was so tired, she didn't wake up until morning.

"But where are Mommy and Daddy?" Lily asked.

"They're at the hospital, Lily, because our brothers were born last night," Alexis replied.

Lily's eyes grew wide as saucers. "Our brothers are here?" she asked excitedly.

"They are here," Martha confirmed.

"And we're all going to the hospital to see them," Jim added.

Lily began bouncing up and down in her seat. "When?" she asked.

"As soon as we get dressed," Alexis replied. "Excuse us, please, everyone." She took Lily's hand, and the sisters headed upstairs. Alexis helped Lily get dressed, and then they were off to the hospital.

Lily held Alexis's hand in the elevator, and then they walked down a long hallway before turning into a room. Mommy was in the bed holding a baby, and Daddy, with a funny-looking silver Band-Aid covering most of his nose (Alexis had explained on the ride to the hospital that Daddy had an owie on his nose but that he was okay), was sitting in the chair next to Mommy's bed holding a baby, and they both had big smiles on their faces that got even bigger when they saw Lily and Alexis.

"There's our Lily," Mommy said.

"Hi, Sweetpea," Daddy greeted her happily. "Come and meet your brothers."

Lily had had it drilled into her for a long time now that she needed to be quiet around the babies by most of the adults in her life and even by Sarah Grace. She let go of Alexis's hand, Alexis quickly squirted some of the hand sanitzer in her purse onto Lily's hand and coached her through rubbing it into her hands, and then Lily tiptoed closer to Mommy and Daddy.

The babies were tiny. "Lily, this is Reece," Mommy said, looking from Lily to the baby she was holding.

"And this is Jake," Daddy added.

Lily looked at the tiny baby in Daddy's arms, and then at the tiny baby in Mommy's arms. "They look just like each other," she said.

"That's because they're twins," Daddy said. "Remember when Mommy and I told you that you were going to have two little brothers? They look just like each other because they're identical twins."

"And they're boys," Lily said.

"Yes, they're boys. They're your brothers, sweetheart," Mommy replied.

Lily peered down at Jake in Daddy's arms. He was awake and looking up at her. "Hi, Jakey," she said. "I'm your big sister Lily. We have another big sister, Alexis." Jake flailed a tiny hand around, and Lily reached out to try and still Jake's hand, and her surprise shone on her whole face when Jake wrapped his tiny hand around her index finger. "Jakey's holding my hand!" she exclaimed in a stage whisper.

"He is," Daddy said. Alexis, meanwhile, surreptitiously took pictures, and Jim and Martha just stood there, watching and beaming at the whole tableau.

"Mommy, will Reecey hold my hand too?" Lily asked.

"He just woke up," Mommy said, as Reece stirred in her arms. "You'll have to let go of Jake's hand to come over here."

Lily gently unwrapped Jake's tiny hand from her finger, and then Grandpa Jim lifted her up so that she was sitting on Mommy's bed. "Hi, Reecey, I'm your big sister Lily," she said, offering her finger to Reece. "We have another big sister, Alexis." Reece didn't take Lily's finger right away. Kate gently touched Reece's tiny closed fist, and when his facile fingers opened, Lily stuck her finger in Reece's tiny palm before his fingers closed around her hand.

"So what do you think of your little brothers, Lily?" Mommy asked.

Lily considered the question for a minute before answering, "I think they're tiny and cute."

Alexis came over then and sat down at the foot of Kate's bed. "I agree with Lily," she said.

Jim had brought his new digital camera and decided to take a posed picture. "Everybody smile," he directed.

He took the first posed pictures of Kate and Rick with all four of their children: Reece in Kate's arms, Jake in Rick's arms, Lily sitting on Alexis's lap on the edge of Kate's bed, and Lily's finger still clutched in Reece's tiny hand.

Lily chattered away to Reece and Jake, going back and forth from one boy to the other, telling them about their room at home and all their aunts and uncles and Gram and Grandpa Jim and Pops and that she was glad they were here. "Sarah Grace says you'll cry really loud sometimes and wake me up at night," she said. "But that's just part of being a big sister, she says. And she's been a big sister a long time, so she would know. But even when you cry really loud and wake me up at night, I'll still be your big sister and I'll still love you, Reece, and Jake." She leaned down and kissed Reece on the cheek, then climbed down from Kate's hospital bed and made her way back to Rick's side, where she leaned down and kissed Jake's cheek.

"I think you're going to be an excellent big sister, Lily," Gram said.

"I think she already is an excellent big sister," Grandpa Jim said.

Kate and Rick just smiled at each other. Neither of them had ever dealt with sibling rivalry, both being only children, and they were sure there would be plenty of sibling rivalry in their future. But they also knew that underneath the sibling rivalry, their children, all four of them, would be friends and allies and would always have each other's backs. Kate and Rick would see to that.

Rick looked at Kate. "One of the happiest days of my life," he said again.

"Mine too," Kate replied, smiling at him.


	97. Chapter 92

**_Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story._**

 ** _This chapter covers early February-April 1, 2020, and all of the places, and three childrens' TV shows, one of which doesn't even premiere until this summer (2018) mentioned in this chapter are real._**

* * *

Going from a household with one mostly well-behaved, albeit precocious, almost-3-year-old child to a household with one mostly well-behaved, albeit precocious, almost 3-year-old child _**and**_ newborn twin boys who were nowhere near ready for any kind of quote-unquote "normal" schedule was a seismic shift for Kate and Rick.

They were both grateful for Kate's maternity leave, and the flexibility of Rick's work allowing him to take an extended break as well; supplemental bottle feedings; and what Lanie had always referred to as "that shared brain thing," because their "shared brain thing" had transferred from murder theory to parenthood, to the point that they didn't often need to complete sentences that, especially in the wee small hours of the morning, they were too tired to complete anyway, while tending to Reece and Jake's most basic needs.

"Babe, can you-"

"Yeah, I'll burp Reece while you feed Jake. Easy there, Jellybean, it's your turn."

"Okay, Reece, good boy. Go to Daddy and give him a nice big burp, okay?"

A side effect of the late-night exhaustion was that Kate and Rick would also sometimes revert to referring to each other as 'Beckett' and 'Castle,' even though that was something they rarely did anymore, and not when they were more alert.

"Beckett, where's-"

"Changing table, middle drawer."

"Thanks. I know, I know it's gross, I don't like it either, but I'll have you cleaned up just as fast as I can, Peanut, okay?"

"Castle, did you-"

"In the kitchen. There you go, Reece. I'll go and get a bottle and feed Jake if you want to try and get Reece calmed down."

"Deal," Kate replied, handing the shrieking Jake off to Rick and accepting the wailing Reece from Rick in return.

Nights were Mommy and Daddy's domain, but Grandpa Jim was on hand every single day, from 7 AM until Lily went to sleep at 7:30 PM, and he was a godsend, allowing Kate and Rick to spend time with Lily, helping to take care of both Reece and Jake, and bonding with all three children, Katie and Rick in ways that would never have happened otherwise. Grandpa Jim was unfazed by diapers and spit-up, could give a bottle and burp a baby like a pro, and was always up for anything Lily wanted to do, whether it was read the same Dr. Seuss book ten times, play tea party or Princess (complete with crown and a bright pink feather boa inherited from Martha), draw and color pictures, or watch the latest Disney Junior and Nick Jr fare, although Lily's TV time was severely restricted, but _Puppy Dog Pals, Vampirina,_ and _Butterbean's Cafe_ were Lily's favorites and among the handful of age-appropriate shows she was allowed to watch.

Gram and Pops spent a good deal of time there as well. Jim handled the everyday day-to-day for the most part, but Martha, with an increasingly confident-around-the-babies Earl accompanying her, usually spent at least a few hours at the loft every day, and did plenty of her own bonding with Lily, Reece, and Jake, and with Katherine and Richard as well.

One morning when Reece and Jake were five weeks old, after a particularly harrowing night in which only Lily slept peacefully (another thing Kate and Rick were both grateful for: Lily's ability to sleep through whatever ruckus one or both of her brothers created past midnight), with all three grandparents on hand to tend to all three children, Jim and Martha sent the almost-asleep-on-their-feet Kate and Rick back to bed. Lily giggled, thinking it was funny that Mommy and Daddy were being sent to take a nap.

Before following Kate to their bedroom, Rick surprised Martha by giving her a big hug. "I haven't told you this anywhere close to often enough," he said tiredly, "but you raising me by yourself...Mother, I don't know how you did it. You're an incredible mother. I know I didn't make it easy sometimes."

Martha hugged Richard back and then drew back, looking at the exhaustion on his face, in his eyes, and she framed his face in her hands. "Children make the parents," she replied. "I turned out to be an incredible mother because you, Richard, have been and are an incredible son. Now go get some sleep before you fall down at my feet, darling."

Kate was already asleep in their bed. Rick collapsed beside her, and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Earl was seated on the couch, giving Reece a bottle, while Martha sat beside him with Jake in her arms, talking to him as he stared up at her intently. Jim and Lily were seated on the floor at the coffee table, coloring pictures together.

"You have a good appetite, Reece," Earl said as Reece happily devoured his bottle. "You know, I never thought this would happen to me. Having a family, I mean. Being a grandpa...or, rather, a 'Pops.' But I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Of course, at this stage it's fairly easy, although I think your mom and dad would disagree with me on that. But you and your brother and your sisters...There's something amazing about watching you guys grow and become your own people. Now, I'm not the guy to go to if you wanna learn anything about sports. But I'll come to all your games and give all the obnoxious parents a run for their money cheering for you. I'll probably embarrass you, but you'll learn to live with that. You and your brother and sisters are surrounded by love, and sometimes we're going to embarrass you, but as someone who desperately wanted to be embarrassed by his family when he was younger and never was because they just didn't care enough to come and watch me do what I was doing in the drama club and in the orchestra, when you get to be my age and you look back, you're gonna be glad that your parents and your grandparents and all your aunts and uncles were there embarrassing the heck out of you, because we're only gonna do that because we love you so much and we're so proud of you. Whatever you and Jake and Lily are interested in, I'll be there for it, and I'll read up on it beforehand if I don't know anything about it. Like golf, for instance. I don't know a thing about golf, but if you want to play golf, I'll be out there following the crowd like I'm on a Grateful Dead tour and watching every time you hit the ball.

"There's a whole big world out there, and Reece, you and Jake and Lily and Alexis...You're all going to have that world by the tail someday, each in your own ways. And I'm a lucky guy, because I'm gonna get to watch the four of you get the world by the tail, each in your own ways." Reece had finished his bottle by now, but was mesmerized by the sound of Earl's voice, the way Earl spoke to him. Earl set the empty bottle aside, put Reece up over his shoulder, and gently rubbed and patted his back until he elicited a hearty burp from the small boy. "Atta boy!" he encouraged Reece before carefully bringing him down from his shoulder.

Martha had put Jake in his swing, where he was dozing while the swing gently glided back and forth at its lowest setting, and Lily and Jim had long since retreated to Lily's bedroom upstairs so as not to disturb the babies. Earl's concentration on Reece and his conversation with the tiny boy had so engrossed him that he hadn't noticed Lily and Jim's departure, or Martha getting Jake to sleep in his swing. She had seen and heard Earl talking to Reece as he gave him his bottle, and while Jake, even at five weeks of age, was the one who always seemed to be studying and observing everything and everyone, Reece seemed to be listening intently to every word Earl was saying.

"You're a wonderful 'Pops,'" Martha said, looking at Earl softly.

Earl looked up from Reece's tiny face to Martha's beautiful one beside him. "I wouldn't have ever known how this feels if it wasn't for you. I was alone for a really long time, and I got used to it. As used to it as anyone can get, anyway. And then I met you, and everything I thought I'd missed out on, everything I thought I would never know or experience...You brought it all into my life, Martha. You saved me from becoming a lonely old man." Just then, Reece began to squirm and fuss in Earl's arms, and Earl felt the telltale warmth on Reece's diapered and onesie-clad backside. "I think he's wet," Earl said, looking slightly panicked, because unlike Martha and Jim Beckett, he had not mastered diapers at all.

Martha smiled. "Well, we can't have that," she said, taking the fussy Reece from Earl. "Let's go get you changed, darling, and then maybe Pops and I can sing you a little lullaby, hmm?"

After Martha changed Reece, they returned to the living room, where Earl had kept watch over the sleeping Jake. Martha then began softly singing "On the Street Where You Live." Earl joined her, and their singing did indeed lull Reece to sleep.

When Reece was asleep in his swing, Martha put her arms around Earl. "I love you," she told him. "And I love that you love our family the way you do."

Earl smiled as he put his arms around Martha and pulled her closer. "I love you too," he replied. "And thank you for bringing not only yourself but this incredible family into my life." They kissed then, stealing a moment before the boys awoke, before Richard and Katherine awoke, before Lily and Jim emerged from Lily's bedroom, before all the chaos and joy of their family swept them up again.

* * *

Alexis was on track to graduate with her JD from Columbia Law School in May, and had already filed to take the New York State Bar Exam in July.

She and Javier were also beginning to plan their wedding. If anyone thought it odd that Alexis found wedding planning a stress reliever from the final months of law school, they didn't say so.

Neither Alexis nor Javier believed in long engagements, so they knew they wanted to get married before all the holidays, and Alexis refused to take November away from her parents, so she didn't want a November wedding. She was leaning towards an August wedding, and she and Javier finally settled on August 15 for the big day.

That gave them about five months to pull everything together, which Alexis was confident they could do.

Alexis had been looking around online in her spare time, and a hotel wedding didn't really appeal to her. But Kevin and Jenny had been married in Jenny's home parish; Kate and Rick were married at the Hamptons house; and Lanie and Alan had married at The Glasshouses. All of those were automatically ruled out, because Alexis didn't want to copy anyone. And both of their home churches were already booked solid for summer weddings, which Alexis and Javier confessed to each other that they were relieved about, because neither of them wanted to try and force a church wedding on the other.

"Actually, this works out better, because I'd really like Pete to officiate at our wedding, if you're okay with that," Javier said.

"Pete?" Alexis asked.

"Father Peter Gilliam," Javier replied. "Formerly Major Father Peter Gilliam, U.S. Army Chaplain Corps, Retired. He's the pastor at St. Brendan in Brooklyn now."

"Oh yeah, you told me about him," Alexis remembered. "Yeah, if he can do it, that'd be great."

"I'm sure he'd be willing to handle the pre-wedding counseling too," Javier said.

"Great," Alexis replied. "The biggest thing is going to be finding a place to get married. I really think everything else will pretty much fall in line after that."

"Well, we're thinking in the city, right?" Javier said.

"Yes," Alexis replied.

"Okay. In the city, but not a church because they're all booked, not a hotel because neither one of us likes the idea of a hotel wedding, not the Hamptons 'cause that's not in the city and that's where Castle and Beckett got married, not The Glasshouses because that's where Lanie and Alan got married." He paused. "Q3?"

"Rehearsal dinner," Alexis reminded him.

"Oh, right," Javier said. "I guess I better get on that. That's my responsibility—the rehearsal dinner and the honeymoon. And the tuxes, which we'll all go get fitted for later this summer. Nick's a 'no' on being our ringbearer, by the way."

"That's all right. If he doesn't want to do it, we're not going to force him," Alexis said. She was scrolling down a list of wedding venues, and she stopped at one that caused her to click the link and then exhale once the site loaded.

Javier rounded the kitchen table at his apartment to her side. "Lyndhurst Castle," he read. He skimmed the general information. "Thirty-five minutes outside New York City. That's not bad."

"You don't think it's too corny? A Castle getting married at a castle?" Alexis asked.

"Not if it's what you want," Javier replied, kneeling beside Alexis's chair.

"What do you want? This is your wedding too," she reminded him. "I don't want you to feel like I'm making all the big decisions and steamrolling over you or not taking what you want into consideration."

"I'm getting exactly what I want," Javier assured her. "I get to be your husband, and I get to call you my wife. So we can get married in the middle of Central Park, or parachuting into Madison Square Garden, or at the North Pole. Just as long as at the end of the day, I'm your husband and you're my wife."

"We should look at this place," Alexis said seriously.

"Let's see if we can get in there this weekend," Javier replied, pulling out his phone.

A few minutes later, he and Alexis had an appointment to talk to the wedding coordinator at Lyndhurst Castle that coming Saturday.

"It's starting to come together," Alexis said. "It's very, very early, but it's starting to come together." She smiled.

Javier tucked an errant strand of Alexis's hair behind her ear. "It's going to be perfect," he promised. "It's going to be everything we want."

"That's the goal," Alexis replied.

Javier shook his head. "Huh-uh. That's how it's going to be."

"You sound very serious," Alexis replied.

"Because I **am** very serious," Javier replied. "You and me, getting married, being husband and wife…This is sacred, Lex."

Alexis felt shivers up and down her spine at Javier's words, at the look in his eyes. She knew he really felt that their marriage would be sacred.

She realized she felt the same way.

"It is," she agreed before he pulled her into an embrace.

* * *

Rick's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year. It was a whirlwind of a day, starting bright and early when Kate, Lily, Reece, Jake, and Alexis, who had sneaked into the loft the night before unbeknownst to Rick, surprised him by waking him up at 5 AM (Reece and Jake were still sleeping in Kate and Rick's bedroom in their bassinets), Alexis holding Reece, Kate holding Jake, and Lily jumping up and down on Kate's side of the bed shouting "Happy birthday, Daddy!"

They did gifts at breakfast, where they were joined by Martha, Earl, and Jim. Kate had had pictures taken by a professional photographer of all four kids together and individually, and Jim had coordinated with her and given Rick a pre-booked photo session for family portraits in May.

"They all seem to have inherited the Rodgers and Castle love of the camera," Earl mused as he looked at the photographs.

"I was just glad that Reece and Jake were fresh from their naps and Alexis was there to help keep order," Kate replied honestly. Then she leaned down and said so only Rick could hear her, "And you have another gift coming from me later, babe, but it's definitely a grown-ups only gift."

Rick gave Kate a hopeful, raised-eyebrow look. She bit her bottom lip and gave him a shy smile before turning to take Jake from Martha, and that lip bite and shy smile confirmed Rick's hopes as to what this "grown-ups only" gift was. He and Kate hadn't made love since before Reece and Jake were born, although they had been given the green light by their doctors; Kate was completely healed from the boys' birth, and Rick's vasectomy had been successful. (Rick's nose had also healed completely. Kate still felt badly about accidentally breaking his nose during a contraction while about to give birth to Reece and Jake, but Rick insisted it was a great story to hand down, which they would.)

Earl had a friend who sold vintage movie posters, and after learning from Martha about Rick's love for the movie _Forbidden Planet,_ Earl bought Rick one of the original movie posters and had it framed. "Wow, Earl, I don't know what to say!" Rick exclaimed, surprised that Earl had gone to such lengths for his birthday.

"Well, the credit for the idea goes entirely to your mother," Earl replied. "I just called my friend and had it framed, and I'm glad you like it."

Lily's gift was her handprints in purple poster paint framed with "Lily, 3/2020" written with Kate's help. She was the one who suggested that Alexis, Reece, and Jake do their handprints too, so Kate, with help from Jim, Martha, Earl, and Alexis, had done Reece's handprints in blue, Jake's in green, and Alexis had done her own handprints in red, along with their first names and "3/2020" inscribed at the bottom of the framed pictures. Alexis also gave her father a first edition of the book _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies._

"That's what the original was missing," Rick said appreciatively. "Zombies."

Martha's gift was a weekend in the Poconos in mid-September, about a month after Alexis and Javier's wedding. She had booked Richard and Katherine in for a long weekend, Friday morning to Monday afternoon, at The French Manor Inn and Spa in the northern Poconos, and they would have a room with a private balcony, a fireplace, and a Jacuzzi in their room. She had also booked them for a Couples Massage. "Reece and Jacob will be seven months old by then, and you two will absolutely deserve a weekend away to yourselves. Jim and Earl and I will all stay here with Lily, Reece and Jacob while you're away."

"Mother, you are amazing," Rick replied. He gave her a big hug. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Martha said, hugging him back.

"We're coming back for cake and ice cream tonight," Alexis said. She checked her watch. "And if I don't leave right now, I'll be late for class." She made her way around the room in a quick flurry of hugs, kisses, and "See you tonight"s before grabbing her purse and messenger bag and rushing out the door.

"All right," Jim said, clapping his hands together. "Time for everyone to get cleaned up for the day out with the grandparents!"

"Day out?" Rick asked.

"Richard, we have four grandchildren. We know that you and Katherine have...you know," Martha said.

"Mommy and Daddy have what, Gram?" Lily piped up.

Jim and Earl both tried to hide their smirks as Martha scrambled to answer Lily. "Mommy and Daddy have very important things to do today, Lily," Martha said. "Grown-up things."

"Oh," Lily said. "We're going to the zoo and the playground," she told her parents then. "And you'll have to do boring old grown-up things, and on your birthday, Daddy."

"Well, that's what being a grown-up means, Sweetpea," Rick said with a straight face. "You go have fun with Gram and Grandpa Jim and Pops and your brothers, though."

After Lily had gone to the potty, and Reece and Jake had fresh diapers, and everyone had jackets and all of the kids were wearing their New York Yankees caps from Grandpa Jim, and Earl, the self-designated "pack mule," was loaded down with diaper bags filled with goldfish crackers and juice boxes for Lily, diapers, wipes, bottles, small toys, and changes of clothes for Reece and Jake, and the boys had been loaded into their double stroller with Jim driving, the children and grandparents were finally ready to depart. After hugs and kisses from Rick and Kate, the kids and grandparents left, with Martha promising to text when they were ready to return home, although the plan was to keep the kids out for at least three hours.

And then Rick and Kate were alone.

"So," Rick said, putting his arms around Kate's waist, "this 'grown-up' birthday present you have for me..."

Kate was seriously earnest as her arms went around his neck. "Our old record was two months. It's been almost three months, no amnesia, no zombie alarms, no Martha, as much as I adore her, getting tangled up in your sexy nerdy zombie alarms, just you and me," she said as her hands slid down his arms and she began heading towards their bedroom.

He beamed back at her, stopping her just over the threshold of their room, turning her around to face him, and then pulling her in for a sizzling kiss.

Within seconds, they were pulling each other's clothes off and then falling onto their bed, all tangled up in each other. They made love twice, the first time fast, and the second time slowly, with lingering kisses and caresses and softly spoken words of love.

In the afterglow, they lay wrapped up in each other's arms, sharing long, slow kisses. When the need for oxygen forced them to stop kissing, Rick framed Kate's face in his hands. "You are the living embodiment of every birthday wish I ever made. Every wish I ever made on a star. Every prayer I ever prayed during all the lonely years of my life. Let me find someone to love. Someone to take care of and grow old with. Someone to make a home and a family and a life with. Someone who will know the real me, and love me for being that person, nerdy tendencies, goofball moments, and all. I started wishing for you when I was 14, Kate. And praying for you. I always had Mother, and then Alexis. And there were times I wondered if I was greedy to want more. I guess I wasn't, because we found each other. I'm grateful for that, for you and for our family, every day."

Kate blinked away tears. "I love you," she said, raining kisses all over his face. "I love you so much, Rick. All the different sides of you. The father you are. All the things I lost when my mom died that you've given back to me. Knowing that I can count on you, in a world where I spent a long time not really counting on anybody but me. Making this home and this family and this life with you...If I had known when I felt so alone all those years that I'd find you, and you would fill my heart to overflowing with all the love and laughter and joy and peace that you give me every day..." She kissed him deeply before resting her forehead against his. "Happy birthday, my love."

Rick just breathed Kate in for a long moment before kissing her again. Their makeout session was interrupted by Rick's phone buzzing with a text from Martha. "I think grown-up time is almost over," Kate said.

Rick, one arm still holding Kate against his chest, snagged his phone off the bedside table. "Yeah, Mother says they're on their way back," he said. Replacing the phone after tapping out a two-letter answer to Martha ("OK"), he looked at Kate, lying on his chest, and said, "Think we have time for a shower before they get home?"

"Not for the kind of shower you're thinking of," Kate replied.

"I know," he said. "Maybe we can do that later."

"Well, you **are** the birthday boy," she said with a smile. Tossing the covers off, she rolled off of him, and he followed her into the bathroom. "Cleaning up now," she reminded him as she turned on the shower. "Recreational shower later."

He smiled. "Okay," he agreed before they stepped into the shower and under the hot spray.


	98. Chapter 93

_**Thank you to everyone who is reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting. This chapter covers the rest of April 2020. (More big things are coming up starting in May 2020.)  
**_

* * *

When they pulled up to Lyndhurst Castle, the sharp inhale of Alexis's breath was all Javier needed to know that this was where they would be getting married. Even Javier was impressed. Websites and pictures can be misleading, but Lyndhurst Castle was not exaggerating or lying outright: it was an honest-to-God castle, a gray stone exterior with turrets and towers and facades and all those other words used in fairy tales or books on medieval times. Oh sure, the wording described it in the Photo Gallery section as "The Mansion," but Javier knew a castle when he saw one, and this was a castle, no doubt about it.

"The pictures didn't do it justice," Javier said as he parked the car and turned off the ignition.

"Look at this place," Alexis said, sounding awed. "What a backdrop that castle is."

"Backdrop?" Javier asked, slightly confused.

"For the pictures," Alexis replied. "We can have the ceremony either in the castle, since it's a wedding party under 40, on The Great Lawn, or in the Rose Garden. The middle of August, it's probably better to have the wedding inside. Then we don't have to worry about the weather, whether it's hot enough to make people keel over from heatstroke, or if it would rain, then everything would be ruined. But after the ceremony, the pictures...As long as it's not raining, we could do those outside, with the castle as the backdrop."

"I guess I hadn't thought in that much detail yet," Javier mused. "But yeah, that sounds amazing. And we can have the reception right here too, I do remember reading about that."

"It's not a done deal yet," Alexis said.

"That's just a formality at this point," Javier replied. He reached across the console and took Alexis's hand in his. "This is where we're going to get married. I saw and heard the way you reacted when we pulled up. This is the place, Lex."

"Not if we don't talk to Susie the wedding coordinator, it isn't," Alexis said.

"Well then, let's go talk to her," Javier replied. He got out of the car, walked around to the passenger side, and opened the door for Alexis.

Susie the wedding coordinator was an overly bubbly, perky-to-the-point-of-annoying woman near 30, who felt that every wedding was an Event, with a capital E. Luckily, at least from Javier's point of view, she didn't seem to require much of him, and he realized that she was the type who thought that the wedding was all about the bride, and that the groom was an ornamental necessity approximately two steps above the flowers.

"August 15," Susie said, tapping away at her iPhone. "You're in luck. Four months is short notice, but we had a cancellation, so we do have the afternoon and evening free. You will be having the reception on site, of course."

Javier and Alexis exchanged a look. "Most likely," Javier replied.

"How about a tour, so we can see all of our options?" Alexis asked.

"Wonderful!" Susie exclaimed. "Right this way."

Javier and Alexis fell into step behind Susie. "She may not think you're important here, but I do," Alexis assured Javier, so only he could hear her.

"That's all that matters to me," Javier replied, taking Alexis's hand as Susie led them all over the grounds and the interior of Lyndhurst Castle.

When they concluded the tour, Alexis said, "This is the place."

"Definitely," Javier agreed.

"We want to have the ceremony inside the mansion," Alexis said, "in the parlor."

"Yeah, I think everyone will fit in there," Javier agreed.

"Pictures on the Great Lawn," Alexis added.

"And the reception under a tent in the Courtyard," Javier concluded.

"Exactly," Alexis agreed.

Susie was tapping furiously on her phone now. "All right," she agreed, "that's a start."

Javier squeezed Alexis's hand, and she squeezed his hand back. There would be a million more things to do, or at least that's what it would seem like, but it was definitely a start.

* * *

Jake waved his arms and kicked his legs. Having completed what Mommy, Daddy, and Grandpa Jim called "tummy time," now Mommy had scooped him up and laid him in his crib on his back. Daddy laid Reece down next to him.

Reece may have been born first, but Jake was the one always watching, always observing. And everyone around them—or at least Mommy and Daddy and Grandpa Jim, who they saw the most, and then Gram, Pops, Lily, Alexis, and Javier, who they saw the next most—was already commenting on that fact. They had a lot of aunts and uncles, and Jake was still learning which names went with which aunts and uncles.

Reece's hand landed on Jake's arm then, and Jake looked at his brother. He wasn't entirely sure what a brother was, and he was even less sure what a sister was, even though he and Reece had two sisters—Lily and Alexis. But he knew he loved everyone and they loved him.

While Jake was more observant and liked to watch everything and everyone around him, Reece made more noise, and liked to "talk" all the time, to everyone, or even to no one. Jake, on the other hand, tended to reserve his "conversations"-cooing, vowel sounds, and baby babble, same as Reece was doing—to one-on-one interactions.

As they grew, Jake would be more like his mother in terms of personality and temperament, while Reece would take after his father more in terms of personality and temperament.

Reece was babbling a mile a minute, and Jake turned his full attention to Reece. He reached up to pat Reece's hand, then answered Reece back when Reece paused for breath.

Kate and Rick were standing in the doorway of the nursery, giving Reece and Jake their "twin time," as the books called it, as much to themselves as they could. "I wonder if they're going to have some kind of secret twin language?" Rick mused.

"English is fine to start with," Kate replied.

"Maybe they'll have your aptitude for languages," Rick said.

"What are Reece and Jake doing? Sleeping?" Lily asked then as she approached her parents, Grandpa Jim in tow.

"No, they're having their 'twin time,' Lily," Kate said.

"Oh, where they talk to each other," Lily said. "When are they going to talk like me?"

"Not for a while yet, sweetpea," Rick replied.

"When they're done with their twin time, can I talk to them?" Lily asked.

"Of course you can," Kate said.

Lily took her job as a big sister very seriously. She occasionally got mad at Reece and Jake getting so much attention from Mommy and Daddy, but Grandpa Jim had explained to her that since Reece and Jake were tiny babies, they couldn't do all the things that Lily could yet, and Mommy and Daddy had to do those things for Reece and Jake, like feeding them and changing their diapers because they couldn't feed themselves or use the potty yet.

Lily's reaction to this reminded Jim so much of Kate when she was a little girl. Lily definitely took after her mother in that she took responsibility very seriously, even though she was only three years old. After their talk, Jim had alerted Katie and Rick, and they did their best to make sure that Lily did not feel left out. Bathtime was always guaranteed Mommy and Lily time, and Daddy was the reader of bedtime stories, and Rick and Kate made sure that they each also had one-on-one time with Lily at least once a week, whether it was at home or they went somewhere like the zoo, the bookstore, the playground, the park, the library, or out for ice cream.

Overall, Lily's jealousy of Reece and Jake was at a minimum, all things considered, and although she refused to touch diapers, even clean ones, she talked to her baby brothers every day, and looked forward to when they were big enough to actually play with her and talk with her in a language she actually understood.

When "twin time" was over, Rick and Kate checked the boys' diapers, changed Reece because he needed changing, and then carried Reece and Jake into the playroom next to Rick's office. Lily watched eagerly as Mommy and Daddy laid Reece and Jake side by side on the rug. She knelt on the rug in front of both her brothers and leaned over them, letting them take turns holding her hands as she chattered to them about cartoons and toys, and about the beach, since this summer would be Reece and Jake's first trip to the beach and the Hamptons house.

Rick, Kate, and Jim sat nearby, Rick and Kate on the couch, Jim in the rocker recliner, to watch over the kids. "I'm going to miss this when I go back to work in a couple of weeks," Kate said. Her maternity leave was almost over, and she had already begun to ease back into her work routine with paperwork from a couple of the committees on which she served.

"It'll be an adjustment," Rick agreed, "but we'll be okay. I can bring the kids to meet you for lunch sometimes."

"I have more regular hours now, and I'm going to be able to take some three-day weekends this summer," Kate said. "Which will come in handy with everything we've got coming up: Alexis's graduation, her and Javier's wedding, and Lily has already started telling Reece and Jake about the beach."

Jim smiled. "Well, Grandpa's already started telling Reece and Jake about the Yankees," he said. "I know they're too young to go to a game at the Stadium, but you were Lily's age the first time I took you, so maybe she and I can take in a game sometime this summer at the Stadium." He looked over at the kids. Reece was babbling as Lily talked to Jake about the latest episode of _Puppy Dog Pals._ Jake seemed to be listening to Lily intently, and then he smiled at her.

"Mommy! Daddy! Jake's smiling at me!" Lily exclaimed.

That got all three adults up and hurrying across the room. Sure enough, Jake was giving Lily a big gummy smile that lit up his whole face.

Reece squawked then, and Lily laughed. "Reece, you sound like a chicken!" she exclaimed.

"He just wants to be in on the conversation," Jim said.

"Yes, Reece loves to talk. I wonder where he got that from?" Kate asked, looking at Rick with a mock glare.

"She's onto us, Peanut," Rick said, scooping Reece up and holding him against his chest. Reece let out a long string of baby babble.

"And don't you forget it," Kate said. She kissed Reece's cheek, and Rick's mouth, before moving across the room to scoop up Jake, who reached out to grab a fistful of her hair. "Starting the hair grabbing already, I see, Jake," she said with a wince as she gently pried his fingers open.

Jim, not wanting Lily to feel left out, swept her up and perched her on his hip. "So how do you like being a big sister, Lily Jo?" he asked.

"It's an important job," Lily said seriously. "Sarah Grace really helps me out with how to be a good big sister. She's been a big sister longer than me, so she knows things."

Jim grinned. "Lily Jo, you are your mother's daughter," he said.

She looked at him, puzzled. "Of course I am, Grandpa," she replied. "She's my mommy, and I'm her little girl."

Now Jim laughed out loud. "Grandpa, it's not nice to laugh at people," Lily scolded then.

In that moment, Jim threw back his head and roared with laughter, knowing that Johanna would be scolding him right along with Lily if she were here. He hoped she knew about their grandchildren, and that she somehow knew about this moment.

After Jim recovered himself, he said, "You're right, Lily. It's **not** nice to laugh at people. And your Grandma Johanna would be the first one to tell me I was in trouble for laughing when you said that. It's just that you remind me so much of her, and of your mommy when she was little, and sometimes I find it funny."

"Would Grandma Johanna love me and Reece and Jake?" Lily asked.

Jim and Kate exchanged a look. Then Jim replied, "Oh yes, Lily Jo, she would love the three of you more than anything."

"She sure would," Kate agreed, feeling the now-familiar pang at her mother not being here to see and get to know Lily, Reece and Jake. It was a manageable pain, and not something that consumed Kate as her mother's murder had, but her mother's physical absence from her grandchildren's lives was something Kate would always wish wasn't so.

Lily looked to her mother now. "Was Grandma Johanna a good mommy?" she asked.

"The best," Kate replied.

"No, Mommy, **you're** the best mommy!" Lily insisted.

"I agree with Lily," Jim said.

"That reminds me, we'll have to get to work on our Mother's Day surprises pretty soon here," Rick mused aloud then.

"You do remember that Reece and Jake are being christened on Mother's Day?" Kate asked Rick. It had taken them that long to get everyone and everything coordinated for the boys' christening, so that everyone who wanted to be there would be able to be there.

"So it'll be their day as much as yours," Rick replied. "We'll just have that much more to celebrate."

"We're going to surprise you, Mommy," Lily said from her perch on Jim's hip.

Kate looked around at her husband, their three little ones, and her dad. "You surprise me every day," she said, speaking to all of them, "and I wouldn't have it any other way." Rick and Jim returned Kate's smiles. Jake started fussing then, and Kate glanced at her watch. "Oh, it's almost lunch time," she said. "Okay, Jake, take it easy, we'll get you fed."When Reece began to fuss too, in Rick's arms, Kate said, "You too, Reece."

"Come on, Lily Jo, you can help me make lunch for all the rest of us," Jim said, setting her down and then taking her hand to lead her to the kitchen while Kate and Rick adjourned upstairs to feed the boys.


	99. Chapter 94

_**This week's chapter is a bit early, since tomorrow is Easter. Happy Easter to all who celebrate, and thank you all for continuing to support this story by reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting. We're into May 2020 now.**_

* * *

It was the night before Mother's Day, and the baptisms of Reece and Jake; Lily's third birthday had been two days before, and everyone had gathered at the loft for her birthday party, which Reece and Jake had been awake for, and which both boys had taken in with wide-eyed wonder.

Alexis and Javier were at her place, stealing some time together in the midst of the family celebrations, and Alexis's end-of-the-year schedule, although her graduation was coming up in just a couple of weeks, and her last final exams were on the 18th of May. (Lily's birthday was the 7th; Mother's Day and the boys' christenings were on the 10th.)

Their first meeting with Father Pete was scheduled for June 1, and everyone was already planning to go to the Hamptons for Memorial Day weekend. Then Alexis would take the bar exam on July 24 and 25, and she and Javier would be getting married on August 15 at Lyndhurst Castle. They still had a million things to do for the wedding, after which they would be honeymooning in Hawaii, and upon returning, Alexis would be looking for a job, and then there was the matter of finding an apartment that would be theirs, which they were putting off until after the honeymoon because they knew they wouldn't have enough time to devote to a proper apartment search before the wedding with everything else they had going on.

"I can't forget Mom's gift," Alexis said. They were starting to get ready for bed. "Lately I feel like my head is so taken up with law study, I'm not remembering half of everything else."

"I'll remind you," Javier replied. The gift was already wrapped and waiting on the table by the front door, so if Alexis happened to forget to pick it up on their way out of the apartment the next day, he would see it and remind her. "We should probably talk to Mr. Beckett tomorrow at some point about recommending a lawyer for the pre-nup," he continued.

Alexis turned away from brushing her hair, freezing with the hairbrush in mid-air. "Talk to Jim about what, now?" she asked.

"The pre-nuptial agreement," Javier replied as he turned down the bed.

"Who said anything about us getting a pre-nup?" Alexis asked.

"I did," Javier said, looking up from the bed to see Alexis frowning at him.

"Are you looking for our marriage to fail?" she asked.

"Of course not!" Javier exclaimed. "But you're...well, rich, Lex. And I'm not."

"I'm not rich," Alexis replied, setting the hairbrush on top of her vanity. "My dad is rich. That money is his, not mine."

"It will be yours someday," Javier said.

"Therefore it will be **ours** someday," Alexis said. "Javier, we do not **need** a pre-nup. I do not **want** a pre-nup."

"I'm not marrying you for money," Javier said.

"I know that."

"Well, I want to make sure everybody else knows it too."

"You really don't think my parents know this?" Alexis asked. "They don't even have a pre-nup. Unlike Meredith and Gina, Kate never cared about the money. And it's going to be a **very** long time before we have to worry about it, besides which whatever I inherit will be one quarter of my parents' estate, because of Lily and Reece and Jake. And knowing my dad and mom, they'll make provisions for our future kids, and Lily's and Reece's and Jake's future kids too."

"You really don't want a pre-nup," Javier realized.

"I don't want it and I don't need it," Alexis replied. She walked around the bed and looped her arms around his neck. "You know our family. You're a part of our family already. We do forever. We may not get it right the first time, but I seem to have broken that particular tradition. My dad and Kate...Jim and Johanna...even Gram and Earl."

"And Ryan and Jenny," Javier added, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I never gave forever much thought until you. It's strange for me to look back now and realize that I thought I was gonna be the odd man out after Ryan and Jenny got married, and then Beckett and your dad got their act together. I actually thought I was going to be alone for the rest of my life."

"You're never going to be alone," Alexis vowed.

"Yeah, now," Javier said, "but years ago…" He tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm in this for the rest of my life, because the rest of my life wouldn't mean much if you weren't in it." He paused, then said, "I was always so awkward in relationships with women, 'til you. Everything makes sense with you, Alexis."

"I wasn't one of those girls who pictured her wedding day a lot...or, really, at all," Alexis said. "But you're the only man I've ever seen a future with, and nothing is going to get in the way of our future, and certainly not money."

"I'm in love with you," Javier said. "For who you are. I just...I want everybody to know that for sure."

"They do. They will," Alexis promised. She kissed him then, breaking the kiss when she yawned in the middle of it. "And we'd better get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

"The first of many," Javier agreed, kissing her forehead once more before they got into bed.

"I promise I'll be more alert, and we'll have more time together, after graduation and the bar exam," Alexis said.

Javier turned out the light and settled down next to her. "And I'll be waiting," he promised. She was already asleep. "Goodnight, wife-to-be," he whispered before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep himself.

* * *

Everyone gathered at St. Peter's Episcopal Church on Mother's Day for the baptism of Reece and Jake.

Father Kenneth, who had baptized Lily three years ago, blessed the water and the oil, asked the questions in the ceremony of the parents and godparents (Rick and Kate; Victoria, who was holding Reece, and Javier; and Kevin, who was holding Jake, and Lanie), and then Reece was baptized, crying when the holy water was poured over his head. Reece cried straight through Jake's baptism; Jake was totally unfazed by the water.

Reece finally calmed down when Kate took him from Victoria. "Looks like Reece is a mommy's boy," Jenny observed as Reece settled down while Kate gently swayed with him and talked softly to him.

"He takes after Castle that way," Kevin said. "I'd bet Jake will be a mommy's boy too. Like father, like sons."

"Yeah, Castle has always been into Beckett," Javier said. "He tried to impress her right from the start. Our first case with him, there he was, chasing the perp down a dead-end alley after he went down the fire escape, then knocking him out when the perp and Beckett both had guns drawn, and exclaiming to Beckett, 'Tell me you saw that!' after the perp was down."

"Dad, you didn't!" Alexis exclaimed.

"The safety was on the whole time," Rick defended.

"He didn't mention that to me either, until after Tisdale was face down with his hands cuffed behind his back," Kate said.

"You told Esposito and Ryan about that?" Rick asked Kate then.

"Hey, just because it took you guys four years to get your acts together doesn't mean the rest of us didn't see you were completely gone on each other from the start," Ryan said.

"Hey, as the best girlfriend, I was the one who got all the real dirt, whenever Kate was willing to give anything up," Lanie piped up then. "And in the beginning, she did a **lot** of complaining about you, Castle, so yeah, we knew the whole time."

"As did I," Victoria reminded them.

"Can you believe that was eleven years ago already?" Kate said.

"The best eleven years of my life," Rick replied.

"Mine too," Kate said. "Especially the last six."

Lily, who had been sitting with Sarah Grace, Nick, Will, and Uncle Alan, came rushing up then and announced, "Mommy, I'm hungry."

As if on cue, Jake began to fuss. "So is Jake," Kate said. "All right, everyone, let's head to brunch."

The Ryans and the Masters' weren't coming to brunch because Kevin's and Jenny's parents both wanted to see their children and grandchildren, and Lanie's parents and Alan's parents were both in town to see Will, and Victoria and Gerald were expected at his mother's house for the afternoon. After they all made their goodbyes and left the church, everyone else convoyed to the restaurant where Rick had made brunch reservations a month prior.

Brunch was a spirited affair, between keeping the kids more or less under control, which was more of an issue for the fussy Jake and Reece than it was for Lily, and talk about Kate's return to work, Alexis's rapidly approaching graduation, and tentative plans for Memorial Day in the Hamptons.

"So, how are the wedding plans coming?" Martha asked Javier and Alexis.

"We have a venue!" Alexis said. She pulled it up on her phone and handed the phone to her grandmother. "Lyndhurst Castle. It's about 35 minutes outside of the city, in the Hudson Valley."

"That's an actual castle," Earl said, looking over Martha's shoulder at the picture on Alexis's phone.

"They call it a mansion, but yes, I consider that a castle," Javier replied.

"A Castle getting married in a castle?" Rick asked. "That is _**seriously**_ cool!" He was giving Reece a bottle while Kate held Jake in one arm as he eagerly sucked down his own bottle, and eating her Eggs Florentine with her other hand.

"And you've chosen a date?" Martha asked.

"August 15," Alexis and Javier said in unison.

Alexis looked from Kate to Lily, who was in a booster seat next to Jim, who was helping her, to Martha. "I'm thinking we can go dress shopping after we get back from the Hamptons," she said. "And of course Jenny and Sarah Grace will come along too."

"All of us guys are wearing tuxes with black pants and bow ties and white tux jackets," Javier said then. "Well, except Nick. He doesn't want to be in the wedding, so we're just having Sarah Grace and Lily as flower girls."

"My tailor can take care of that no problem," Rick said. "We'll just need to set up a time to go in and get measured. All of us."

"Q3 is yours for the rehearsal dinner if you want it," Madison said.

"We do, Madison, thank you," Alexis said.

"I'll call later in the week to finalize everything there," Javier added.

"Lyndhurst Castle has several caterers they work with, and we aren't doing anything elaborate," Alexis said, "but we'll get on that, along with the flowers and the music and the photographer and the videographer soon."

"Speaking of videographers, I got the baptisms, Katie," Jim said, picking up the video camera that rested beside his place setting at the table.

"Great, Dad. Thank you," Kate said.

After brunch, everyone but Madison and Mark returned to the loft, and Martha and Kate got their Mother's Day presents.

Jim's gift to Kate was a tri-fold picture frame. In the first slot was a picture of Johanna and Kate from their last Christmas together, when Kate was home from Stanford. The middle picture was of Lily, a snapshot Jim had taken at Lily's birthday party just a few days earlier. The third and last picture was one of Reece and Jake that Jim had taken just last week, when he had charge of the boys while Rick was bandaging Lily's scraped knee and Kate was at work.

Lily had drawn a picture of Kate, which Rick then had framed.

Alexis had gotten Kate a pair of earrings.

Martha and Earl's gift to Kate was a new briefcase.

Rick held out a small box wrapped in gold foil and tied with gold ribbon. "I had help with this," he said.

"Oh, you did?" Kate asked as she took the box, her gaze not leaving his.

"From the Fearsome Foursome," Rick confirmed.

Alexis made a face. "Really, Dad?" she said.

"No good?" Rick asked earnestly, looking at Alexis. "Well, I'll come up with something. Although Q words are hard to find, especially something that would serve as a fitting and excellent adjective to 'quartet.'" Returning his attention to Kate, he continued, "Reece and Jake were fascinated by it, and Lily and Alexis confirmed that I chose well."

Kate untied the gold ribbon and tore off the gold foil, opening the black velvet to reveal a heart-shaped locket of white gold, on a matching chain. The word LOVE was engraved on the face of the locket. Kate lifted the locket from its bed of black velvet carefully and looked from the locket to Rick. He gave her one of those smiles that made his whole face light up and his eyes crinkle. "The best part's on the inside," he said softly.

Kate carefully opened the locket revealing a picture of Rick on the left side, and a picture of Alexis, Lily, Reece and Jake, taken by Jim the day they brought Reece and Jake home from the hospital, on the right side, the girls seated side by side on the couch, Alexis holding Reece, and Lily, with the aid of several sofa pillows, holding Jake.

Unable to find words to express how much she loved the locket, Kate leaned over and kissed Rick. The kiss lingered until Martha asked, "Are the fire extinguishers still in the same place? We might need one in a minute here."

"Very funny, Mother," Rick said. He got up from the couch—Reece and Jake were in their swings, Jake dozing for a change while Reece babbled to Lily, who was kneeling by the swing, talking to him quietly so as not to wake up Jake—and went into his office, returning a moment later with Martha's Mother's Day gift: a new bottle of her favorite perfume.

Alexis's gift to Martha was a spa day for the two of them.

Rick and Kate also gave Martha framed photographs of Martha with all four of her grandchildren, taken in the past three months.

Lily had drawn a picture for Gram, of Lily and Gram together, holding hands. She was getting better at printing her name as well and had signed the pictures she had made for her Gram and for Mommy 'Lily.'

After all of the gifts had been opened, Lily asked for some juice, and Jim said, "Excellent idea, Lily Jo. I think we should all make a toast."

After everyone had bottles of water or soda, Jim raised his water bottle, and everyone but Reece and Jake also raised their drinks, even Lily with her sippy cup of apple juice. "To our mothers, both present and absent, and everything they gave to us."

"To our mothers," Rick, Kate, Alexis, Javier, Martha, and Earl echoed.

"To our mothers," Lily added, a split second later than everyone else, which caused Kate to set down her water bottle, reach down and scoop up her daughter, then turn Lily upside down, causing her to giggle and squeal. She woke up Jake, but miraculously, he didn't start crying, just babbling. Reece answered Jake back with babbling of his own.

Kate, still holding Lily upside down, looked over at the boys in their swings, happily babbling. She looked at Alexis, smiling but tired, and Javi with his arm around her shoulders; at her father, beaming at and totally besotted by his grandchildren; Martha and Earl sharing a private look; and Rick tickling Lily's sock-clad feet before striding to the swings and expertly lifting Reece and Jake up, then returning to Kate and Lily's side with a boy cradled in each arm.

Kate flipped Lily right-side-up again, and Alexis said something to Javi, who nodded. Alexis then came over to stand on Kate and Lily's other side. "Everybody smile!" Javi called, holding his phone aloft to take a picture.

Alexis, smiling, put her hand on Kate's shoulder. Lily wrapped her legs around her mother's waist and grinned for the camera, and right before Javi took the picture, Rick closed his eyes and turned his head, kissing the beaming Kate on the cheek.


	100. Chapter 95

_**Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story. It means a lot to me. I also must acknowledge the Columbia Law School website, which provided the order of the graduation ceremony, and video and transcriptions of the speeches and the graduation ceremony for the law school Class of 2017, on which the majority of this chapter is based.**_

* * *

The graduation ceremony for Columbia Law School was scheduled to take three hours and 15 minutes. This prompted Rick and Kate to immediately decide against Lily, Reece and Jake attending Alexis's law school graduation upon learning how long it was going to be, because they knew it would be impossible for the kids to make it through a ceremony that long, being as young as they were.

Alexis had been talking about graduation to Lily, though, and Lily was very upset about not being able to attend Alexis's graduation, especially when she found out her beloved Gram and Grandpa Jim were going, along with Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Javi.

Luckily for everyone, Alexis nipped Lily's tantrum in the bud when she suggested a party for Pops and all of the aunts and uncles and Sarah Grace and Nick and Will, since none of them would be attending the ceremony either, and watching the graduation ceremony on the computer.

And so it was that on the night of Alexis's law school graduation, the Ryans, the Masters', the Gates', and Earl gathered at the loft with Lily, Reece, and Jake, the boys to be doted on by their Pops, Aunt Lanie, Aunt Jenny, and Aunt Victoria, while everyone streamed the graduation ceremony live from the Columbia Law School website.

Lily parked herself in front of her father's spare laptop, which was plugged in to avoid losing battery power, and sitting on the coffee table. The loft had been decorated with bunches of light blue and purple balloons and a large "CONGRATULATIONS, ALEXIS!" banner, also in light blue and purple. Alexis told everyone to consider the gathering her law school graduation party started early, and enough food and drinks were on hand to feed an army, which was about what they had.

Will Masters kept things interesting because he was not only walking but also running, since he was now 13 months old. He was also adding new words to his vocabulary every day, having long ago gotten "Mama" and "Dada" down pat. Nick wasn't too interested in the goings-on online since it wasn't a cartoon or a game, so he played with and chased Will around until Will was shrieking with laughter and delight. Sarah Grace was interested in the graduation, so she sat with Lily and Lanie, while Alan and Kevin chased the boys around, and Jenny and Victoria each took charge of one of the twins, Jenny with Reece, and Victoria with Jake.

On the Columbia campus, Rick, Kate, Martha, Jim, and Javi were in the family section, Jim with the video camera to capture the ceremony for posterity. Since he was on sabbatical for the semester, he wasn't participating in the ceremony with the rest of the law school faculty.

The tolling bells at 5 PM signaled that the graduation ceremony was finally about to begin. Martha sent a quick text to Earl informing him of that fact, so that those at the loft wouldn't miss a moment. Indeed, Lily, Sarah Grace, and Lanie were already at the computer and on the website, and the tolling bells on a closeup of a building of the Columbia campus had Lanie announcing, "Okay, everyone, it's starting!" The others gathered as close to the laptop screen as they could get, and Nick and Will knew to quiet down.

On the Columbia campus, Jim started filming when the beginning of the ceremony was announced. Representatives of the 50th Anniversary graduating class, the Columbia Law School Class of 1970, appeared first, three of them carrying a banner that said COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL 50th REUNION. They were followed by the Dean of the Law School, the law school faculty, and the Senior Administrators of the law school, everyone decked out in their academic regalia.

The family silently watched the parade of academia pass by the section where they were seated, and just as Rick was about to lean across Kate to ask Jim, who had been to Columbia Law School graduations before as one of the faculty, how much longer before they could start looking for Alexis among the actual graduates, the band struck up "Pomp and Circumstance."

"Here they come!" Jim exclaimed, swinging around with the video camera in his hand.

A sea of people in light blue gowns began ascending down the steps of the Butler Library: the Columbia University Law School Class of 2020.

Rick reached for Kate's hand and threaded his fingers through hers. Javi was watching the crowd intently for Alexis, and Martha dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief as the graduates filed past in their tams and doctoral of law graduation gowns, the baby blue of the graduation gowns accented by the purple hoods, the three black chevrons on each sleeve of the graduation gown, and the dark sashes with white crowns on them on either side of the gown's front zipper that each graduate wore.

"There she is!" Javi exclaimed suddenly.

"I see her!" Jim added, zooming in on Alexis, who was on the end closest to them. Instead of looking straight ahead, Alexis was scanning the crowd for her family. When she spotted them, she blew them all a kiss, then gave a big smile and a wave, seeing Javi beaming proudly and holding up his phone, probably taking pictures of her, since Jim had the video camera at his eye, and Gram blew her a kiss back, while her mom and dad were beaming proudly and waved back at her, and she was sure they were both crying. In addition to the purple hood, black tam with gold tassel, and the chevrons and sashes accenting her gown, a gold cord trailing from her left shoulder signified that Alexis was graduating law school with honors.

"Where's Alexis?" Lily kept asking at home.

"Look at all those people," Sarah Grace said, in awe because she had never in her life seen a crowd of people that big all in one place.

Kevin's phone buzzed, and he plucked it from his pocket. Javi had sent him a picture of Alexis, correctly figuring that she wouldn't be easily spotted on the live stream feed. "Here's Alexis," Kevin announced, going over and holding his phone so that Lily could see her big sister.

"That's her!" Lily exclaimed, and she began jumping up and down. She didn't really understand what graduation meant, other than they got to have cake when Alexis got home, and everyone was very happy for Alexis.

Everyone passed Kevin's phone around to look at the picture Javi had sent.

The procession to seat all the graduates took twenty minutes, after which the Dean and the faculty and senior administrators took their places on the dais, along with the student speakers, the graduation keynote speaker, and the co-chairs of the Graduation Committee, who, after everyone was seated, introduced themselves and welcomed the Class of 2020, with the male speaker saying how delighted they were to celebrate with everyone present this huge milestone in their lives. Then the female speaker garnered a few laughs when she spoke of celebrating, at last, the completion of their educations, and everything they had learned in the last three years, including the importance of punctuality ("That is, if a box lunch starts at 12:10, you show up at 11:55."), and that footnotes add a full two pages to any final paper. Then she put the joking aside and spoke of the responsibility of being a part of the legal and Columbia Law School communities, a responsibility each graduate would carry with them for the rest of their lives. She acknowledged the debt of gratitude each graduate owed to their fellow students, the alumni, the faculty and staff, and most importantly, the family and friends that continued to support them as they completed this journey and prepared to embark on a new journey. "You listened to our ramblings about EIPs and The Blue Book, without knowing what either of those things were-"

"We knew," Rick murmured.

"We're the exceptions to the rule, babe," Kate replied.

"-and you have helped us believe in ourselves and our dreams. Beyond just your support, we thank you for showing up to celebrate with us."

Everyone applauded for several seconds before she concluded her speech. "Finally, thank you to the Class of 2020. You've taught me the importance of supporting one another, from my closest friends to the person who unknowingly let me use their empty locker all year, you inspire me to work harder and to be better." She concluded by welcoming the dean to the podium.

Jim chuckled softly when he saw that Professor Charles Brighton, the man that reminded both him and Alexis of John Houseman's character in the movie _The Paper Chase,_ scowling from the stage.

The Dean then addressed the crowd, welcoming everyone and thanking the assembled friends and family for attending. Then she addressed the graduating class, telling them, "There have been a lot of long days and late nights. You've worked hard. But the day has arrived, and you have earned all the pomp, circumstance, and celebration that goes along with it. Congratulations." Then she beamed at them as she led everyone in a round of applause. She went on to acknowledge the roughly 5,000 loved ones and friends flanking the stage, "the people you've turned to for encouragement, support, and guidance. They are with you today, as they have been with you throughout this journey. All of us owe them recognition and gratitude." More applause followed.

The Dean went on to talk about the graduates of the Class of 1970 and acknowledge them, asking them to rise, and thanking them for their fifty years of service to the legal profession and to Columbia Law School.

After acknowledging the Class of 1970, and the round of applause that followed that acknowledgment, the Dean continued. "Graduation addresses often focus on the theme of change. After all, graduation is a time of closure, transition, and new beginnings. Change is inevitable, and the future is full of possibility. What more apt message than an exhortation to seize the day, embrace the new, and find opportunity in what lies ahead? Well, I believe in all those things. I believe in being brave, and in taking risks. I believe in the power of reinvention. I believe in a full and spirited embrace of new experiences. In fact, I once delivered a speech that said all of those things—on September 11, 2017, when I gave my first speech to a class at Columbia Law School. That class was the J.D. class that sits before me now. The occasion? Your 1L Dinner.

"But today, I don't want to talk about things that will change, or the changes that you yourselves will shape in the years ahead. Instead, I want to talk about the things you should try **not** to change, the things you must preserve." She then went on to talk about the acquisition of knowledge they had achieved in law school, and how the new graduates should continue to seek knowledge, and to preserve their curiosity, and the humility that enabled them to open their minds.

"Here's another thing that mustn't change," the Dean continued. "Most of you came to law school in pursuit of some goal or ideal. You believed that legal training would help you do or fix something. Maybe you wanted to bring justice to a community you care about."

At this, Rick and Kate exchanged a look, and Rick slid his arm around Kate's shoulders, and she rested her hand on top of his hand on her shoulder, both of them remembering their years with the NYPD, the community of murder victims and their loved ones that they served so long and well, that they achieved justice for in so many cases. Now Alexis would be following in their footsteps in her own way, her main career goal being to become a prosecutor, someone who put criminals away, took them off the streets, stopped them from breaking laws, harming or killing others, disrupting or ending innocent lives.

The Dean continued talking about other career paths the graduates could take—working across borders, becoming great litigators, fixing the tax code. "Now you have the tools to do whatever it is that brought you here in the first place," she summed up. "The problem is that law school made you wiser about how hard it may be to accomplish that vision. Perhaps it's more complicated than you had thought, so, maybe you need to adjust. But that doesn't mean you should abandon the idealism or the inspiration that drove you to study law. Embrace it. Take it on. Realize the promise of the tools we have given you and rise to meet the challenge."

Alexis had been paying attention to the Dean's speech, but on this segment, feeling herself get emotional, she looked to where she knew those members of her family who were in attendance were sitting, and she looked at her parents, the father that had loved, encouraged, and supported her all her life, and the mother that came into her life when she was 15, that she spent too many years resenting for tying her beloved father up in knots and leading him to put his life on the line before she understood what their relationship really was, before she saw what their relationship ultimately became, before she realized that Kate loved her father, and loved her, more than either of them had ever been, could ever be, loved by Meredith, or Gina, or any other woman.

Her dad had his arm around her mom's shoulders, and Alexis had the feeling that they, like she, were remembering their NYPD days, getting justice for murder victims and those they left behind, and Alexis briefly remembered the way that her father dropped everything to help her as an undergrad when she had only three days to prove that a man on Death Row hadn't committed the murder that put him there in the first place, even though at the time she was, she saw now, foolishly immature about his reaction to her then-boyfriend Pi. Lanie and Javier and Kevin had helped as well, and so had Kate, and Alexis remembered talking to Kate at the Precinct, thanking her for rallying everyone, and for helping her, Alexis, after even her professor, the prisoner, and, at one point, her dad, had thought it was hopeless and were ready to give up.

"It's what we do," Kate had said, including everyone in that blanket statement. "But there's nothing in the world I wouldn't do for you, Alexis. Not just because you are the daughter of the man I love more than life itself, but because you're an incredible young woman in your own right, and I know that you're going to do great things in this world, and I'll be right there next to your father, cheering you on and being proud of you."

Alexis and Kate had hugged then, and that was when Alexis realized that her dad had told her the truth when he had said that Kate makes him happy, and that was also the moment Alexis finally realized that Kate was going to be the one who stayed with her dad for all their lives. That was when Alexis finally began to truly accept their relationship, and began to look forward to their wedding and to having Kate as a part of their family officially, because if Alexis were brutally honest, Kate had been an unofficial part of their family at least since the night she showed up at the loft when Gram's face was covered in a green cosmetic mask, and Alexis and her father were in the middle of an epic Laser Tag battle, shortly after meeting Rick.

Javier, and Jim Beckett, and Kevin and Lanie had all inspired Alexis as well, each of them in their own way. Law was a calling for all of them; even Lanie, the doctor, had come to the Medical Examiner's office instead of working in a hospital or going into private practice, and was using her medical knowledge and skills to help solve murders. Law was Alexis's calling too, and she was about to embark on her own career with no small amounts of excitement, and of pride that she was joining this profession.

At the loft, Lily was getting restless. "Is it just going to be a bunch of grown-ups talking a lot?" she asked.

Sarah Grace said, "If you think this is bad, wait until you get into first grade. The teacher talks all the time. And it isn't always about fun stuff, either, like it was in kindergarten or preschool."

Lanie, Victoria, and Jenny all turned to glare at Alan and Kevin when they failed to smother their laughter at Sarah Grace's observation. They sobered as quickly as they could, and Alan even plucked Will off the floor for a diaper check in another room to escape the womens' glares.

"I'm afraid so, Lily," Earl told her.

Lily looked up at Earl. "Do you think Alexis would be upset if I played with Sarah Grace and Nick and Will instead of watching this?" she asked, biting her bottom lip just like Kate did when she was uncertain about something.

"I don't think Alexis would mind at all," Earl assured her.

Before the girls made a beeline for the playroom, Lily said, "You'll call us if you see Alexis?"

"We sure will," Lanie promised.

"Thanks, Aunt Lanie," Sarah Grace said.

"Thanks, Aunt Lanie," Lily echoed, and then the girls were off, dashing through Rick's office to the adjacent playroom.

Alan returned with a freshly diapered Will, and Nick asked if he and Will could go into the playroom with the girls. No one wanted to leave four children between the ages of one and six without any adult supervision in the room, so Alan and Gerald Gates both went with the boys to supervise the kids, knowing that their wives wanted to continue watching Alexis's graduation. (And it wasn't that Alan and Gerald didn't want to see the graduation, but they knew someone needed to be watching the kids, and they hadn't known Alexis nearly as long as Lanie and Victoria had.)

Reece began to fuss then, and Jake soon echoed his brother's cries, so Jenny and Victoria fed the boys and burped them, and that quieted them.

On campus, the Dean continued her speech, talking about how the graduates would, with the degrees they earned that day, become guardians of our most vital institutions. "You have a responsibility to protect the rule of law, and the core values substantiated in our Constitutional order, rights and freedoms that protect equality and expression, due process of law, and the rules of ethics and accountability that preserve trust and stability in society. This will not always be easy. The world is a tumultuous and unpredictable place, and the very foundations of our democratic institutions will sometimes be shaken. But these are precisely the times when society will turn to you most urgently. This is not an argument against change in the law. It is an argument about the preservation of the integrity of the law. Even as law evolves to meet the standards of a changing society, you must safeguard its legitimacy and the fairness of its application.

"Finally...Finally, cherish and preserve the relationships you formed here at Columbia Law School. In the time you've been here, you've made friends among classmates, professors, and staff members. They have stood beside you, cheering you on and supporting you at every juncture. Don't let the passage of time sever these bonds. These friendships, the ones you form in law school, these will be the friendships that sustain you for the rest of your life.

"In fact, as some of you may know, this year's Reese Teaching Prize honoree is someone that I met in law school." She smiled as she went on, "Twenty-four years and three children later, I couldn't be more proud to share the stage with him today.

"Now, I know that I said I didn't want to talk about the things that will change. But let me leave you with this: Preserving these essential elements of your time at Columbia Law School—your commitment to learning, your guiding vision, your professional obligations, and your solid friendships...These are the things that will anchor you as you navigate the changes that lie ahead.

"Class of 2020, on behalf of all of us here at Columbia Law School, I salute you and I wish you the best of all things in the years to come."

The Dean having finally concluded her speech, everyone applauded.

The Student Senate President made a brief, self-deprecating speech then, after leading the graduating class in a round of cheering for having made it through law school. He said he didn't want to talk about himself, because nobody was there to hear him talk about himself, including his family, and after 25 years, he was even sick of talking about himself, and that he didn't want to give advice to his fellow graduates, because what if he led them astray? So he gave shoutouts to some of his fellow graduates who had amazed and inspired him, including a woman who won the Food Network's _Cooks vs. Cons_ competition, "proving Columbia Law students **can** walk and talk at the same time," and two students who won asylum for a refugee as law students. He concluded with the highlights of each year, the best part of 3L being looking across the table while cramming an entire semester's worth of learning into one night and realizing his closest friends were right there with him, doing the same. After his thanks and one more "Congratulations, Class of 2020!", he introduced the student J.D. speaker.

The student J.D. speaker thanked everyone's families, all of his classmates, all of the faculty and staff at Columbia, and he finished by quoting LeBron James.

The L.L.M. class speaker went next, and Kate and Rick both texted home—Kate texting Lanie, and Rick texting Ryan—to check on the kids. Alexis caught Javier's eye, and he exaggeratedly mouthed "I'm proud of you." She read his lips and smiled at him, mouthing back, "Thank you."

At the loft, everyone but the kids got into the food and drinks, and Reece and Jake both needed diaper changes, and after the boys had their diapers changed, Jenny and Victoria took them into the playroom with the older kids during the presentation of the Class Gift, the awarding of the teaching prize to a senior professor who was also the Dean's husband and his speech, and then came the announcement of awards and prizes.

Alexis was announced as one of the recipients of the Ruth Bader Ginsberg Prize as one of the J.D. degree candidates who earned honors for outstanding academic achievement for all three years, and she was also the recipient of the Milton B. Conford Book prize for writing the best examination paper or essay (examination paper in Alexis's case) on jurisprudence. Everyone both on campus and at the loft in Alexis's family applauded and cheered, and Javier let out a long whistle when Alexis's name was called for both of the prizes.

Reece and Jake went to sleep, and Will also fell asleep on the rug in the playroom. Lily, Sarah Grace, and Nick wandered back out to the living room, and they got to have a bedtime snack and drink while at the graduation, the keynote address was delivered by a female member of the Columbia Law School Class of '74 who was a former chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a litigation partner at the firm of Debevoise & Plimpton.

Finally, two hours after the graduation ceremony had begun, it was time for the graduates to be called up by name and walk across the stage, shaking hands with the Dean and the Keynote Speaker. (Their diplomas would be mailed to their homes of record.)

Jim had dutifully filmed the entire graduation, and Kate, Rick, Martha, and Javi all texted those at the loft (Lanie, Alan, Earl, and Kevin, respectively) to be watching for Alexis.

Her name was called near the beginning since the names were called in alphabetical order. "Alexis Harper Castle." Cheers and applause erupted from her family on campus, and in a more subdued manner from her family at the loft, because by now all of the kids had conked out—Lily was asleep on the couch with her head in her Aunt Lanie's lap, Will was still asleep on the playroom rug, and Sarah Grace and Nick were both asleep on their father in a chair, while the nursery monitor was on the coffee table next to the laptop so everyone could listen for Reece and Jake, who were asleep in their cribs in the nursery upstairs—since it was after 7:30 PM.

Jim put the camera away a few students after Alexis, and Javi had gotten plenty of pictures of Alexis with his phone.

When the graduation ceremony finally ended, the graduates were directed to follow their class marshals to the bleachers in front of Kent Hall for the class picture, and with one final, "To the law school Class of 2020, congratulations on being done!", the ceremony was over.

Rick, Kate, Javi, Martha, and Jim made their way over to Kent Hall to wait for Alexis to be done with the class picture. When she was finally finished, she made her way through the crowd of her fellow graduates, clutching her graduation program, and when she spotted her family, she rushed over to them. Javi saw her and shouted, "Alexis!" She flew into his open arms, and he picked her up and swung her around as she laughed happily, her tam getting knocked askew in the process.

When Javi set Alexis on her feet again, she rushed over to Rick and threw her arms around him in a big hug. Rick closed his eyes and hugged his firstborn tightly, absorbing the fact that she was now a law school graduate, that she was getting married in three months, that she was, indeed, "all grown up."

"I did it, Dad," Alexis said, pulling back to look at her proud father.

"You sure did, pumpkin," Rick agreed. "My daughter the lawyer."

Alexis hugged Martha next, and then Kate, and then Jim. Everyone congratulated her.

"You have parties to go to tonight?" Rick asked.

"No," Alexis said. "Everyone is celebrating with their families. And right now, honestly, I want to sleep for about a week before diving into studying for the bar exam and finishing our wedding plans."

Everyone returned to the loft, and Alexis received another round of congratulations and hugs. Lanie and Alan, and Kevin and Jenny, wanted to get their kids home and into bed since it was after 9:30 PM by then. "We got you a gift," Kevin said, hoisting Sarah Grace higher in his arms. Jenny had her arms full of Nick, who was almost too big for her to carry.

"So did we," Lanie said. "We left them here. You can open them tonight, tomorrow, whenever."

"You guys didn't have to get me anything," Alexis said, and she meant it.

"You graduated from law school tonight. Of course we did. That's a big deal," Kevin said. Jenny agreed with him.

"A **very** big deal," Lanie said.

"And we saw your graduation," Alan added. "Well, bits and pieces of it. Some of us saw more than others."

"It didn't really hold Lily's attention, did it?" Alexis asked.

"She was bored by all the grown-ups she didn't know talking," Victoria admitted.

"Well, we'll show her the video of Alexis tomorrow," Jim said.

"And I promised her she could try on my 'graduation hat,' as she calls it," Alexis said.

After the Ryans and the Masters' left with their sleeping children, and Rick and Kate had checked on Lily, Reece and Jake, they settled down in the living room with Alexis, Javier, Martha, Earl, Jim, Victoria and Gerald. They had a quiet celebration with cake and punch and sandwiches, and Martha and Earl, and Victoria and Gerald, and a little after 11 PM, the Gates' left, and so did Martha and Earl.

After everyone had said their good nights, Rick and Kate said good night to Alexis and Javi before heading to their own bedroom. "Alexis is officially a law school graduate," Rick mused as they got ready for bed.

"And Lily starts preschool in the fall," Kate replied.

"And Alexis gets married to Esposito in August," Rick said.

"It will be Reece and Jake's first Christmas," Kate said.

They got into bed. "And before any of that, we're all going to the Hamptons for Memorial Day weekend at the end of this month," Rick said. "In between baby wrangling and precocious preschooler raising and City Council work and Alexis's accomplishments and brainstorming ideas for my next novel _..."_

"Yeah, it's quite the life we have," Kate said. She reached to turn out the light, but Rick took her hand, stopping her. She turned back and looked at him, giving him her full attention.

"I'd do it all over again," Rick said. "All of it. Even the worst moments, both before and after we met, just to be here right now with you, with all of our kids asleep, and me being amazed at how our life is turning out."

"I'd do it all over again too," Kate replied before leaning in to kiss him good night.

Upstairs, Alexis and Javier were settling into her room, Alexis too tired to go anywhere else. "I'm so proud of you, Lex," Javier said. "You're gonna make a great lawyer."

"That's one of my goals," Alexis replied. "The other one is being a great wife."

"You will be," Javier assured her. "And I'm gonna be the best husband I can. I'm gonna make you so happy."

"You already do," Alexis replied.

"I've only just started. You don't know," Javier replied, gently pulling Alexis into his arms before they got into her bed and settled down to sleep.


	101. Author's Note 6

_**I apologize for the short notice, but the closing date for my new house got moved up unexpectedly. I closed today, and will be moving this weekend, so there won't be a chapter posted on Sunday. I will return a week from this Sunday with the next chapter.**_

 _ **I want to take this opportunity to let you know that I deeply appreciate all of you who are reading and who follow and have favorited the story, and those of you who take the time to leave reviews, whether you're a member here or a guest.**_

 _ **However, I would like to address a couple of points I've gotten in recent (the past three weeks) guest reviews that I have deleted because I didn't feel they were constructive or, frankly, that they made sense.**_

 _ **To the guest reviewer who said, regarding the latest chapter, "For all we know, Alexis didn't change her name, so she could have graduated law school as Alexis Harper Rodgers," I have to ask, did you ever actually WATCH Castle the show? It was established in canon that Rick legally changed his middle and last names, and all of his books have been published under the name Richard Castle. He wrote his first book, In a Hail of Bullets, in a booth at The Old Haunt when he was in college, and it was published before Alexis was born. Therefore, he had changed his name to Castle before Alexis was born, and Alexis is, and always was, Alexis Castle.**_

 _ **You also stated that the chapter was boring because of the three-hour law school graduation. I went to the Columbia Law School website, as I have done on a few prior occasions in writing this story, and the Class of 2018 is graduating in May (the 14th, to be exact) in a ceremony that begins at 5 PM and ends at 8:15 PM. I also watched the video of the Columbia Law School Class of 2017 graduation, which is how I came up with the number of speakers and the order of the graduation proceedings. So if you thought it was boring, then I have to say your beef is with Columbia University Law School and not with me, because I wrote the graduation as close to an actual Columbia University Law School graduation as I could.**_

 _ **To the reviewer a couple of chapters ago who said that this story is "too perfect" and "nobody has any problems," I take offense at that. The characters do not have the kind of problems in this story that they had on the show; I grant you that. That has been my conscious choice from the very start, as the writer of this story. If you were to go back and read this story from the beginning, you would see that Rick, Kate, and Alexis all three suffered nightmares and/or anxiety attacks in the wake of Rick and Kate being shot by Caleb Brown, on top of the physical injuries Rick and Kate had to recover from. Esposito's father, who abandoned him as a child, came back into his life, and then died, and Esposito had conflicting emotions about his father's return to his life. Ryan was worried about failing his Sergeant's exam again. Lanie's mother tried to hijack her wedding to Alan. Alexis has been stressed about law school, and she and Esposito kept their relationship a secret from Castle and Beckett as long as they possibly could. Mark Fallon had to learn to love again and to move on with his life years after losing his wife on 9/11. Those may not be "exciting" problems, but everyone has had some degree of conflict in their lives in this story.  
**_

 _ **The murderers, the psychos, the people trying to kill them, that part of Castle and Beckett's lives is over in this story; the people that were responsible for Johanna Beckett's murder, and for LokSat, have all been vanquished. If you're looking for a story where Castle and Beckett are hunting down murderers and being threatened by people like 3XK and William Bracken and Caleb Brown, I can guarantee you will not find that here. This story is my version of what happens in the next chapter of Rick and Kate's life together, and the lives of their extended family and their friends. I don't claim to be one of the world's greatest writers, or one of the best Castle fanfic writers, ever. But this show and these characters changed my life and will forever own my heart. I saw them through the traumas and the misunderstandings and miscommunications and the effects of loss and all of the narrow escapes that played out on the show. The shooting at the end of the series finale was my starting point for this story. I have charted a course, and built a life, for Kate and Rick, and by extension for their family and their friends, that sees them on new adventures, still serving the public, still involved in law in Kate's case, and now raising their children. No life is perfect, but there are different types of problems, and I don't do heavy-duty angst, at least not in any lasting way. The ability to survive what you think, at the time, is unsurvivable, emotionally at least, and the resilience of the human spirit, and the healing powers of love and friendship, of having people in your life who take you exactly as you are and love you for being that person, flaws and all...That's what I'm interested in. That's how I choose to write the characters. If you think that's too perfect, then by all means, I strongly encourage you to find other stories to read instead of trolling this one.**_

 _ **I care deeply about Castle as a show. I care deeply about this story, and I strive to make every chapter the best I possibly can. There is always a method to my madness. I have known from the first word I wrote exactly how and where this story will end, and we are closer to that point now than we are to the beginning or middle of the story.**_

 _ **But when this story ends, after a short hiatus, I plan to write more stories in this universe I've created, though they'll be shorter stories, one-shots or something that's 3 to 5 chapters.**_

 _ **I thank everyone who has been reading, reviewing in a constructive, non-trolling way, and who has followed and favorited this story. It's good to know that Castle means as much to you as it does to me, and that you're all, for the most part, enjoying this journey. I hope you continue to enjoy the journey, both in this story and in future ones.**_


	102. Chapter 96

_**Thank you, everyone, for your continuing support and enthusiasm. I would especially like to thank everyone whose words gave me a much-needed and much-appreciated boost: kwarner; JAG'ed Bones in the Casckett; NYAZ; 7761; 12Precinct42344; Thatsmegigi; Manxkid; teazer; fentonjames05; Caskett1963; Larry Holmes; Breathegsr; TORONTOSUN; Nancy; Purple Satin; leingh; the Guest who so magnificently summed up what I've done with building a future for Rick and Kate, and for fleshing out Alexis, Martha, and Jim; stonecoldku; Chacha; Beth Daniels; and AALiz. I appreciate what you said and how you lifted me up more than I could adequately say.  
**_

 _ **It's a short chapter this week, but I hope you'll consider it a prelude to Memorial Day weekend and the run-up to Alexis and Javier's wedding.**_

* * *

Javier got called into work at 5 AM the morning after Alexis's graduation. She was still so soundly asleep that she barely stirred when he whispered to her that he had to go to work, and kissed her on the cheek after hurriedly showering and dressing.

He made it out of the apartment without waking anyone up, although Javier hadn't been gone long when Reece, the early bird, awoke crying. Kate was instantly awakened at Reece's first wail, and she threw back the covers and hurried out of the master bedroom, through the loft, up the stairs, and down the hall to the nursery. Jake was stirring, and Kate swooped Reece out of his crib and settled herself in the rocking chair to nurse him. It had been a late night last night, with Rick still wired from Alexis's graduation, and he had brought both boys into bed and fed them bottles of breast milk Kate had expressed in the middle of the night, so now that he was sleeping, he was sleeping hard.

Once Kate was nursing Reece, he settled down to the business of eating. "You're our early bird, Reece," she observed as she looked down at the tiny boy in her arms. Her own eyes gazed back at her; Lily, Reece and Jake all three had inherited Kate's brown eyes. Other than that, though, Reece and Jake looked a lot like Rick. She stroked Reece's cheek with one fingertip. "You have so much personality already," she continued as Reece continued to eat. "You, Jake, Lily...I had no idea what being your mom would truly mean to me.

"I spent a long time...too long...not really noticing anyone else in my life after...well, after I lost my mom. But then your daddy came into my life, and everything changed. It was a long road, a lot of stops and starts, a lot of denial, and I really hope that you and your brother and sister are smarter about that than your dad and I were, although we had our reasons. If I believed in time travel...which I don't, for the record, although your daddy does...I'd go back to the broken, grieving girl I was at 19 and tell her that it will get better, that she's going to have everything she never believed she would." Reece unlatched and looked up at his mommy in the dim light of the nursery and, for the first time in his young life, gave her a real smile.

"Reece, you smiled!" Kate exclaimed. She then grimaced, realizing that she had been louder than she should have for this early hour of the morning, with Alexis and Lily (she, of course, had heard Esposito's quiet exit and correctly figured he was called for a body drop) sleeping nearby, and Jake right there in the same room. She held her breath for several seconds, but Jake didn't even stir. He was their night owl, and, in fact, he had awakened shortly after everyone left and they had gotten Lily up to bed, and Jake had fallen asleep on Rick's chest, not long after Rick had finally crashed.

With no disturbances or protests from anyone else, Kate returned her attention to Reece. "You smiled at me," she repeated, smiling down at him before closing her shirt and lifting him up to brush her nose against his. "You'll have to show Daddy your smile later," she said. "This is your first real one." Jake had smiled at Lily a few weeks ago, and the family counted that as his first real smile. He had smiled at all of them several times, but Reece was more serious. Not that he was unhappy, he just obviously preferred to bestow his smiles one-on-one.

Kate put him over her shoulder then, and after he let out a burp, she brought him down again and cradled him in her arms, rocking gently back and forth in the rocking chair, and they shared a few more smiles in the pre-dawn light. Kate had just gotten Reece back to sleep when Jake awoke, also wanting to be fed. Kate put Reece in his swing before tending to Jake. "All right, Jakey, your turn now," Kate said.

One thing everyone had noticed about young Jake Castle: once he was awake, he was **awake.** Jake was ever observant; if his eyes were open, he was taking in every part of the world around him. "Little observer," Kate said as Jake nursed while Reece squealed and chortled in his swing. "You're only three months old, but you don't miss anything. You're an amazing boy. All of my kids are amazing. And I'm so incredibly happy and grateful that you chose me to be your mom, and your dad to be your dad." After Jake had finished nursing and burped, Kate got Jake dressed for the day, then put him in his swing while she dressed Reece for the day before taking both boys downstairs to the playroom to play with them on the floor.

Not even two hours later, everyone was awake for the day in the Castle household except for Alexis. Lily was impatient to see Alexis, and to wear Alexis's graduation hat, and Reece showed off his smile, and it was one of the few times Rick needed coffee more than Kate.

They just barely managed to hold Lily off until 7:30, when Grandpa Jim arrived with muffins and bagels, and the video he had taken of Alexis's graduation. Lily clambered up into Jim's lap and watched the video of Alexis's graduation while Rick chugged coffee and Kate got down on the floor with Jake and Reece for tummy time.

Alexis emerged from her room shortly after 8, in her robe and pajamas, her hair a mess, carrying her graduation hat. "ALEXIS!" Lily shouted, scrambling off of Jim's lap and rushing to meet her big sister on the stairs. Alexis stopped halfway down and smiled down at Lily as Lily hugged her legs. "Grandpa showed me your graduation!"

In response, Alexis settled her tam on Lily's head and Lily's smile would have put the sun to shame.

"Look at me!" Lily crowed. "I'm wearing Alexis's graduation hat!"

"Slow down, sweetpea," Rick said. "But then, I guess this is how it starts, isn't it? You'll be going to preschool in the fall."

"I can't believe Marlowe Prep has a preschool program now," Alexis said as she followed Lily downstairs.

"The only constant is change," Jim said.

"Grandpa, you sound like Owl from _Winnie the Pooh_ ," Lily said as she reclaimed her seat on the couch next to him.

"We've started reading A.A. Milne," Rick explained.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Lily Jo," Jim said.

Alexis snagged a chocolate chip muffin from the plate on the coffee table before flopping down in the chair. "Well, at least Lily will get to spend her entire school career from preschool through high school at Marlowe Prep," she mused. "It's a great school. I loved it there."

"Reece smiled at me this morning, his first real smile," Kate said, smiling as she told Alexis.

"Wow, we're hitting milestones all over the place around here," Alexis mused.

"It's going to be quite a summer," Jim said.

"It sure is," Alexis agreed, watching Lily march around the living room in Alexis's graduation tam, Kate working on coaxing smiles from both Reece and Jake, and Rick, awake now from the amount of caffeine he had ingested in his coffee, moving to the floor to sit by Kate and the boys as Lily ran in circles around the couch, the tassel on Alexis's tam swinging from the force with which Lily ran, and Alexis, looking more relaxed than she had in months as she watched them all with a smile on her face.

"Speaking of summer," Rick said, "it's going to be Memorial Day in a couple of weeks. Hamptons time!"

"Javier's taking Monday off, but we're not coming up until Saturday morning," Alexis said. "He's saving most of his vacation time for our honeymoon."

"I'll be there," Jim said with a smile. "For the whole weekend. And so will Martha and Earl."

"So will Lanie and Alan and Will, and Kevin and Jenny and Sarah Grace and Nick," Kate said.

"Madison and Mark?" Rick asked.

"I invited them, but Mark has some work conference, so Maddie said not to count on them," Kate replied. "And I still haven't gotten a definite answer out of Victoria as to whether she and Gerald can make it for at least part of the weekend."

"It'll be the boys' first trip to the house, and to the beach," Rick said.

"And we got a new swimsuit for you, didn't we, Lily?" Kate asked.

Rick put a hand over his heart. "Please tell me it's not a bikini. I can accept that Alexis will be wearing a bikini, but not my Sweetpea. Not yet."

"It's not a bikini," Kate said.

Rick gave an exaggerated exhale. "Good, I'm not ready for that yet," he said, snagging Lily as she rushed past him and settling her in his lap.

"We get to go to the beach soon?" Lily asked.

"In a couple more weeks," Rick replied.

Lily cheered. "Will we build a sandcastle?" she asked.

"We will," Rick promised. "We'll build the ultimate sandcastle!"

"I think I'm going to be investing in a lot of beach toys in the next couple of weeks," Jim said. "Well, whatever Martha leaves in the stores, anyway."

"Dad," Kate said half-scoldingly.

"Grandparent's privilege, Katie," Jim replied with a smile.

"Which is your way of saying there's no point in arguing with you, even when it comes to Reece and Jake," Kate said.

"Exactly," Jim replied.

Kate's response was to focus on Jake and Reece, who were lying on the floor on their backs looking up at her, and pull a silly face, crossing her eyes and sucking in her cheeks to make her lips look like a fish. "Your mother always told you if you kept doing that, your face would freeze that way," Jim continued, amused.

Kate held the silly face for a few more seconds, only letting her expression go back to normal after Jake and Reece had both laughed at her.

"Hasn't happened yet," Kate said, leaning over both boys to tickle them gently, since she loved the sound of their laughter.

"Hey, I thought I'm supposed to be the silly one!" Rick interjected in a mock-hurt tone.

"You **are** silly, Daddy," Lily assured him. "You're silly most of the time. Mommy's only silly sometimes."

"I agree with Lily on this," Alexis said.

"You'll always be the King of Silly, Rick," Kate assured her husband.

"I'll make you a crown, Daddy," Lily offered earnestly.

Rick gave her a big hug and a smacking kiss on the cheek. "Maybe later," he said. "Right now, you need to have some breakfast, Sweetpea."

"Okay," Lily agreed. "But can I still wear Alexis's graduation hat?" She clapped a palm atop her head to keep the tam in place.

"Sure," Alexis said with a smile. "It'll be good practice for when you get to wear one of your own." Catching the look in her father's eyes, she hastily added, "A long, **long** time from now."

"How long?" Lily asked.

"Years and years," Rick said. "But the beach is only a couple of weeks away."

And so plans began in earnest for the Memorial Day Weekend getaway to the Hamptons while Lily ate her blueberry muffin and drank her orange juice, and the adults lingered over juice and coffee and took turns engaging with the kids.


	103. Chapter 97

_**Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

Everyone (except Madison and Mark, that is) found their way to the Hamptons over the course of two days. Rick and Kate drove up Friday morning, Rick at the wheel, Kate in the middle of the second row of three seats with Reece on one side of her and Jake on the other, and Lily in the way back in her car seat behind Jake's car seat.

Jim was following them in his own car, which carried roughly half of the family's luggage, because they didn't have enough space in the SUV, despite its size, with Rick, Kate, three children ranging in age from 3 months to 3 years, along with all of the baby paraphernalia Kate insisted they needed to take in their car—diapers, bottles, changes of clothes, and toys for both boys—and a change of clothes for Lily just in case, plus her LeapPad, a Color Wonder book and markers, her Wonder Woman and Supergirl dolls, and her new pail and shovel from Grandpa Jim for sandcastle building. (Grandpa Jim had the rest of the stash of beach toys he had bought for Lily packed in his car.)

It was the first time Rick and Kate had made the trip to the Hamptons house with Lily, Reece and Jake all three, so there were a few stops along the way, but they still arrived around lunch time.

After a quick lunch, Rick and Jim unloaded both cars while Kate settled in the living room with the kids, sitting on the floor and playing with all three of them.

Alexis and Javier took the train up Saturday morning, and Jim met them at the train station to drive them to the house. When they got there, they found that the Ryans had arrived and Lily, Sarah Grace, and Nick were chasing each other all over the front lawn while Kate, standing on the porch, tried to soothe Reece, who was wailing in her arms; Rick gently bounced the fussy Jake, seemingly to no avail; and Kevin and Jenny were trying to corral all three of the older children, unsuccessfully. "Oh, thank God, backup!" Kevin exclaimed when he saw Jim, Javi, and Alexis emerge from Jim's car.

"Both boys are overtired and really need naps," Kate said over the wailing.

"You and Rick take Reece and Jake inside, Katie," Jim said. "We've got this." He gestured to the cars and the older kids.

"Thanks, Dad," Kate said.

Once Lily spotted Alexis, she shrieked, "ALEXIS!" and veered off to run to her big sister.

"Too much excitement, huh, guys?" Rick said once he and Kate were inside with Reece and Jake.

Kate looked at Reece more closely. His face was bright red from crying, but he was also pawing at his left ear. Kate kissed his forehead, and then frowned. "Rick, Reece has a fever!" she exclaimed. She hurried upstairs to the master suite and carefully laid Reece down on the bed, causing him to wail even louder. When she unearthed the digital thermometer from a pocket in one of the diaper bags, she inserted it into his right ear, and when it beeped several seconds later, she looked over at Rick, who was standing in the doorway with Jake over his shoulder, whimpering softly as Rick patted and rubbed his back, and a look of concern on his face. "His temperature's 101.2," Kate said anxiously. "We have to get him to a doctor."

"There's a pediatrician who lives three blocks away," Rick said, entering the room. "He has forever. He saw Alexis a few times when she was a kid. I hope he's home this weekend."

Kate scooped Reece up, covering him with kisses and cradling him close, her palm cupping the back of his head. "I know, baby," she crooned. "We're gonna get you some help."

At that moment, Martha appeared at the threshold of the master suite. "We could hear the crying outside," she said.

"Reece is sick, Mother," Rick said. "At least, he has a fever of 101.2 and he's very unhappy."

"Maybe it's an ear infection," Kate fretted. "He keeps pawing at his left ear."

"Since this isn't exactly in Lanie's wheelhouse—we ran into her and Alan and Will on the train and they're here too—shall I call Dr. Abernathy?" Martha asked.

"Please," Rick said. Jake, unsettled by his brother's upset, was still whimpering softly and had his little fists curled tightly into the front of Rick's shirt. "I don't think Jake wants to let me go."

"Right," Martha said. She hurried into the room, grabbed the phone, located the phone book on the bottom shelf of the nightstand, and after looking up the number, punched it into the landline. "Hello?" she said after what felt to Rick, Kate, Reece and Jake all four a terribly long time. "Dr. Abernathy?...Thank goodness. This is Martha Rodgers….No, I'm afraid it isn't a social call. Are you still practicing?….Good. One of my grandsons is very ill. He has a fever of 101.2, and he's tugging on his left ear….He's three months old….Yes, our address is the same….Thank you, Dr. Abernathy, we'll be waiting." She hung up, then turned to Richard and Katherine. "He remembers us, and he's on his way over. He'll be here in just a few minutes."

"Thank you, Martha," Kate replied.

"I'm going to go downstairs and fill in the others," she said, "and then direct Dr. Abernathy up here." Then she was gone.

Jake was still whimpering. "Hey, now, Jellybean, it's okay," Rick said, gently bouncing the baby in his arms. "We'll have the doctor look you over too, just in case, although you don't feel warm."

About five minutes later, Martha returned, with Dr. Abernathy, Jim, Alexis, Lily, and Lanie in tow. "One of my godsons is sick?" Lanie asked.

"You must be the doctor," Dr. Abernathy said to Lanie.

"I thought you were the doctor," Jim said.

"That's what it says on my diploma from Johns Hopkins," Dr. Abernathy replied.

"Oh lord, Castle, he's you in twenty years," Lanie said.

"I'm much better with medicine than I am with words," Dr. Abernathy said. He opened his black bag. "Now, all concerned grandparents, siblings, and godparents who also happen to be doctors, please wait in the hall. I need to examine the patient."

Alexis took charge then, herding Lily out of the room with the promise of a Popsicle, and Jim, Martha, and Lanie leaving with looks back over their shoulders.

"All right, then, let's take a look at this little guy," Dr. Abernathy. "Where can I wash up?"

"Right through there," Rick replied, gesturing towards the master bathroom with a tilt of his head.

"Thank you," Dr. Abernathy replied. He went and washed up, then returned and said, "Okay, who do we have here?" as he approached Kate and Reece.

"Reece," Kate replied.

"Martha said he was 3 months old," Dr. Abernathy said. "Martha and I went to dinner a few times several years ago. I met her significant other downstairs. I saw him in a production of _Same Time, Next Year_ in Connecticut a couple of years ago." He pulled his stethoscope out of his bag and said to Kate, "Could you take off his onesie, please?" Kate made quick work of removing Reece's onesie, and Dr. Abernathy listened to his heart and lungs. "No congestion, that's good," he pronounced. "But you're a little space heater, Reece." Reece continued to protest when Dr. Abernethy took his temperature in his right ear and confirmed that he still had a fever of 101.2. "Do you have infant Tylenol or Motrin?"

"Yes, in one of the diaper bags," Kate replied.

"He'll need half a teaspoon, or 2.5 milliliters if you're using the syringe, every four to six hours, and do **not** exceed five doses in a 24-hour period," Dr. Abernathy said. He pulled out his otoscope next and looked first in Reece's right ear. Reece had calmed down somewhat, but as soon as Dr. Abernathy switched sides and gently pulled Reece's left ear down and back to shine the light inside it, Reece began screaming his head off again. "Yup," Dr. Abernathy said over Reece's screams, "that is one nasty middle ear infection. I'll write him a prescription for an antibiotic, which I want you to fill immediately, and start him on it right away. It might give him diarrhea, so watch out for that. The Tylenol should knock out the fever completely in the next two days, and I'll prescribe a one-week course of antibiotics for Reece, although he should be much better in four or five days. I presume you won't still be here then, so you'll want to follow up with his regular pediatrician. You're probably in for a very rough night tonight, and possibly tomorrow night as well, but he'll be fine in a few days."

He replaced his otoscope in his bag, but his stethoscope was still hanging around his neck. "Let me wash up again, and then I'll check Jake over, just to be sure he's okay," Dr. Abernathy said. "Ear infections are not contagious, but I prefer to err on the side of caution." After a quick hand washing, Dr. Abernathy returned, examined Jake, and pronounced him 100% healthy. He pulled out his prescription pad and a pen and wrote a prescription for Reece for an antibiotic for his ear infection. Tearing it off the pad, he said, "Get this filled ASAP," and handed it to Rick.

"Thank you so much, Dr. Abernathy," Rick replied. He hadn't known the doctor well—and in fact, hadn't even known that the doctor and his mother had had dinner together a few times several years ago—but he would be forever grateful to the man for coming over when called and giving them the means to help Reece feel better as soon as possible.

"Yes, thank you, Dr. Abernathy," Kate echoed.

"I'll show myself out," Dr. Abernathy said. "If you need me again while you're in town, call me anytime." He then addressed the boys. "Jake, nice to meet you. Reece, feel better soon." Then he left.

The whole family came flooding into the upstairs hallway then, Jim and Martha at the front of the crowd, Earl, Lanie, and Alexis, with Lily, her mouth all purple from her grape Popsicle, right behind them. Jim and Martha were crowded in the doorway to the master suite. Reece was still crying, though no longer hysterical, and Jake was still whimpering, feeding off of his brother's abject misery.

"Reece has an ear infection," Rick announced as Kate continued trying to calm their tiny, miserable boy. He was still holding the prescription in his hand. "We need to get this filled, but I don't think Jake's going to be receptive to anyone else right now, since he still has this iron grip on my shirt." Indeed, Jake was holding on to his daddy's shirt for dear life.

"I'll run and get it filled right now," Jim said, plucking the sheet of paper out of Rick's hand.

"Thanks, Dad," Kate called as Jim threw a wave over his shoulder and rushed out into the hall and down the stairs to his car to head to the pharmacy.

"What can we do, Richard?" Martha asked, referring to herself and the others collectively.

Rick and Kate exchanged a look. "How's Lily?" Rick asked.

"Until Dr. Abernathy left, she was coloring downstairs with Alexis and Sarah Grace," Martha replied.

"Excuse us!" Alexis called then. She and Lily entered the master suite then. "How are Reece and Jake?" she asked.

"Reece has an ear infection, Jake's healthy physically but fussy because Reece is all upset, or at least that's what's what we're thinking," Rick said.

Lily clapped her hands over her ears. "Reece has never been that loud, Daddy!" she exclaimed.

"He's sick, sweetpea," Rick told her. "And he can't talk yet, and sometimes when you're sick, you feel so badly, you just have to cry, no matter how old you are."

"Am I going to get sick too? Is Jakey?" Lily asked.

"No," Kate answered. "Reece isn't contagious."

"I wanna go back and color now," Lily said.

"That's a good idea, Lily," Kate said.

"If there's anything I can do to help, let me know," Alexis said.

"Keep an eye on Lily for us," Rick said. "We've really got our hands full with the boys right now."

"You can count on me," Alexis replied. "Come on, Lily, let's get you washed up and then we'll go back and color some more, or maybe Javier and I can do something else with you and Sarah Grace and Nick."

"Yay!" Lily cheered.

After she and Lily left, Lanie stuck her head in the door, and Alan, with Will standing next to him jumping up and down and chattering away, was right beside her. "Otitis media?" Lanie asked.

"If that's medical terminology for a middle ear infection, yes," Kate said.

"Poor baby," Lanie said sympathetically. "Will had an ear infection when he wasn't much older than Reece. They're very painful. What did Dr. Abernathy prescribe?"

"Infant Tylenol for the fever and..." Kate trailed off, not having seen the prescription, and looked at Rick.

"I couldn't really make out his writing," Rick confessed. "Do they teach you Illegible Handwriting 101 in medical school? It looked like it started with an 'A.'"

"Probably Amoxicillin," Lanie mused. "That's what Will's pediatrician gave him. In three days' time, he was much better." She paused. "Since Reece is sick, is the weekend off? We were all talking about it downstairs, and we'll all understand if it is."

Rick and Kate looked at each other again. "As much as we hate to do it, yeah, it's probably better for everyone if it is. We're in for a rough night or two with Reece, and by extension Jake, since they'll both be sleeping in here with us," Kate said.

"And the house isn't soundproofed," Rick added, "although Reece isn't contagious."

"Hey, almost everyone here is a parent. We know how it is," Alan said then. "We're not worried Will's going to get sick."

"And Jenny and Ryan aren't worried that Sarah Grace and Nick are going to get sick," Lanie added. "Like Alan said, we get it. We've been there ourselves. And none of us really want to go unless you specifically want us to."

Rick and Kate exchanged another look. "Well, this is going to be our weekend," Kate said. "I'm sure my dad and Martha and Earl, Alexis and Javi are all going to stay, so..."

"We'll leave it up to everyone as to whether or not you decide to stay or go home," Rick finished, which was exactly what Kate had been thinking. "We're sorry about this."

"Don't worry about that, Castle," Lanie said. "Kids get sick. We all know that." She paused, then said, "Alan and I will go tell everybody downstairs, since Gates and her husband just arrived and don't really know what's happening yet, what's going on."

"Thanks, Lanie," Kate said.

"If you need anything, just let us know," Alan said. He bent over to help Will walk down the hall and down the stairs, and the Masters family went back downstairs to tell everyone else about Reece's ear infection and the change in weekend plans.

Jim Beckett came rushing in then with Reece's antibiotic. "I've got the Amoxicillin!" he exclaimed. "And I insist on helping you get it down Reece, Katie. It's a two-person job, and Rick has his hands full with Jake."

"The twin bond at work?" Rick asked Jake. "I promise you, Jake, Reece is going to be just fine."

Kate and Jim, working together, got the infant Tylenol, once Jim found it in the diaper bag, down Reece for his fever, and that was tough enough. The Amoxicillin took even more effort, but although Kate knew, intellectually, that the medicine was necessary for Reece, that given a little time, both the Tylenol and the Amoxicillin would take effect and make Reece start to feel better, but although Lily had had a couple of colds in her life, this was the first major illness one of her kids had had, and Kate felt a pain in her heart that she'd never felt before at seeing Reece in such pain, knowing that he was suffering, and she wished with every fiber of her being that she could take Reece's pain onto herself, magically snap her fingers and she'd have the middle ear infection and he'd be smiling and happy and not sick.

Jake fell asleep on Rick's shoulder by the time Kate and Jim had gotten the medicine down Reece. The antibiotic had to be refrigerated, so Jim took that downstairs, but left the infant Tylenol on Kate's nightstand, for when Reece would need another dose later.

Jim returned a few minutes later, lugging a Pack 'n' Play, and he set it up for Rick to put Jake down when he was ready to do so. "I'll haul the other one up here for Reece, but I don't know how much you'll be using it tonight," he said after he had finished setting up the first one for Jake.

"There's no rush, Jim," Rick said. "And thank you. For everything."

Jim smiled wistfully. "I wish I could do more, but Grandpa Magic only goes so far when it comes to things like ear infections," he said. "You were prone to them when you were really little, Katie. It was the most difficult, painful thing in the world for your mom and me to see you in so much pain, but it's a rite of passage in parenthood." He went on, "Earl and I are going to grill for dinner. Burgers and hot dogs. And Jenny said something about macaroni and cheese for the kids, so we'll take care of everything downstairs." He paused, then said, "Of course, I was never going anywhere, and neither were Martha and Earl, or Alexis and Javier, but everyone else took a vote and decided that since they all have Monday off anyway, and Lily Jo's not very happy about Reece being sick, and loud, that we'd like to help by being here to keep Lily Jo occupied, and help you out if you need it with walking the floor with Reece, or tending to Jake until Reece is through the worst of this ear infection. For now, all you two have to worry about is being with Reece, and getting Jake to take a nap. We've got everything else."

Tears clogged Kate's throat. Reece was down to whimpers, but the medications obviously hadn't kicked in yet, because he was still flushed and hot, and still tugging at his left ear. "Thanks, Dad," she managed to choke out. Jim smiled and nodded before excusing himself.

Rick settled Jake in the Pack 'n' Play, disappeared into the en suite bathroom, and returned a moment later with a cold washcloth. "Here, Peanut, this should help you feel a little better. A little cooler, anyway," Rick murmured as he gently bathed Reece's face with the washcloth. Kate was cradling Reece in her arms, and a few traitorous tears slid down her cheeks as she watched Rick tend to Reece. He looked from Reece to Kate, saw her tears, and said, "Oh, Kate."

"None of the kids have ever been this sick before," Kate said, her voice choked. "God, I just want to make this all go away for him, I just want him to feel better."

"The first time is always the hardest," Rick said. "Lily's had a couple of minor colds, and none of the kids have reacted badly to their shots. I remember the first time Alexis had the flu. She was a year-and-a-half old, and she was talking, but not as much as she would later on, obviously. It's never easy to see one of your kids sick or in pain, but it's the absolute worst when they're this little. I've just, I've been through it a few times already with Alexis, and it's a gut punch, absolutely. But I promise you, Kate, Reece will be feeling better within the next 24 hours. He won't be completely well yet, but he'll be through probably the hardest, worst part."

"So then I'm not being ridiculous or overly emotional?" Kate asked, wiping at her face with her right hand while keeping Reece firmly cradled in the crook of her left arm.

"Not at all. You're being a great mom," Rick said. He leaned in and kissed her forehead before they both turned their attention back to Reece, who was no longer whimpering and looked a little less red-faced, but they could tell by his eyes that he wasn't feeling well. Rick maneuvered himself on the bed so that he was sitting behind Kate, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding both her and Reece. "We'll get Reece through this, Kate, I swear we will."

Kate leaned back against Rick's chest, drawing both comfort and strength from his embrace. "We're right here, Reece," she said, "and we're going to take care of you until you're all better." Reece just looked up at his parents, no smile on his usually happy face because of the pain in his ear and the fever in his body.

And yet the tiny boy knew that his mommy and daddy were right there, and just being held by them, and the cool cloth on his face, and the love and security he felt from his parents' presence were enough to make the baby start feeling, if not physically better, then emotionally better for sure.


	104. Chapter 98

_**Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

Saturday night was rough at the Hamptons house. It was roughest for Rick and Kate and Reece. Jake slept fitfully, and he slept best when Rick was holding him, his head resting on Rick's chest, right over Rick's heartbeat, but, feeding off of Reece's pain-filled wails, Jake didn't manage much more sleep than his brother or his parents.

Reece didn't want to leave his mother's arms. He didn't like the infant Tylenol or the Amoxicillin, and Jake's greatest displeasure was when Rick laid Jake in his Pack 'n' Play to help Kate get Reece's next dose of medicines down him when it was time.

The driving rain started around 3 AM, with a fantastic thunder and lightning show accompanying it, and the storm lasted over an hour. The only ones who slept through the storm were the Ryan family, and Victoria and Gerald Gates. Lily usually slept through storms at home in the city, but she was unsettled by Reece's illness and his attendant crying, so she awakened not crying, but scared of the storm. Jim, Martha and Earl were already sleeping fitfully because they were also worried about Reece, so when Lily awakened screaming in fear, all three grandparents rushed to her side.

Alexis and Javier were also awakened by the storm, and Reece, already awake, was also scared by the storm and started crying for a reason other than the pain from his ear infection. Jake was actually asleep on his father's chest when a particularly loud crash of thunder startled him awake, and he instantly began crying lustily with fear. Physically exhausted, Rick and Kate were instantly on their feet, walking the room with the boys, trying to calm them down.

Alexis and Javier went to check on Lily first, and saw that she was clinging to Jim, her head buried against his shoulder, while Martha stroked Lily's long brown hair, and Earl hovered behind Martha's shoulder. "Can we help?" Alexis asked.

"I don't like the rain and thunder!" Lily exclaimed, turning her head so that her face was visible, though her cheek still rested on Grandpa Jim's shoulder.

"None of us do, darling," Martha crooned.

"It woke me up and scared me," Lily continued. "And Reece and Jakey are crying too."

"I bet they don't like the rain and thunder either," Earl said.

"Do you want Javier and me to stay here with you, Lily?" Alexis asked.

Lily said, "No. I have Grandpa and Gram and Pops. Mommy and Daddy might need help with Reece and Jakey."

"Okay, then," Alexis said, "but if you change your mind, all you have to do is call, Lily."

"I know," Lily replied.

Alexis and Javier headed for the master suite then, and Alexis knocked, but when there was no answer from within but the sounds of Reece and Jake both crying, and Rick and Kate trying to soothe them, Alexis opened the door a moment later. "Need some help?" she asked over the sounds of the crying as she entered the room.

Javier hovered in the doorway. "It's worth a try," Rick said. He kissed Jake's forehead and said, "How 'bout you go to Alexis for a few minutes, Jake?"

But Jake's wails became louder when he was in Alexis's arms. He only wanted his daddy. Observant even at three months old, he knew that Reece had Mommy's full attention right now, so Jake just wanted Daddy.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Alexis said. "It's all right, Jake. Here, go to Daddy." She handed Jake back to their father, and once he was safely ensconced in Rick's arms once more, his cries began to peter out to whimpers.

"How's Lily?" Rick asked. Kate was pacing with Reece, rubbing his back and talking softly to him.

"Surrounded by all the grandparents," Alexis replied. "The storm scared her, but she'll be all right."

"At least Sarah G and Nick still seem to be asleep," Javier reflected. "I'm not sure about Will."

It turned out that the storm had also awakened Will Masters, and his tears had both of his parents instantly awake to comfort him. Lanie and Alan were able to get Will back to sleep within an hour. The grandparents got Lily back to sleep within thirty minutes, and Martha decided to stay in Lily's room in case she awakened again.

Alexis, thinking ahead, programmed the coffeemaker in the kitchen for the adults before she and Javier returned to bed. "Poor kids," Alexis said as she and Javier headed back to their room. "Reece is sick, the storm scared him and Jake and Lily all three. Mom and Dad are gonna be walking zombies later today."

"At least the grandparents are getting Lily calmed down," Javier replied. "It's gotta be hell on Beckett and Castle with Reece sick and in pain, and Jake so scared by the storm. Lily's at least old enough to understand about the storm and to talk."

"And Jake's unsettled by Reece being sick and upset too," Alexis said.

"Are twins genetic?" Javier wondered.

Alexis laughed, punchy from the late hour and interrupted sleep. "I'm thinking no in this case," she replied. "But we're a long way away from that, and if it does happen, we'll adapt."

Finally, the storm stopped a little after 4 AM. Rick was stretched out in bed on his back, sleeping, with Jake asleep on his chest, and Reece was calmer, though still pulling on his ear. He was sweaty, which greatly relieved Kate, because that meant his fever had broken. Since he was so clammy from sweating, Kate carried him into the bathroom, stripped him, and gave him a quick, lukewarm sponge bath, letting Rick and Jake sleep. "I'm so glad your fever broke, Peanut. That's a very good thing," Kate said as she sponged him off and then carefully dried him. When he was dry, and she had gently combed his hair down, she wrapped him up in his bath towel and carried him back into the bedroom, where she got him into a fresh diaper and a clean sleeper.

"That's got to feel better, huh?" she asked as she got into bed with Reece in her arms, net to the sleeping Rick and Jake. Reece yawned then. "I know, baby boy, I'm tired too," Kate said. "Let's see, something to talk to you about...Okay, I'm going to give you your first history lesson on the New York Yankees. I'm too tired to go all the way back to the beginning, but I can tell you that the Yankees did something no other baseball team in history has ever done: they won five World Series in a row. Yes, they really did. It was a really long time ago, though. 1949 to 1953."

Reece looked up at his mother, the pain in his ear having started to ease from the combination of two doses of both the infant Tylenol and the Amoxicillin. It was 4:27 in the morning, and everyone else in the house was asleep except for Kate and Reece. The worst of the storm had died down, and the raindrops that hit the roof and the windows of the house did so now without much force.

"1949 was Casey Stengel's first year as manager of the Yankees," Kate began. "They defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series that year. They defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series every time they played them, except for 1955. But I'm getting ahead of myself. So 1949, Yankees beat the Dodgers. In 1950, they played the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series and defeated them. In 1951, it was the New York Giants, but they were a baseball team then, not the football team. The Giants and the Dodgers both moved from New York to California after the 1957 season. Of course, the Giants cheated to get into the World Series in the first place, and that was wrong, but-"

Kate stopped her hushed narrative when she saw that Reece was asleep. "We'll get to 1952 and '53 some other time, sweet boy," she said. She settled back against the pillows and cradled Reece protectively against her chest, his right cheek and ear resting over her heart. She was asleep in sixty seconds.

When Jim Beckett knocked quietly on the bedroom door a little after 6 AM and got no answer, he cautiously, quietly opened the door just enough to peek around it and see that Katie and Rick were in bed, each with a baby asleep on their chest, wrapped tightly and protectively in their arms. He took in the sight for a long moment before quietly closing the door behind him and leaving the exhausted quartet to sleep for as long as they could.

Sunday was a long day. It rained on and off, and just enough that the beach was out, which upset Lily, Sarah Grace, and Nick, who were looking forward to building sand castles (Lily), swimming in the ocean (Sarah Grace), and jumping over waves (Nick).

Rick and Kate emerged with Reece and Jake at 9 AM, with the equivalent of steamer trunks under their eyes. Jake was a little cranky from lack of sleep, but otherwise he was fine. Reece was still fever-free, and not pawing at his ear as much, but still fussy and clinging to Kate. As Alexis had predicted, Rick and Kate were sleep-deprived zombies fighting to stay on alert for Reece and Jake's needs.

Jim cleared his throat and said, "We've made a few executive decisions about today."

"We?" Kate asked blankly.

"Those of us who got much more sleep last night than you four did," Martha said.

"Martha, Earl, and I will stay here and help you with the boys," Jim said. "Give you and Rick a chance to get some more sleep, hopefully."

"And we're not going to let the rain spoil our day," Alexis said determinedly.

"We're not?" Lily asked.

"No, we're not," Alexis said. "There are plenty of places to go and things to do that don't require being outside, even on a Sunday. We can go to the Children's Museum, go for frozen yogurt-"

"I want frozen yogurt!" Nick interrupted.

"-and there's an indoor carousel we can ride on," Alexis continued. She looked to her parents. "We'll take plenty of pictures, since it'll be Lily's first carousel ride. That is, if you want to do that?" She looked to her sister once more.

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed.

"We're coming too," Lanie said. "Will's never been on a carousel either."

"Wait, so all of you are going out for the afternoon?" Rick asked.

"Yes, Castle," Lanie said. "Except for the grandparents."

"That's right. The three of us are staying here, and taking care of you and the boys," Martha said.

And so it was. Reece got another dose of Amoxicillin after his breakfast, and some more infant Tylenol to keep his fever gone and help with the pain in his ear. After breakfast, Alexis, Javier, Lily, the Ryans, and the Masters' headed out, and while they spent their day exploring the Children's Museum, and playing a round of miniature golf there (in which Sarah Grace scored a hole-in-one), riding the antique carousel multiple times, and stopping off for frozen yogurt on the way home, when Jake and Reece both fell asleep a little after 11 AM, Rick and Kate just managed to make it upstairs to their bed before they crashed, sleeping until almost 4:30 PM.

Jim, Martha, and Earl, with a little assistance from Victoria and Gerald Gates, who had gone to a movie matinee and then come back to the house, took care of Jake and Reece. After an uninterrupted nap and some lunch, Jake was back to his usual self, no longer grumpy, and Martha took charge of Reece, who wanted nothing to do with either Jim or Earl. "Don't take it personally, gentlemen," Martha told the disappointed duo. "I'm certain that Reece is clinging to me because my anatomy is similar to Katherine's."

"If you're going to mention that around your son, Martha, could you please do it when I'm present?" Victoria piped up then from where she and Gerald were watching Jake, playing with him and his talking farm rattle that lit up, made animal sounds, and sang songs. "I **_have_** to see the look on his face at that comparison."

"I think Richard's had a tough enough weekend, Victoria, but I'll keep it in mind for a later date," Martha replied. Then she returned her attention to Reece, finally calming him by singing softly to him. He didn't surrender to sleep until after his parents reappeared, looking much more alert.

"How's Reece?" Kate and Rick asked at the same time.

"He seems to be doing better," Martha reported from her seat on the couch with Reece in her arms. "He's asleep, finally. And he definitely loves his Gram's singing. Most of the score of _My Fair Lady,_ for starters. I think we might have another actor in the family, Richard."

"At three months of age?" Rick asked.

"All right, maybe not an actor, but definitely a music lover," Martha said. She quietly addressed Reece in her arms. "The next time it's you and me one on one, kiddo, I'll introduce you to The Beatles."

"I insist on equal time for Fleetwood Mac!" Jim called from across the room.

"Dad, your favorite band is The Eagles," Kate said. "Mom loved Fleetwood Mac."

"Exactly," Jim replied. "Not that either of them are very kid-friendly, but I could probably find a more kid-friendly Fleetwood Mac song than a kid-friendly Eagles song."

"Does no one but me appreciate the genius of CSNY?" Earl piped up then. Off Rick and Kate's confused looks, Earl sighed. "Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young," he explained. "'Teach Your Children'? 'Our House'?"

"I remember them," Jim said. "They were okay, I guess."

"What about The Beach Boys?" Earl asked.

"Everybody knows The Beach Boys," Jim said. "And yes, I like them too. Not as much as The Eagles, but they're still a great band."

"Do you object to my teaching Reece and Jake songs by The Beach Boys?" Earl inquired of Rick and Kate.

"I don't see a reason to, do you, Kate?" Rick asked, looking from Earl to Kate.

"No," Kate said.

"All of our children will have a very well-rounded musical education. A very well-rounded education in general," Rick said.

"Let's wait until elementary school, at least, before we unleash our music on them, though, babe," Kate said so only Rick could hear her.

"Okay," he agreed.

The conversation was interrupted by the return of everyone else in a big, noisy group, the kids laughing and shouting, chattering nonstop about their day, Will riding on Alan's shoulders, and Javier and Kevin carrying several boxed pizzas. "We brought dinner!" Alexis announced over the cacophony. Reece awoke, flailing his arms and fussing, but he settled down when Kate excused herself to nurse him.

Everyone sat around the kitchen table and as they ate, the kids chattered on about their day—Sarah Grace's hole-in-one at miniature golf, the way Nick had covered his chocolate frozen yogurt with so many rainbow sprinkles that no one could see the frozen yogurt, and how much both girls and Nick had enjoyed their four rides on the antique carousel.

After dinner, everyone adjourned to the living room, where they watched _The Incredibles,_ which only Kevin, Jenny, Sarah Grace, and Nick had seen before.

"I'm seeing future Halloween costumes here," Rick said in Kate's ear at one point. "Although you don't need a costume to be more flexible than Elastigirl." Kate's reply was a coy look.

"This is so much better than all that Princess-needs-a-man-to-save-her stuff," Victoria said.

"They finally started changing that narrative until _Beauty and the Beast_ , in 1991," Jenny replied.

"We should have brought _Zootopia_ ," Kevin said. "I'd love to see everyone's reactions to Officer Judy Hoppes."

"Some other time," Kate said. "I know this wasn't the weekend any of us planned-"

"Hey, it happens," Jenny said. "We all understand. We'll definitely all get together with the kids and watch _Zootopia_ some other time."

After the movie, everyone split off into small groups, with the parents getting their kids through baths and bedtime routines, while Alexis and Javier went for a walk on the beach since the rain had finally stopped, and Victoria and Gerald took glasses of wine out by the pool to stargaze.

Reece got fussy again, so Kate and Rick said good night to everyone and took him upstairs. Jake was content with his grandparents, babbling at Grandpa Jim and Gram and Pops when they took turns talking to him.

Upstairs, Rick read to Reece from _Goodnight Moon._ He'd had his last dose of antibiotics for the day, his fever had not returned, and he fell asleep before Rick reached the end of the book, but he kept reading to the end anyway.

Kate settled Reece in his Pack 'n' Play, and she and Rick stood there watching him sleep for a few minutes. "I'll get Reece an appointment with Dr. Stone first thing Tuesday morning," Kate reflected, "but I'm thinking we got him through this ear infection."

"We did," Rick agreed.

"I'm so glad Reece is feeling better," Kate said. "Seeing your child so sick and in so much pain...it's a hell I didn't know existed until now."

"It doesn't get easier," Rick said. "But you do learn to handle it better. And you did great this time."

"I don't know about that," Kate said.

"I do," Rick replied. "We'll come back for a weekend later this summer. Maybe after Alexis and Esposito's wedding. We'll need time to recover from that. And I did promise Lily we'd build sand castles, and Reece and Jake haven't seen the beach and the ocean for the first time yet."

"Great idea," Kate approved. "And the plans are about to hit fever pitch." She looked at Rick now. "Are you ready?" she asked him.

"Not yet," he replied honestly, "but by the time we get to the wedding, I will be. At least, I'll be as ready as I can be."

Kate put her arms around him, resting her head against his chest, and felt his arms go around her. "I'll make sure Javi knows not to call you 'Dad,'" she promised.

Rick stifled his laugh, so as not to wake Reece. "Yeah, that would be too awkward even for me," he said.

"I think it would be more awkward for him," Kate said. "It's gonna be good, babe."

"It is," he agreed. "Different, but good." He tilted her face up to kiss her, and when he broke the kiss, he said, "Let's go get Jake, say good night to Lily, get Jake to sleep, and then collapse and hopefully sleep for more than a few minutes at a stretch ourselves."

"Yes," Kate said, threading her fingers through his before they headed downstairs to get Jake, and to say good night to Lily.


	105. Chapter 99

**_Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story._**

* * *

Reece recovered from his ear infection within a week, as his regular pediatrician confirmed once everyone returned home from the Hamptons.

Alexis was studying hard for the bar exam, but she set aside June 1 for her and Javier's meeting with his Army chaplain friend, Father Peter Gilliam, Catholic priest and retired Chaplain Corps Major.

Once Javier had explained to his old friend that Alexis was in the process of intensive study for the New York State Bar Exam, and they had just mailed their wedding invitations the day before, having set the time and date for Saturday, August 15, at Lyndhurst Castle at 6 PM, Father Peter had assured Javier that they could do the pre-marriage counseling session in one day. "Of course, it'll be about six hours," he had said, "about 9 AM to 3 PM, with an hour off for lunch. We're not doing an actual Catholic wedding with the full Mass and everything, right?"

"Right," Javier had told him. "Do people use the term 'mixed marriage' anymore? Because I'm Catholic, or at least I was raised Catholic, and I don't really have a home parish at the moment, and Alexis and her family are Episcopalian. At least, her three younger siblings are being raised in the Episcopalian Church. We've attended services there sometimes too."

"The Episcopalian and Roman Catholic religions actually have a lot of similarities," Father Pete had replied. "You're not technically having a Catholic wedding, so this isn't a strict necessity, but since you asked me to be your officiant, I felt compelled to offer to do some pre-marriage counseling with you and Alexis."

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't pre-Cana basically the couple making sure they're on the same page about all the important things? You know, religion, kids, finances, being willing to move for your spouse's job if it's necessary, that kind of stuff?" Javier asked.

"To put it in one sentence, basically yes," Father Pete replied. "It's kind of a last chance before the highway to make sure you're really ready for marriage and what it's going to mean in the long run."

"Then we definitely want to do that," Javier said, "because this marriage is going to last the rest of our lives."

"All righty, then, I'll see you on the first," Father Pete had said.

Which is how Alexis and Javier came to be on their way to St. Brendan's Catholic Church in Brooklyn bright and early on the morning of June 1, to meet Father Pete at the rectory for their unofficial pre-Cana class.

Javier rang the doorbell, and the door was opened by a man about his and Kevin's age, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a ready smile, wearing his black shirt and white clerical collar with a pair of light blue jeans. "Javi!" he exclaimed happily, his eyes crinkling at the corners as his smile widened.

"Pedro!" Javier replied, smiling back at his old friend. They shook hands, and then hugged. After delivering a hearty slap on the back to Javi, Father Pete regarded Alexis. "And you have got to be Alexis. Javi and I don't get to see each other very often, but every time we have in the last three years, you're just about all he talks about. It's nice to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Father Gilliam," Alexis replied, shaking the hand the priest extended to her.

"No need to stand on formality," he assured her. "Father Peter, Father Pete, you can call me just plain Pete if you'd like."

"I'll stick with 'Father Pete' if that's all right," Alexis said.

"That's just fine," Father Pete replied. "Come in." They followed him to the living room of the house. "Make yourselves at home. The housekeeper is off on the weekends, but I just put up a fresh pot of coffee."

When they were all settled with coffee, in typical Alexis fashion, she was ready to dive right in. "I take it Javier has told you I'm not Catholic?" she began.

"Yes," Father Pete replied. "And that's not as big a deal as a lot of people make it out to be. Or at least, it won't be until you're deciding how to raise the children, if you're planning on having children."

"We are," Alexis and Javier said in unison.

"Not for a few years, though," Javier said.

"Right," Alexis agreed. "I'm taking the bar exam on July 24 and 25, and I want to get established in my career before taking time off to have kids. But we have a lot of kids in our lives already. I have a 3-year-old sister, and twin brothers who were just born in February, and Javier's best friend Kevin has a 6-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son who are also his godchildren, and very close to my siblings, or at least Sarah Grace is close to my sister Lily. And then our friends Lanie and Alan have a son who's going on a year-and-a-half old. So we'll get plenty of practice with kids before we actually have our own."

"Sarah Grace and Lily are going to be our flower girls," Javier said. "Couldn't talk Nick into being the ringbearer, and Reece and Jake and Will are all too young."

Father Pete smiled. "In my experience, most little boys aren't interested in being in weddings," he said. "They're just there for the cake, at least until they're between 11 and 13 years old, especially if there's a junior bridesmaid or younger sister or cousin or friend of the family on either the bride's side or the groom's side that gives them a reason to comb their hair out of their eyes and not complain about wearing a tie. Now, August 15 is the big day, correct?"

"Yes," Alexis said, "6 PM at Lyndhurst Castle, so I'm thinking we'll probably get there a little after noon."

"We're not taking our actual wedding pictures until after we're married," Javier said. It was a thing with him, which Alexis had accepted. Pictures of him with Ryan and with Father Pete, fine. Pictures of Alexis with Beckett and Castle and Martha and Lily and Sarah Grace, okay. But Javier refused to pose for any wedding pictures with Alexis until after the wedding, when they were actually, legally husband and wife.

Father Pete pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I had the time and date, just not the place," he said as he entered it into his calendar app. "Got it." He laid the phone on the coffee table and said, "All right, then. Next up: family of origin."

"Javier's been a part of my family for years," Alexis said. "That's how we met, actually. But things changed after..." She trailed off, swallowed hard, then said, "My mom...at least, I think of her as my mom, and I call her 'Mom'...She was a cop, a homicide detective, and then Captain of the 12th Precinct. She and my dad met because of a murder case that was based on one of his early books. My dad is Richard Castle, the writer. He consulted on cases with her and Javier and Kevin Ryan and wrote a whole series of books based on her. Lanie was one of the medical examiners they worked with. They worked together for most of eight years. They had a lot of close calls, and the closest one of all was four years ago, when they were ambushed at home and shot. They were critically wounded, but they survived. Mom retired from the NYPD, and now she's on the City Council of New York City, representing District 1 in Manhattan. Dad still writes, and now they have my younger siblings. Javier and I didn't get together until after my parents were recovering from being shot that last time."

"My family of origin are all deceased," Javier said. "So Alexis is right. We really do have the same family of origin now. We all kind of made our own family—Castle's mom and her boyfriend, Beckett's dad, Ryan and Jenny and Sarah Grace and Nick, Lanie and her husband Alan and Will, even our former Captain and her husband."

"Every married couple needs a solid support system. They're a firm foundation on which to build your branch of the family tree," Father Pete said. "Okay, that was the easy stuff. Now we get into the real nitty gritty," he said. "Intensive discussion on the major components of every marriage. First up: communication."

Alexis burst out laughing at this, and even Javier couldn't stop his smile. "I'm sorry," Alexis apologized. "I really do take this seriously. It's just...well, you have to know my parents."

"Yeah, Beckett and Castle taught us a lot about what _**not**_ to do regarding communication," Javier added. "Although they did finally get their act together, everyone around them saw it before they got to the point where they did anything about it."

Alexis reached for Javier's hand. "I think we do a pretty good job of communicating," Alexis said. "We rarely have misunderstandings, and when we fight, we fight fairly. At least, we try to fight fairly."

"One of the keys to a good marriage is keeping the fights clean and the sex dirty," Father Pete said with a straight face.

Alexis's jaw dropped at hearing a priest talk that way. Javier burst out laughing. "Pete was engaged a long time ago," he told Alexis when he had recovered himself.

"Oh, so when you became a priest, you..." She trailed off.

"I gave informed consent," Pete said. He gave a flash of a smile before growing serious. "We didn't keep the fights clean, or fair, and I felt called to the priesthood. She accused me of abandoning her and the relationship, but I honestly and truly did feel a calling to the Church, and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life fighting with her. Plus I served in the Army as a chaplain, and I counseled a lot of soldiers, both male and female, officers and enlisted, on their marriages and relationships in my time in the service. God created sex, after all, and while according to the hardcore Biblical people its main purpose is for procreation, I've never looked at it that way as either a man or a priest. Sex is a gift, the most intimate act of physical expression of love between two people. Yes, procreation is one of the results of sex, but it's not the only result, nor should it be. Sex is an important part of any healthy marriage. Not the **most** important part, or the **only** important part, but it should never be regarded as a chore or a duty."

"I don't know a lot of Catholic priests, Father Pete, but you're very enlightened on the subject of sex," Alexis observed.

"Thank you, Alexis. I try," Father Pete replied. "The best marriages are those that are an adventure of the heart, mind, and body, and a lifetime of shared discovery. Keep 'dating' all of your lives. Keep holding hands, rubbing his feet or her shoulders at the end of a long, exhausting day. Make time for each other, no matter how hectic life gets. Make grown-ups only time for each other after you start having children. Make it a lifelong habit to hold and touch and kiss each other. Communicate your desires and fears to each other, and not just the sexual ones. All of them. And respect each other's limits."

Javier's arm was around Alexis's shoulders by now. "We can definitely do that," he said.

"Absolutely," Alexis agreed.

"Good," Father Pete said. "Now, getting back to communication as a whole, the other side of that coin is arguments. Studies have shown that one of the biggest predictors of divorce is avoidance of conflict. Sometimes it's an elephant in the room, sometimes it's more like a mosquito that got in through the window screen, annoying and buzzing around your heads. Ignoring either one is the wrong thing to do, no matter how big or small the issue, or what the issue is.

"Marriages that succeed and marriages that fail have about the same level of disagreements. The difference is in the way that conflict is handled.

"Also, realize that some arguments or conflicts change over time. You won't be arguing about how to raise the children, or how to discipline them, for instance, because you don't have children yet. It is vital that you handle your arguments, conflicts, and disagreements fairly and constructively. Are there any dealbreakers for either of you? Something that you couldn't possibly forgive, or work through, that would end your relationship once and for all?"

Alexis and Javier looked at each other. "Infidelity," Alexis said.

"Infidelity," Javier agreed. He let the hand on her shoulder drop to her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. "But that's not something that'll happen for me. You're it for me, Alexis."

"And you're it for me," Alexis replied.

Father Pete smiled, seeing the gravity and earnestness in their eyes, and knowing they meant this and that they would not change their minds about it.

They went on to discuss children (agreeing to have two in the future, at least three or four years after getting married); finances (a joint checking account, maintaining their separate savings accounts and revisiting merging them after the wedding, and they would each keep a checkbook and balance it while splitting responsibility for paying the bills 50/50); religion (they would continue to observe both of their respective religious faiths and revisit whether or not to raise their future children in one of their religions or the other, or whether to expose them to both Catholicism and Episcopalian traditions and let them choose for themselves when they were grown); and other general marriage matters. They ordered in for lunch, and a couple of hours later, Father Pete pronounced them ready to be married.

"It's been a pleasure to meet you, Alexis," Father Pete said. "I wish you the best of luck on the bar exam, and I'll see you at your rehearsal dinner."

"Thank you, Father Pete," Alexis replied, shaking his hand again. "It was nice to meet you too. I'll see you in August."

"Pedro, thanks, for everything," Javier said.

"Anytime, Javi," Father Pete replied before they hugged again. "I'll talk to you again soon."

"Yeah, we're going to that Yankees game at the beginning of August, although you might have to help me explain things to my future father-in-law. He's not much of a sportsman, unless it's video games or Laser Tag," Javi said.

"I'll look forward to it," Father Pete said. He walked Alexis and Javier out and stood on the sidewalk, waving as they drove away, before returning to the rectory.

On the drive home, Alexis said, "Now we really start getting crazy with the preparations. I still have to get a dress, and so do...well, everybody, actually. Mom, Gram, Lily, Sarah Grace, Lanie and Jenny are going to tag along. You and Dad and Kevin and Jim have to get fitted for your tuxes. We have to get our wedding rings and write our vows, the flowers, the music, at least we've got Madison handling the food at both the rehearsal dinner and the reception, and the cake, we have to pick a cake, and the dinner menu..."

"Everything will get done, Lex, I promise," Javier assured her. When they stopped at a light, he reached for her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed the back of it. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world."

"And don't you forget it," Alexis said mock sternly with a big smile.

Javier chuckled. "You won't let me," he replied, smiling back. "And if you ever do, Castle, Beckett, Martha, Jim, and Lily will be right there to remind me."

* * *

About three weeks after Javier and Alexis met with Father Pete, Alexis met Kate, Lily, Martha, Sarah Grace, Jenny, and Lanie to go shopping for her wedding dress, Kate's matron-of-honor dress, Martha's grandmother of the bride dress, the flower girl dresses for Sarah Grace and Lily, and dresses for Lanie and Jenny to wear to the wedding.

The wedding was small by most conventional standards: 100 guests total, most of the 12th Precinct RSVPing yes because of Esposito, Beckett and Castle, and a few of Alexis's friends from high school, most notably Paige, who was working as an architect in Philadelphia and whom she hadn't seen since their five-year Marlowe Prep class reunion.

Alexis was the last to arrive at the bridal shop that morning, and she carried a shopping bag with her. "I know I'm a little late, and I'm sorry, but on my way here, I saw these in a store window and I _**had**_ to get them for Reece and Jake," she said. She handed the bag to Kate, who reached inside and pulled out a white onesie with long sleeves and a black bow tie and lapels and red pocket square design on the front. "This way the boys can match Javier and Dad and Kevin and Jim," Alexis said. "Aren't they cute?"

"They're adorable!" Jenny exclaimed.

"This is perfect, Alexis," Kate said. "I've been looking for something for the boys to wear to the wedding, but I wasn't about to make them wear tiny little suits, and that's all I could seem to find online."

Lanie opened her mouth to say something but her expression suddenly shifted to one of panic and, clapping a hand over her mouth, she dashed toward the ladies' room.

Everyone looked concerned, even Lily and Sarah Grace. When Lanie returned a few minutes later, looking sheepish, she said, "I really thought it was late enough that I had it under control for the day."

Kate and Jenny exchanged a look. "Lanie?" Kate asked, but she and Jenny both already knew what Lanie was going to say.

Lanie looked at Alexis apologetically. "I swear, we weren't going to say anything until after your wedding, but this freaking morning sickness..." She trailed off.

"Morning sickness?" Sarah Grace asked. "What's that?"

"That, Sarah Grace, means that you're getting another cousin, sometime next January," Lanie said.

Jenny squealed, and she and Kate rushed to hug Lanie. Alexis then hugged Lanie, as everyone offered their congratulations, and Lanie admitted this baby was a little ahead of schedule, but that she and Alan were very happy and Alan was rooting for a girl, while Lanie was already convinced it was another boy. "I'm gonna wind up with a houseful of boys," she said. "I just know it. I'll have to get my girly-girl fix from Lily and Sarah Grace."

"Well, look at it this way, Lanie. You'll be able to handle those boys, no matter how rowdy they get," Kate said. "And how many in this 'houseful'?"

"Alan and I agreed on three. If they're all boys, he can have the girl," Lanie said.

"I hope you have a girl, Aunt Lanie," Sarah Grace said.

"Thank you, Sarah Grace, but I really think it's a boy. We'll know for sure in a couple months," Lanie said. "Now, are we gonna look at some dresses or what?"

Sarah Grace and Lily, captivated by all of the pretty dresses, were on their best behavior. Alexis was open to suggestions from the girls and Kate, not wanting anyone to wear anything they didn't really want to wear, or the stereotypical "ugly bridesmaid" dresses.

Both Sarah Grace and Lily flipped over lilac-colored dresses of satin and tulle with spaghetti straps that stopped just below their knees and had a white ribbon sash around the waist with tiny lilacs embroidered on the sash. (Well, more accurately, Lily fell in love with it, and Sarah Grace agreed to go along with it, especially after Alexis said that both girls could wear crowns of flowers in their hair when they walked down the aisle scattering rose petals for her and her father to walk on.)

Lanie found a nice summer dress in peach that would accommodate her growing waistline, and Jenny found a cocktail dress in periwinkle blue.

Martha's final choice was a peacock blue formal gown with a matching wrap.

After Alexis made the decision to go with lilac dresses, she hurriedly made a note in her phone about flowers, thinking she would carry white and purple roses, the purple roses being the exact shade of lilac as the flower girl dresses, with baby's breath, peach spray roses, and lavender sweet peas. While Alexis was doing that, Kate found the ideal matron-of-honor dress in the same shade of lilac as Lily and Sarah Grace's dresses, made of satin, in an A-line with a built-in bra, cap strap sleeves, and knee length.

Despite trying on half a dozen dresses in virtually every style, everyone found a dress except Alexis. "These things take time," Kate assured her.

"Well, at least we can order the flowers now," Alexis said. "We'll have to really get serious next weekend, though."

After the shopping excursion, Alexis accompanied Kate, Lily and Martha back to the loft, where Rick and Jim were playing on the living room floor with Reece and Jake.

"How was the dress expedition?" Rick asked.

"Everyone has a dress except me," Alexis replied.

"We'll find you the perfect dress, darling," Martha promised.

"Maybe I could come along for the next shopping trip," Rick suggested. He plucked Jake from the floor, and Jake squealed loudly and happily when he saw his mother, reaching out for her. Kate accepted the baby from Rick, smacking a kiss on his cheek before kissing Rick hello. Reece was babbling at Jim, who smiled at the baby as he lifted him off the floor before getting to his feet with Reece in his arms.

"That didn't work out so well for my prom dress, Dad," Alexis reminded him.

"But the rule is that the groom can't see the bride in the dress before the wedding. There isn't any rule about the father of the bride not seeing her in the dress before the wedding," Rick persisted.

"That's true," Alexis said.

"Maybe if we look online we'll find something, or at least get a few ideas," Kate said. "Why don't you stay for dinner?"

"I will," Alexis agreed.

Jim and Martha stayed as well. After the kids were down for the night, Alexis, who had been looking at wedding dresses online with her grandmother, sighed as she set aside her tablet. "I think I need a break from looking for a dress," she said. "I've been at this for most of the day, I tried on six dresses, and I didn't like any of them."

"You'll know the right dress when you see it," Martha encouraged her.

"You will," Kate assured her. "We'll get back at it next weekend."

When they were saying good night before Alexis left, Rick said, "My offer still stands, pumpkin. I'll go look at wedding dresses with you."

Alexis hugged her father. "Do you think you can do that without crying?" she asked.

"I'm not made of stone," Rick said. "Of course I'm gonna cry. And I promise I'll tell you that look hideous in at least one dress, the way your grandmother did when we went to look at prom dresses years ago."

Alexis laughed and hugged her father more tightly before releasing him to look into his eyes and smile. "Don't you dare," she said. "I had enough of hideous dresses today."

Rick's face lit up. "Does that mean I can go?" he asked, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Yes, you can go," Alexis agreed. "And I'll text you when I get home."

While waiting for Alexis's arrived-home-safely text, Kate and Rick checked on Lily, Reece and Jake, and then got ready for bed. "So you're going wedding dress shopping," Kate said as she and Rick got into bed.

"Yes, I am," he replied with a smile. Then he sighed. "It all goes by so fast, Kate."

"It does," she agreed. "That's why you have to savor every moment. And I think we do a pretty good job of that."

"We do," he agreed before pulling her against his chest for a lingering goodnight kiss.


	106. Chapter 100

**_Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm. Additionally, I'd like to give a shoutout to NYAZ for inspiring me to deal with the Meredith question regarding Alexis and Javier's upcoming wedding._**

* * *

The last person Rick expected to hear from was Meredith, but there she was, on the other end of the line when he answered his phone a little less than an hour before he and Alexis were going shopping for Alexis's wedding dress.

"So, Alexis tells me she's getting married in August," Meredith said after Rick said hello.

"Meredith?" he asked. He hadn't seen or heard from her since he and Kate had been shot over four years ago.

"Yes," she said.

"Oh," Rick said, unsure of what to say. "Yes, Alexis is getting married on August 15."

"That's what she said last night," Meredith continued. "I had texted her yesterday, I have a new phone and a new number, and then she called me and we spoke for a couple of minutes." She paused, then said, "I guess she's following in your footsteps in a way. She's marrying a cop. I heard from him first, actually. He said that he thought it would be a good idea for me to get in touch with Alexis, so I did. He sounds like a good guy, but I wouldn't expect Alexis to pick someone who wasn't."

So Esposito had tracked down Meredith. Rick instinctively knew that Kate must have known about this, because Esposito didn't have any more use for Meredith than the rest of them did, but either Espo worked faster than Kate thought he would, or she was looking for a delicate way to mention it. He could imagine how those couple of minutes Alexis had spent talking to Meredith had gone. "Yes, he's a good guy. Will you be attending the wedding?" he asked.

"I wish I could, but I'm doing a play in London, and I can't get away," Meredith replied.

"Did you tell Alexis that?" Rick asked, closing his eyes briefly. He wasn't surprised by Meredith's behavior, but he also didn't want Alexis to suffer because of it, especially on what should be the happiest day of her life.

"I did," Meredith said, "and she was great about it. She also told me that she graduated law school in May and she's studying for the bar exam now. She's doing really well, it sounds like."

"She is," he said, at a total loss as to where to take the conversation from here.

"She's happy, right?" Meredith asked after a long silent moment in which Rick thought they had lost the connection. "She sounded happy, but I...well, I don't really know her well enough to know if she was just...you know...acting."

"Alexis is very happy," Rick said.

"She never was one for acting or putting on airs," Meredith replied. "She doesn't lie either. You and Martha raised an exceptional woman. And I'm sure Beckett did her part too." She paused. "Speaking of Beckett, I hear you've got a full house now. Another girl and identical twin boys. You must be in your element. You always were a big kid yourself."

"I'm very happy," Rick confirmed. "And yes, Kate and I have three children together."

"Don't you mean four?" Meredith asked.

Rick didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing.

"Rick?" Meredith asked.

"I'm still here," Rick said.

"You and I both know I wasn't much of a mother to Alexis," Meredith said. "If she has a mother-daughter relationship with Beckett now, I can't begrudge her that. I wasn't there for her. I didn't put in the time. She at least told me she was getting married and offered to send an invitation. She didn't have to do that."

Again, Rick wasn't sure what to say. But "That's very...evolved of you, Meredith," came out of his mouth.

"Don't tell my agent, but I think I'm finally starting to act my age," Meredith said. "In some respects, anyway." She paused. "Alexis didn't give me her home address, and I would like to send a gift. Is it all right if I send it to the loft?"

"Of course," Rick said. And then, he said, "If your plans change and you can get away and decide to come to the wedding after all-"

Meredith cut him off. "It's not going to happen, Rick, but thank you for being more magnanimous than I deserve. But then, you always were. And Alexis seems to have inherited or learned that from you. I bet your other kids will too." She paused. "I know you'll make sure Alexis has everything she wants and needs."

"That's not going to be my job for much longer," Rick said wistfully.

"Then make the most of the time you've got left," Meredith said. Then she chuckled. "Look who I'm telling." She paused. "Well, at least I didn't scar you or Alexis for life. There's something to be grateful for, anyway." She took a beat, then said, "I've got to go."

"I'll see that you get pictures," Rick blurted suddenly. "Of the wedding."

"I'm not sure I really deserve them, but thank you, Rick, I would appreciate that," Meredith replied. "Goodbye."

By the time Rick said goodbye, Meredith had ended the call.

Kate had taken the kids into the living room with her dad, leaving Rick to speak to Meredith alone once she realized that was who was on the other end of the line. Espo and Ryan had worked faster than she'd thought they would, she reflected.

Rick pocketed his phone and, having gone into the office (he, Kate, and the kids had been in the playroom, while Jim had been in the living room, finishing his coffee) to speak to Meredith on the phone, emerged from the office with an inscrutable look on his face.

Jim and Kate exchanged a look, before Kate looked at Rick, who was crossing the room to join them. They were both down on the floor with the kids, and Jim was supporting Jake propped up against several sofa pillows, while Lily and Kate hovered over Reece, who was lying on his stomach on the floor and had pushed up on his arms, with a look of pure determination on his little face that reminded Rick keenly of Kate.

"Daddy, Mommy and Grandpa think Reecey's about to roll over!" Lily exclaimed, oblivious to the looks the grown-ups were exchanging.

Rick gave Lily a genuine smile. "They do?" he asked as he plopped down on the floor with the others, right beside Kate.

"Yeah!" Lily exclaimed excitedly.

Reece arched his back now, lifting his chest off the floor in the process, the look of Beckett-like determination on his face even more pronounced now. Jim deftly, quickly pulled his video camera off the coffee table, turned it on, and focused in on Reece. Rick, Kate, and Lily were all also focused on Reece now. Jake, leaning unassisted against his pillows now, remained sitting upright, his gaze following those of the rest of his family.

Everyone was silent for what felt like an eternity. Reece kicked his legs and then, as everyone held their breath, he propelled himself from his stomach over onto his back for the first time in his young life, surprising even himself.

"You rolled over, Reece!" Lily shouted.

The whole room erupted in shouts and cheers. "He did it!" Kate exclaimed, looking at Rick with tears of joy in her eyes. "Reece just rolled over for the first time!" She threw her arms around his neck.

"As soon as I saw that look of pure Beckett determination on his face, I knew he would," Rick replied, his arms going around her waist.

"And I got the whole thing on tape, or whatever the expression is nowadays," Jim announced, holding the video camera aloft.

Reece was lying on his back, kicking his legs and chortling one of his baby chortles. "Way to go, Peanut!" Rick exclaimed, releasing Kate and scooping the boy up in his arms. Kate then ran her hand through Reece's silky hair as he blew a spit bubble at her and smiled.

"You're getting so big, Reece, yes you are," Kate said. "And now that you're rolling over, we're going to have to babyproof this place again. More than we already have, I mean."

"That means it's time to call Uncle Kevin again," Rick said.

Kate kissed Reece's cheek, then focused her attention on Jake, picking him up. "You'll be rolling over any day now, Jakey, and we'll never have a moment's peace again," she said. Jake put one of his palms on his mother's cheek and babbled at her. "That's right, Jake," she said. She pulled him closer for a cuddle and nuzzled his neck.

Alexis arrived then, her key in the front door alerting everyone to her presence. "Hi, everybody!" she exclaimed.

"Reece rolled over!" Lily announced.

"By himself? Just now?" Alexis asked, dropping her purse to the floor and nudging the front door shut behind her with her foot before hurrying to join the rest of the family on the floor. "All right, Reece!" she cheered her baby brother. Reece, still in Rick's arms, giggled. "You can show off for me later," she told him.

"Yeah, we have an appointment at a bridal salon to keep," Rick said. He kissed Reece, then Lily, then Jake, and then Kate.

"About that phone call earlier..." Kate said.

"It'll keep," Rick replied so only she could hear him. He got to his feet with a groan and a pop of cartilage in his knee. "Jim, how do you get down on the floor with these guys every day?" he asked his father-in-law.

"Glucosamine and chondroiton," Jim replied. "And I never busted my knee skiing."

"Have fun," Kate said.

"Thanks, Mom," Alexis said as she stepped forward to hug Kate quickly and kiss her cheek, then kiss Jake, then Reece, then Lily, and she even pecked a kiss on Jim's cheek. Rick watched this and realized that Alexis truly had taken Kate as her mother. And Kate was going to be Alexis's matron-of-honor. Still, he felt obligated to discuss Meredith with Alexis, although he was torn because he didn't want to put a damper on their big shopping trip. And Kate clearly knew something about his phone call from Meredith, which he had suspected from the second Meredith had mentioned getting in touch with Alexis last night, since Meredith had been almost entirely radio silent in Alexis's life, as far as Rick knew, for the past few years.

"Okay, then," Rick said. "We're off to find Alexis a wedding dress. We'll be back..." He trailed off as he looked at his firstborn. "A week or two at the most, right?"

"At the most," Alexis agreed mock seriously. Then she looked at Kate. "If you haven't heard from one or both of us by 6 PM, call us. Please."

"You're going to find the dress," Kate assured Alexis.

"You think so?" Alexis asked.

"I know so," Kate replied. "I have a good feeling about today."

When they were in the car, and headed to the bridal salon, Alexis said, "So...I heard from Meredith last night, completely out of the blue."

"I heard from her earlier this morning," Rick replied, "also completely out of the blue."

"I don't think it really was completely out of the blue," Alexis said.

"I'm sure it wasn't," Rick replied.

"Mom, Javier, or both?" Alexis mused.

"Probably both," Rick said. He paused. "Are you upset, pumpkin?"

"No," Alexis replied, "I'm really not. I'm not sure I believe she has a role in a play in London...at least, not London, England...but she honestly wasn't angling for an invitation. I guess...I don't know...Mom and Javier probably wanted to make sure I wouldn't have any regrets if Meredith wasn't at the wedding, and so they tracked her down, and I'd even guess that Mom is the one who initially contacted her, because they kinda/sorta know each other. I doubt Meredith remembers Javier."

"I agree," Rick said. "I notice you keep referring to Kate as 'Mom.' Of course, you've done that for a few years now."

"That's who she is," Alexis said firmly, matter-of-factly, in a tone that brooked no argument. "And I think deep down, Meredith would agree. She told me to be happy, and that she was happy for me. But I'm not surprised or disappointed that she's not coming, Dad. I mean, she didn't come to any of my graduations. She didn't know I'm going to be a lawyer. There are so many things she doesn't know about me. And even when I was a teenaged brat, Kate never pushed me in any way." She paused. "Do you remember when you and Gram were trapped in that bank robbery as hostages? Even though it wasn't homicide, thank God, Kate got herself assigned to the case and she spoke to the bank robbers inside. I remember showing up outside the bank, absolutely frantic, and screaming in her face about you and Gram, 'They're all I've got! Do you hear me? **They're all I've got!** ' and she promised me that you and Gram would be okay, and I was still angry and scared and I told her that you two had better be all right. And then that bomb went off, and I thought my whole life had just gone up in smoke.

"She went charging in there with the other officers, and she brought you and Gram out, safe and sound, just like she had promised me, and while I was hugging you both and crying, there was Kate, standing several feet away, just watching the three of us with a little smile on her face. You two weren't together yet, but you were getting there. That was the first time I realized that you meant as much to her as she meant to you. I know she and I haven't always been close, and some of that was jealousy on my part, because I didn't have to share you with anybody, really, until Kate came along. It was just you and me—and Gram—for so long.

"And now everything's different, and it keeps getting better. She's the mother of my little sister and my baby brothers. She's the woman who makes you happier than you've ever been in your life. And I consider myself lucky to be able to call her my mom too." She smiled at her father as they sat at a stoplight. "I had something that Lily and Reece and Jake will never have: you and Gram all to myself for most of my life. But they have something that I'll never have: Kate as their mother from the beginning of their lives. It all balances out."

"Yes, I guess it does," Rick agreed.

"It wasn't that I didn't enjoy looking at wedding dresses with Mom and Gram and Lily and Lanie and Jenny and Sarah Grace," Alexis said then, "but I'm glad I didn't find anything. It feels really right to be going shopping for my wedding dress with you, Dad, just the two of us."

Rick smiled. "Then let's find you that dress," he said as he parked the car and shut off the ignition.

And they did.

It took four hours, seventeen dresses, a very harried salesclerk, and Alexis beginning to panic when the harried salesclerk returned with one more dress for Alexis to try on.

Alexis was in the fitting room for so long, Rick started to wonder if she was all right. "Alexis?" he called.

She emerged from the fitting room at last, a vision in white satin, looking a bit shocked at the sight of herself in the mirror only a moment ago.

Rick got to his feet, none too steady himself at the sight of his daughter in a wedding gown, for it was indeed a gown: white satin with what the salesclerk would tell them, in a few minutes, was a "sweep" train, meaning the fabric of the gown just barely brushed the floor, since it was less than a foot long, ensuring ease of movement while dancing and walking down the aisle. The ball gown-style dress was all white and all satin, with a zipper up the back and a hook-and-eye closure at the top, fitted at the waist and loose at the hips, with short cap sleeves and a bateau neckline.

As Rick and Alexis just stared at each other wordlessly with wet eyes, the salesclerk scurried away quickly, then came rushing back with a veil to go with Alexis's wedding gown, which, as she worked to affix it to Alexis's head, she explained was a classical circle veil, ninety inches in diameter, with a 24-inch blusher, made of nylon tulle and trimmed in half an inch of white satin perfectly matching Alexis's dress.

"You look so beautiful," Rick said softly, trying in vain to swallow the lump in his throat.

"I didn't recognize myself for a few seconds when I was standing in there looking at myself in the mirror in this gown," Alexis replied just as softly. "And then I realized it really was me, and I couldn't stop staring at myself. That's why it took me so long to come out here."

She walked over to the three-way mirror and looked at herself in the dress and the veil; the salesclerk had draped the blusher over Alexis's face. When she saw herself in full bridal regalia, Alexis took in a sharp, deep breath. Watching her see herself in full bridal regalia, Rick felt his heart turn over in his chest. A myriad of images flashed behind his eyes in rapid succession: holding newborn Alexis for the first time; her first tooth, first steps, first word, first first day of school; Laser Tag battles and childhood illnesses; Halloweens, Christmases, birthdays; her high school years, her graduation from Marlowe Prep and the speech she gave, moving her into the dorm at Columbia, their falling-out over Pi and her return home after giving up the apartment she and Pi had taken together; her graduations from Columbia University and law school; seeing her with Lily, Reece and Jake, with Kate, with Esposito.

Rick took a couple of steps toward Alexis, then stopped in his tracks. Alexis turned away from the mirror to look at her father. "This is it," she said confidently, her voice still hushed in reverence. "This is the dress I'm going to get married in."

And so it would be.

On the way back to the loft from the bridal salon, Alexis texted Javier, _"_ _Found THE dress and veil. Still need shoes. And I know you're the reason Meredith texted me and called my dad."_

Javier texted back, _"_ _Great news about the dress & veil. Yes, I tracked her down. It was my idea, but I ran it by Beckett. Don't want you to regret it if she's not at the wedding. I was gonna tell you tonight. Didn't know she'd call you so fast. How angry are you?"_

" _I'm not angry, just surprised,"_ Alexis replied, and she was a bit surprised that it had been Javier who had directly contacted Meredith. Of course, since it had been his idea in the first place, it made sense that he was the one who had called her, albeit with Kate's knowledge. _"_ _She's never really been there for me, so I didn't expect her to come to the wedding even if I had tracked her down first. She's not coming. But I'll have all my family there. Thanks for finding her, but it really wasn't necessary."_

" _You deserve the perfect wedding,"_ Javier responded.

" _WE deserve the perfect wedding, and we're going to have it,"_ Alexis texted back. _"_ _I love you."_

" _I love you too,"_ Javier replied.

* * *

Much later that night, after Rick and Alexis had returned home in triumph, after she stayed for dinner and Javier, Martha and Earl joined them, and after the grandparents and Alexis and Javier had gone home and Lily, Reece and Jake were in bed asleep, Kate, who had recently acquired reading glasses of her own, in black plastic oval frames, was sitting up in bed, reading glasses perched on the end of her nose, reviewing some City Council paperwork on her tablet when Rick got into bed. "So," he said after turning off the lamp on his side of the bed, "was it your idea to give Meredith a heads up about the wedding, or Esposito's?"

"Javi's," Kate said after setting her tablet on her nightstand and then turning her full attention on her husband. "He came to me and said he wanted to track Meredith down just to make absolutely sure that Alexis had no regrets about not having Meredith at their wedding. I told him to go ahead, that I didn't mind if he did it. She _**is**_ Alexis's mother."

"More like Alexis's birth pod," Rick mused.

Kate bit her lip. "Are you mad at me or upset that I didn't tell you? I didn't know Javi was gonna work so fast. It was just the day before yesterday that he brought it up to me. I guess he and Kevin didn't have much actual work to do at the precinct. I was going to tell you tonight, after I realized Meredith called you this morning."

"I'm not mad, and I'm not upset," Rick assured Kate. "It sounds like Esposito didn't expect Meredith to want to show up. I didn't. I'm sure you didn't either. And Alexis certainly didn't. When I got that call from Meredith out of the blue this morning, I figured you had something to do with it. You and Esposito."

"What did Meredith say to you? Is she coming to the wedding?" Kate asked.

"She's not coming to the wedding, not surprisingly," Rick said. "She said that she can't get the time off, that she's doing a play in London. I find that hard to believe, and Alexis seemed to think it was a convenient excuse too, but that's how Meredith wanted to play it. Neither Alexis nor I gave Meredith any hassle about not coming to the wedding. I was surprised at Meredith telling me that Mother and I raised an exceptional human being in Alexis, and she even gave you your due, saying that you had done your part to make Alexis who she is today as well. She admitted she didn't put in the time with Alexis and really build a mother-daughter relationship with her, which surprised me. I did tell her I'd send her pictures, and she said she'd send a gift, but she's sending it here. She doesn't have Alexis's address, and she and Esposito are planning to move into a new place by the end of the year anyway. Besides, no matter what anyone thinks, Alexis has claimed you as her mother, and case closed."

"She never even considered anyone else for her matron-of-honor," Kate reflected. "I'm still amazed by that."

"She loves you, Kate," Rick said. "She grew up basically without a mother because she had to, and she adjusted and handled it admirably, but once she really realized you were here to stay, and that you actually cared about her too, that was how it started." He paused, then looked at Kate intently, her face scrubbed free of makeup, wearing one of his old t-shirts with a pair of sleep shorts, looking both cute and hot at the same time in her glasses. "There were so many times when Alexis was a little girl that I regretted that she didn't have a mom," he went on. "It turns out I didn't need to regret it—I just needed to get to the point in my life where I found you."

"We've had our ups and downs," Kate said. "Alexis and me...and you and me. But we all ended up exactly where we were meant to be."

Rick's face creased in a smile. "Wait, are you saying that you believe in fate now?" he asked excitedly. "You're always so practical."

"I don't know if it's fate, exactly, but I believe...no, more than believe, I **know** that I am meant to be your wife, and Lily and Reece and Jake and Alexis's mother."

He reached up and gently, carefully removed her glasses. "You look really hot in them," he said, by way of explanation as he set her glasses on his nightstand next to his own, "but I'm about to kiss you breathless, and I don't want to risk breaking your glasses in the process."

Before Rick could kiss Kate breathless, though, she swooped down and kissed him breathless first.


	107. Chapter 101

_**Thank you to everyone for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

As the summer progressed, everyone looked forward to the wedding, and it was a busy time for the entire extended Castle clan.

Wedding plans were finalized in between Javier's murder cases at the 12th Precinct and Alexis's job as a paralegal and all of her studying for the rapidly approaching bar exam.

Jake rolled over from his stomach to his back for the first time five days after Reece did, and both boys continued to thrive, growing and changing every day.

In preparation for beginning her first year of preschool in the fall, Lily, who already knew her alphabet, how to count from 0 to 20, her colors, and her basic shapes, began learning how to write her name.

Jim continued to revel in his role as grandfather, and when Columbia University called him, needing an answer about whether he would be returning to the classroom for the fall semester, he informed them that he would not be coming back. After over forty years in the legal profession, Jim Beckett officially retired.

Kate continued to thrive on the City Council, where an Executive Budget Meeting on Criminal Justice Services was held in mid-June. She and Rick talked it over, and he was totally on board with her running for re-election in 2021, so they agreed that's what she would do.

As for Rick, he was batting around ideas for his next book, but he was happily busy being a husband and father first and foremost, so he wouldn't actually start writing until the fall, after the wedding.

Lanie's pregnancy progressed with continued morning sickness, worse than she'd had when she was pregnant with Will, which had Alan convinced they were having a girl, while Lanie argued that every pregnancy was different, and she insisted that they would be having another boy.

Sarah Grace was playing softball, and Nick was playing t-ball, and Kevin was a coach on both of their teams.

Without yet making an announcement, so as not to steal any thunder from Alexis and Javier's wedding, Earl and Martha quietly moved in together, at Earl's apartment, since he owned it, and they weren't the only couple whose relationship underwent a significant change.

In early July, Madison and Mark were at their apartment, and Madison had just emailed Alexis (copying Javier, Kate, Rick, and Martha, who was unofficially acting as a wedding coordinator of sorts for Alexis and Javier, making sure that everything that needed to be done on their list of wedding tasks was completed) the final menu for their rehearsal dinner, which she mentioned to Mark, who had the Yankees-Indians game on low on the TV. "Rehearsal dinner menu down, wedding reception menu to go," she said, still amazed and honored that they had decided to have Q3 cater their wedding reception, except for the wedding cake.

The game went to commercial, and Mark shut off the TV. "You ever think about coming up with a menu like that for yourself?" he asked Madison, leaning forward in his recliner.

Madison looked up from her tablet with surprise. "What?" she asked. She and Mark had never talked about marriage.

Mark got up from the recliner and sat down on the couch next to Madison. "Have you ever thought about what you'd serve at your wedding reception?" he asked.

Madison blinked. "Having a wedding reception means getting married," she replied.

He smiled. "Yes, it does," he said. He ran a hand through his hair, and his smile faded. "I'm not trying to take anything away from Alexis here. She's the bride of the summer. But you've been so energized and excited about this wedding, Maddie, all the little details of it, and working with the venue to coordinate everything food-wise, and the rehearsal dinner before that, and referring them to an excellent baker to do their wedding cake."

"I don't get to do too many weddings, but they are exciting," Madison said. "And this one's extra special because Alexis is my oldest friend's daughter, basically. Kate's even the matron of honor, in addition to the mother of the bride. So this one's a big deal for me."

"Which brings me back to my original question: do you ever think about planning a wedding for yourself? For you and me?" Mark asked.

Madison set aside her tablet. "Mark, are you proposing to me?" she asked.

Mark thought about it for the space of a few heartbeats, and then decisively said, "I am." He slid to the floor on one knee, took Madison's hand in both of his, and looked up at her. "I don't have a ring, but I want you to have what you want, so I want us to pick it out together, and we can pick out our wedding rings together while we're at it."

Maddie's heart was pounding so hard and fast, she was sure it was going to burst out of her chest. Mark's gaze was so earnest and so full of love. "You saved me, Maddie. I never thought I'd find you. I wasn't looking, honestly. But I did find you, and whether we get married or not, I'm in this for the rest of our lives. But if you've ever thought about it, if you want to...Madison, will you marry me?"

"Yes," Madison said as tears welled in her eyes. "Yes, Mark, I will marry you." She leaned down to kiss him and lost her balance, toppling them both to the floor with Madison lying on top of Mark. Laughing, she kissed him, and he kissed her back, for a long time.

* * *

Now that the women all had their dresses, it was time for the men to get their tuxedos. Alexis and Javier had decided that the men would wear white tuxedo jackets with black pants, bow ties, and cummerbunds, and plain white tuxedo shirts with studs.

Earl and Alan were going to be ushers, so they joined Javier, Kevin, Rick, and Jim to get fitted for their tuxes.

"We have to get single-breasted jackets," Javier said as they entered the shop. "Otherwise we're gonna look like a bunch of maitre'd's."

"And plain shirts, right?" Kevin asked, visibly cringing at a tux shirt with ruffled cuffs and ruffles all down the front that was on display.

Jim also winced upon seeing the ruffled tux shirt. "Ouch. I'm getting flashbacks to Prom Night 1968," he said. "I guess we were so busy protesting, we didn't realize at the time how ridiculous we looked."

"It didn't get much better for most of the '70s," Earl agreed. "I'm embarrassed now to admit that I, at one point, owned three different ruffled tuxedo shirts: one in white, one in blue, and one in yellow."

"Powder blue?" Jim asked.

"Naturally," Earl replied.

"With a tux to match?" Jim asked.

"A bow tie, yes. A tux? I wasn't quite that bad," Earl replied.

"Every decade has its fashion and hair mistakes," Alan reflected. "I went through a mercifully brief spiked hair period in high school, trying to get Jane Sadowski to notice me. She was a big Billy Idol fan. I even dyed my hair Billy Idol blonde. I had to go to my mother's beauty salon to get my hair dyed back to its natural color, all just to end up dancing with myself."

"I had a Flock of Seagulls haircut for a while," Kevin admitted. "Too long, actually."

"I had long hair in my early college years," Rick revealed. "For about two months. Kind of a brunette Kurt Cobain before Nirvana really hit it big."

"Now I'm glad my mom and _abuela_ insisted I keep short hair all the time," Javier reflected. He smirked at Kevin and Castle. "The pictures of you guys as teenagers and in college must be hysterical."

"Under no circumstances are you allowed to ask my mother for those pictures," Rick warned Javier.

"That's it, I'm burning my high school yearbooks," Kevin said, only half-jokingly.

At that point, the conversation was interrupted by a shop employee coming over to help them, so they got down to the business of getting fitted for their tuxes. As the groom, Javier spoke for the group when he said, "We don't want any ruffled shirts or any shirts in colors, and we don't want whatever the latest trend is. We're going strictly traditional here: white single-breasted tux jackets, white tux shirts, black pants, bow ties, and cummerbunds."

Then came the debate, not that it ended up being much of one thanks the shop clerk, over clip-on versus hand-tied bow ties. "Hand-tied is the way to go," he insisted. "After all, it's a wedding, not a prom, and none of you are teenagers."

Jim, Earl, and Kevin knew how to tie bow ties; Javier, Rick, and Alan did not. "It's easy to do," Jim said. "I'm sure we could teach the rest of you guys in just a few minutes."

"Yeah, especially since these are the kind of bow ties that are adjustable to your neck size," Kevin added.

What followed was a humorous 45 minutes of popped collars and bow tie-tying lessons.

"The left side of the tie needs to be about two inches longer than the right side as it's hanging over your neck," Earl said.

"My left or your left?" Alan asked.

"Your left," Jim said. "Now, take that longer left side, cross it over the top, and then pull it underneath along your neck." Alan and Javier caught on right away. It took Rick five tries to get that part of it right. Jim patiently coaxed Rick through it until he got right.

"Okay," Kevin said, "now pull it nice and tight. Not so tight that it cuts off your oxygen, but snug enough that it won't move."

"Like this?" Rick asked, holding both ends of his bow tie up.

"Just like that," Jim assured him.

"Now, take the part of the tie that's in your right hand and lay it on your right shoulder," Kevin directed.

Javier's tie fell off his shoulder three times before he finally got it right. "If clip-ons wouldn't make us all look like we were teenagers, I'd say just go with those," he muttered. He gave a quick smile of triumph when the tie finally stayed on his right shoulder.

"Take your right pointer finger and center it under your chin," Earl directed the men next. After they had all done that, he continued, "Now, take the material of the tie that's in your left hand—your left hand, not my left—and fold it over the top."

Looking in the mirror as he did so, and battling the left-is-right/right-is-left confusion the mirror was causing, Rick exclaimed, "It looks like a bow!"

"We're gonna get this," Alan said. "What do we do next?"

"Next you take the part of the tie that's on your right shoulder off of your right shoulder," Jim instructed. When Rick, Javier, and Alan had done so, Jim continued, "Now pull it to the center and drop it right down the middle."

"It kind of looks an elephant's head now," Alan remarked.

"Good analogy," Kevin approved. "So, consider the horizontal part of the tie to be the elephant's ears. Take the ears of that elephant and pinch 'em together over the top of the trunk," the guys all did so, "and this is where the skill comes in. You've created this little hole in the back of the tie's front now."

"Back of the tie's front?" Rick muttered, hating the phrasing because it was inconsistent with English language rules but knowing what Kevin meant.

"You're gonna take the widest part of the elephant's trunk, the part of the tie that's hanging straight down," Kevin continued, "grab it in the middle, swing it counterclockwise, and push it halfway through that hole in the back."

More fumbling ensued as Javier, Rick, and Alan followed Kevin's instructions. When they all finally got it right, Kevin went on, "Once you get it halfway through, you let it go, and now you have a really sloppy-looking bow tie, but we're gonna fix that in a minute here."

"How?" Rick asked.

"You now have a loop on the front left," Kevin continued, "and a loop in the back on the right, and that's gonna be how you tighten the knot. But the trick is, you've got the tail in the back, and you _**cannot**_ pull it all the way through the hole we looked at. You pull it out instead, and then slide the tail back just a little bit so it doesn't pull through."

The guys followed Kevin's instructions. "Pull it out again, and keep pulling and tightening. Every time you pull, the knot gets a little bit tighter, and the tie gets a little bit straighter."

"But the knot won't be perfect," Earl added. "A perfect knot is the sign of a clip-on bow tie. And there's something about the slight asymmetry that looks perfect in its own way."

"And there you go," Kevin concluded. "One hand-tied bow tie. All that's left is to fold your collar down and pop the bow tie over the top. And then, at the end of the knot, in case anyone doubts that you actually have a hand-tied bow tie, pull on the right side, and it'll come untied just like that..." He snapped his fingers before illustrating with his own bow tie. "...and then leave the ends draped over your neck."

"Well, at least we'll have time to practice," Rick reflected.

"You'll get it, Rick," Jim assured him.

"This isn't as bad as I thought it would be," Javier said.

"Every man should know how to tie a bow tie," Earl said.

Since the wedding was in the middle of August, the men unanimously agreed not to get wool jackets, deciding on the single-breasted white jacket with a shawl collar and a single button closure in a polyester-rayon blend.

"I gotta say, this is way better than those Elvis jumpsuits," Javier said, inspecting himself in the mirror once he was completely outfitted in his tuxedo.

"Absolutely," Kevin agreed, nudging in next to Javi at the mirror as he straightened the lapels of his jacket.

"Speaking of the bachelor party," Rick said then, and Javi and Kevin both turned to look at him and knew that he was speaking as the father of the bride now.

"Nothing wild, Castle, I promise," Kevin assured him. "We're thinking a video game marathon, actually. We haven't had one of those in ages."

"Alexis said that Beckett and Martha have been talking about a shower for her, and she's okay with that, but we're thinking we might have some kind of party for everybody too," Javier said. He looked to Alan then. "Like when we all went to Coney Island before you and Lanie got married. But it wouldn't be Coney Island. It depends on if we can take the time for a party. Alexis is getting freaked out about the bar exam the closer it gets."

"I'm sure she'll do just fine," Jim said.

"Could you mention that to her the next time you two talk?" Javier asked.

"I'll be glad to," Jim replied. He had no doubts at all that Alexis would pass the bar on her first try.

"How about we send the ladies a picture?" Earl asked then.

Rick shifted his gaze to Earl knowingly. "Mother asked you to get a picture, didn't she?" he inquired.

"She did," Earl admitted.

"Well, there's nothing that says the bride can't see the groom in his tuxedo before the wedding," Javier said. "Let's get the tailor to take a picture of all of us and we can send the picture to all the ladies."

So that's what they did.

Later on, when each man had returned to his mate, they got a variety of reactions.

Jenny told Kevin it looked like an audition for the next James Bond movie, and he was the best-looking one.

Lanie jumped Alan's bones as soon as Will was asleep for the night.

Martha told Earl he was devastatingly handsome. He mused that he'd have to buy a white dinner jacket if that's how she felt, an idea she was totally on board with.

Alexis thought Javier looked amazing, then asked if he was really okay with a white tux jacket instead of a black jacket. He assured her that he was, and before he could say anything to her about what Jim had said about the bar exam, she resumed studying for the bar exam.

Rick was still practicing with his bow tie and a regular dress shirt when Kate came in after settling the fussy Jake. She had assured Jim that he looked very handsome, and thanked him for showing Rick and Javi how to hand tie bow ties, along with Kevin and Earl.

Rick was grimacing in the mirror as he tried to push the widest part of the tie halfway through the hole, the way Ryan had demonstrated at the tux shop earlier.

Kate stole up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders, turning him around to face her. "You know," she said as she gently moved his hands off the tie, then smoothed the fabric of the tie and began to push and pull the fabric into place and make it into a properly tied bow tie, "I noticed shortly after we met that you rarely wear a tie unless it's an absolutely-have-to kind of occasion."

"I can tie a Windsor knot on a regular necktie," Rick said. "And this is definitely an absolutely-have-to occasion."

"I know," Kate replied, making one last gentle pull and then smoothing the fabric of the tie before turning Rick back towards the mirror and resting her chin on his shoulder so they were both looking at his reflection in the mirror. "But bow ties are something else entirely."

"Are they ever," Rick murmured. "You're really good at tying them. You're really good at a lot of things. Especially loving me and our kids."

Kate smiled as he turned to face her again and wrapped his arms around her. "I didn't fully realize how much I could love until you," she told him as her arms went around his neck. "I hope Alexis and Javi are as happy as we are. And that they communicate better than we did for a long time."

"Every parent wants their kids to learn from their mistakes," Rick replied, tucking Kate's hair behind her ears. "Alexis has definitely learned from mine...ours. And so have we."

"So how are you really doing with all this wedding stuff?" Kate asked seriously.

"I want Alexis to be as happy with Esposito as I am with you," Rick replied honestly. "And I hope they don't make us grandparents right away."

Kate chuckled. "I don't think you have to worry about that," she assured him. "Alexis is going to establish herself in her career first. It'll be a few years yet."

"Part of me can't believe she's getting married in six weeks," Rick reflected.

"I know," Kate said. "But I promise, I'll be there to hold you together at the wedding. And long after."

"For the time of our lives," Rick said.

"For the time of our lives," Kate echoed before kissing him.


	108. Chapter 102

_**Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story. We're into July 2020 now, so the wedding will be the next chapter.**_

* * *

Alexis had been a studying machine for, literally, months. The bar exam was now three weeks away...and that was when she learned that while she would be taking the bar exam at the end of July, the earliest she could expect to get the results would be October.

And that was when she melted down. Javier was neck deep in a double murder with Kevin and Lanie, so she went to the loft, where Kate, Jim, Martha, and Earl were hanging out with Reece and Jake. Rick and Lily were at their Daddy and Me Picasso Kidz art class.

"October!" she exclaimed, slamming the loft door shut behind her.

Four confused adults, and two eagerly babbling baby brothers, looked at the severely stressed young woman standing in the foyer, messenger bag hanging haphazardly from her shoulder, her hair disheveled, breathing hard because she had just literally run from the subway station to the loft, and looking stressed and miserable.

"October," Kate repeated, getting up from the couch with Reece in her arms and approaching Alexis.

"October," Alexis repeated miserably, letting her messenger bag drop to the floor. "I just found out that **that** is when I'll be getting the results of my bar exam. Well, the earliest I can expect them, actually."

Kate winced sympathetically. "I knew a lot of people took the bar exam for the State of New York in New York City," she said.

"Some things never change," Jim remarked. He pulled a funny face, making Jake giggle, before turning his attention to Alexis. "More people take the July exam than the February exam, which is part of it. They need that much time to process all of the tests. Johanna and I went through the same thing when we took the bar exam."

Alexis raked her fingers through her hair. "October," she said as though it were a curse word.

"I know it's disappointing, darling, but it's not the end of the world," Martha said.

"And you'll still gain valuable experience as a paralegal," Kate pointed out.

Rick and Lily came in from their Daddy and Me art class then. "Alexis!" Lily exclaimed, rushing to her big sister and hugging her legs fiercely.

"Hey, Tiger Lily," Alexis said, concentrating on her little whirlwind of a sister and trying to push her frustration over the bar exam results aside. "Did you have fun with Dad?"

"Yeah!" Lily exclaimed. "We painted with watercolors today. But the pictures are still there 'cause they're not dry yet. I've been practicing being a flower girl! You wanna see me practice?"

Alexis managed a wan smile. "Sure," Alexis agreed.

"I'll get the broom and dustpan," Jim said good-naturedly as he headed for the kitchen while Lily sprinted upstairs with both of her parents calling after her not to run on the stairs.

Rick hugged Alexis. "Rough day, huh?" he said.

Alexis hugged her father back. "October, Dad," she fretted. "I'm not going get my bar exam results until October! I just found out today."

"I'm sorry, Pumpkin," he sympathized. "But I can't say I'm surprised. I can't even imagine how many people must take the bar exam, and having to process all of those exams…I can see where it would take that long."

"You're in good stead with the temp agency," Kate reminded her. "And you got the time off for your wedding and honeymoon."

"No 'H' word in front of the father of the bride!" Rick said, clapping his hands over his ears. Reece, still in Kate's arms, laughed at his father. "And no mocking your father until you can actually speak, Reece Alexander," Rick said, giving Reece a mock glare.

"Uh oh, the middle name, that's never a good thing, Reece," Alexis said, finally beginning to feel just the slightest bit better.

"You do have a lot to keep you busy between now and October," Jim reflected, standing at the ready with the broom and dustpan.

Lily returned then, triumphantly carrying a bag of flower petals, and proceeded to show Alexis, and everyone else, how she would walk slowly and scatter the petals for Alexis and Daddy to walk on.

Alexis stayed for dinner, as did all the grandparents, and spending time with her family, helping give her baby brothers their baths, and being the "featured guest reader" for Lily's bedtime story (they were working their way through the _Elephant & Piggie _series), and she was surprised when, after her sister and brothers were down for the night, Martha and Earl asked Alexis and Kate if they could talk to them for a moment.

"Not me?" Rick asked.

"Or me?" Jim asked.

"No, Richard, not you," Martha said. "And not you either, Jim. Sorry, boys."

"How come you get included?" Rick asked Earl. Earl's only reply was a Cheshire cat grin. Rick groaned. "Torture. Why do the women in my life enjoy torturing me?" he asked.

"Genetic privilege," Jim said, putting an arm around Rick's shoulders. "Now, Rick, what do you say we outcasts go into the kitchen and have some ice cream?"

While Rick and Jim raided the freezer, Martha and Earl had pulled Alexis and Kate into the office. "We have a proposition for you," Martha began. In the next few minutes, she and Earl explained their idea.

Kate looked to Alexis. "You're the bride. Whatever you say, goes, but if you want to do it, I'm on board, and I don't think Jenny or Lanie will be that hard to convince. We might even be able to get Victoria in on it."

"It's been a long time since I've really let loose and had fun," Alexis reflected. "The bar exam's in three weeks. If we can do it in two weeks..."

"We can," Martha assured her after she and Earl had exchanged a look.

"Okay. Let's do it!" Alexis declared.

Martha actually applauded, she was so excited. Earl beamed. "Thank you for letting me be a part of this," he said.

"You're part of the family, Earl," Alexis replied. "You make Gram happier than I've ever seen her. I'll never be able to thank you enough for that."

Kate texted Lanie, whose initial response was, "Really? Me, who's getting fatter every day?" but Lanie was coaxed into being a part of the routine. Jenny's response was an immediate yes, and Victoria Gates responded that it sounded "intriguing" and to count her in.

"Are you going to take part, Gram?" Alexis asked.

"I'll be busy doing the choreographer, while Earl handles the wardrobe and emcee duties," Martha said. "Although I am very tempted."

"You should," Alexis said.

"We'd love to have you," Kate said. Her phone chirped with an incoming text then. When she read it, she smiled and said, "Lanie wants to know if you're going to be involved, Martha. She may have some questions about camouflaging her baby bump."

"Well, I don't need my arm twisted," Martha said. "I'll be happy to participate."

"I think Dad's going to be traumatized," Alexis said.

"I can take his mind off the traumatic parts afterward," Kate said confidently.

"And now _**I'm**_ traumatized," Alexis said.

"I'm thinking that your dad, Javi, and Kevin will all be traumatized by Victoria's participation," Kate replied, picturing the looks on their faces at their former Captain taking part in this little surprise that had been Martha's brainchild.

"You're our undercover officer, Earl," Martha told her significant other. "It'll be up to you to get Richard and Javier and the others to The Old Haunt two weeks from Saturday night."

"You just leave everything to me," Earl promised with a confident smile and a wink.

* * *

The night before the ladies' surprise, after their final rehearsal at Martha and Earl's place, when the ladies had left, Earl disappeared into the bedroom and returned holding a small black velvet box tied with a gold ribbon.

When he held it out to Martha, she looked at it uncertainly. "Earl?" she asked.

"It's not what you're thinking," he assured her. "We agreed we're fine the way we are. No need for marriage. And I would never do that to Alexis and Javier. Besides, it's worked for Goldie and Kurt all these years. But I've been working my way around to finding a way to give this to you, and I finally figured that there doesn't need to be any fanfare, since it's not a wedding ring or an engagement ring, but I would like to explain the symbolism." He put the box in Martha's hand.

She sank down on the couch, and Earl sat down next to her. With slightly trembling fingers, she untied the ribbon and opened the box to reveal a silver ring with a heart where the gemstone would be. The heart was framed by two hands, as if the hands were holding the heart, and the heart was topped by a crown. "It's beautiful," Martha said, looking from the ring in its bed of black velvet to Earl.

"It's Irish," he replied. "It's a Claddagh ring. My maternal grandparents were Irish. That's how I know about Claddagh rings. A Claddagh ring symbolizes love, loyalty, and friendship. He reached out and removed the ring from its box. Holding it up, he and Martha both gazed upon the ring as Earl explained its meaning.

"The heart symbolizes love, of course," he said. "The two hands holding the heart are a representation of friendship, and the crown is a representation of loyalty and fidelity." He looked from the ring to Martha. "I love you. I am and will be loyal and faithful to you for the rest of our lives. And you're the best friend I've ever had." He reached for her right hand, holding the band of the ring over her ring finger. "Tradition dictates that if you're in a relationship, you wear the claddagh on the ring finger of your right hand with the heart pointed inward." Holding her gaze, he asked, "May I?"

"Yes," Martha said, the word coming out in a breath of a whisper.

Earl slipped the Claddagh ring on her finger. They both looked at it, gleaming on Martha's finger, and then Martha leaned in and kissed Earl soundly.

"I love you," she whispered when they broke the kiss, resting her forehead against his. "I know I don't say it very often, but I do. I've never loved anyone the way that I love you. And you're my best friend too, and I will love you and be loyal and faithful to you for the rest of our lives."

He pulled her gently into his arms, and they just held each other for several silent moments, marveling all over again at having found each other at this stage in their lives.

* * *

In order to maintain the subterfuge, a few more people had to be involved. Madison and Mark agreed to watch Lily, Reece and Jake at the loft, while Earl told Jim to bring his video camera along when the guys went to The Old Haunt for a few drinks. That tipped Jim off that something was up, and he had a pretty good idea that the women were involved somehow, but he wasn't entirely certain what the girls were up to, although whatever it was, they obviously wanted it recorded for posterity.

Rick was surprised that The Old Haunt was empty except for Brian, the bartender/manager. "By order of someone who outranks you, boss," Brian said when Rick asked why the bar was closed to everyone but them.

"Who?" Rick asked.

Martha stuck her head out from the back room then. "Me, Richard," she said.

Martha disappeared into the back room once more, and Earl emerged then, looking over the group. "Good, good, everyone's here," he said.

"What are we here for? Because it's obviously for something other than a drink," Javier said.

"Ah, the groom!" Earl exclaimed. "Our guest of honor. Have a seat, gentlemen. You are about to be treated to the featured attraction of the evening: some exciting entertainment for men only-"

Javier whirled accusingly on Kevin. "I told you no strippers! You promised me no strippers!" he exclaimed.

"I had nothing to do with any of this!" Kevin exclaimed right back.

"-created especially for you, Javier," Earl interjected. "Trust me, fellas. Sit back, relax..." Earl waited until Javier, Kevin, Rick, Jim, Alan, and Gerald Gates were seated. Then Earl continued, "Presenting, The Bridal Babes!"

Alexis, in a white knee-length dress covered in sequins, with fishnet stockings and white heels, emerged from the back room, and the other women followed her, all of them in the same style of sequined dress, fishnet stockings, and heels to match their dresses, but in all different colors: Kate in blue; Martha in red; Lanie in black (she had insisted it was slimming since she was already showing with this pregnancy); Jenny in green; and Victoria in purple.

They formed a line, with Alexis in the center, and Earl stepped behind the bar with Brian and turned on the music. Jim hastily lifted his video camera and started filming.

" _Dear future husband,"_ Alexis lip synced, stepping forward and looking at Javier. " _Here's a few things you'll need to know if you wanna be my one and only all my life..."_

The ladies all twirled and stepped as they began performing the simple dance moves that Martha had choreographed for them.

" _Take me on a date, I deserve it, babe."_ Alexis was right in front of Javier now, gesturing at him, then at herself, before spinning out and away from him with a big smile on her face. He grinned back.

" _And don't forget the flowers every anniversary."_ Kate pulled a bouquet of silk flowers from the sleeve of her dress and dropped them in Rick's lap, blowing him a kiss before spinning in a circle and dropping back.

" _'Cause if you'll treat me right, I'll be the perfect wife, Buyin' groceries, Buy-buyin' what you need."_ Jenny did a little shimmy that had Kevin beaming and looking her up and down.

" _You got that 9 to 5, but baby so do I, so don't be thinkin' I'll be home and bakin' apple pies."_ Victoria Gates surprised everyone but her husband when she strutted across the floor, circling around his chair before rejoining the other ladies.

" _I never learned to cook, but I can write a hook, Sing along with me, Sing-sing along with me, hey."_ Martha threw a sly wink over her shoulder to Earl _,_ accompanied by a hip wiggle that would put trained dancers to shame.

" _You gotta know how to treat me like a lady, even when I'm acting crazy, Tell me everything's all right."_ Lanie made her move into the front now, and Alan sat there grinning, giving an appreciative whistle when she sashayed back and forth in front of his chair.

Alexis took the spotlight (figuratively speaking) again for the refrain, and the women lip synced and danced their way through the rest of the song after that, each woman focusing on her mate.

Earl unobtrusively made his way out from behind the bar to join the others, and Jim filmed the whole thing.

" _Dear future husband,_

 _Here's a few things you'll need to know_

 _If you wanna be my one and only all my life_

" _Dear future husband,_

 _If you wanna get that special lovin'_

 _Tell me I'm beautiful_

 _Each and every night"_

" _After every fight_

 _Just apologize_

 _And maybe then I'll let you try and rock my body right_

 _Even if I was wrong_

 _(Laugh) You know I'm never wrong_

 _Why disagree?_

 _Why, why disagree?"_

All the women shrugged their shoulders on _"Why disagree?/Why, why disagree?"_ Alan and Kevin whistled, and Earl, Javier, Rick, and Gerald just sat there grinning as they took in the performance.

" _You gotta know how to treat me like a lady_

 _Even when I'm acting crazy_

 _Tell me everything's all right_

 _Oh-whoa"_

Alexis stood in the forefront, with the others fanned out behind her on both sides now.

" _Dear future husband,_

 _Here's a few things you'll need to know_

 _If you wanna be my one and only all my life, hey baby!_

" _Dear future husband,_

 _Make time for me_

 _Don't leave me lonely_

 _And know we'll never see your family more than mine"_

The ladies all got back into a line for the big finale now.

" _I'll be sleepin' on the left side of the bed, whoa-oh-hey_

 _Open doors for me and you might get some kisses,"_ at which point each woman blew a kiss to the men.

Each woman then wagged her finger and shook her head on the next line, which was,

" _Don't have a dirty mind, just be a classy guy"_

Alexis, Kate, Lanie, Jenny, and Victoria all held up their left hands then, and Martha held up her right hand, showing off their respective wedding, engagement, and Claddagh rings on the following line, which was,

" _Buy me a ring, buy-buy me a ring, babe"_

They all dropped their hands and danced in a circle, the other women surrounding Alexis.

" _You gotta know how to treat me like a lady_

 _Even when I'm acting crazy_

 _Tell me everything's all right_

 _Whoa-hey!"_

And then, the big finish.

" _Dear future husband,_

 _Here's a few things you'll need to know_

 _If you wanna be my one and only all my life_

 _Dear future husband,_

 _If you wanna get that special lovin'_

 _Tell me I'm beautiful each and every night_

 _Oh-whoa"_

Alexis sat down in Javier's lap, and then all the women pointed at Javier on the final line of the song as Alexis sang along with Meghan Trainor.

" _Future husband, better love me right."_

Alexis and Javier kissed, and everyone applauded as each of the women sought out her mate.

"Now I know why your dad and I weren't included," Rick told Kate.

"It was actually your mother's idea," Kate told him.

"This is right in Mother's wheelhouse, so I'm not surprised," Rick replied. Spying Martha laughing with her arms around Earl's neck, and his arms around her waist, Rick smiled, "And now she has a partner in crime, so to speak."

"I'd think they were getting married if Martha wasn't wearing that ring on her right hand," Kate mused.

"They meant it when they said no marriage," Rick reflected. "I didn't get a good look at that ring yet, but I think it's a Claddagh ring. Mother wearing it on her right hand means that she's taken."

"Hey, do we need to turn a hose on the betrothed couple?" Kevin asked, since Javier and Alexis were still kissing.

"I'll do it," Rick volunteered eagerly enough to get an elbow in the ribs from Kate.

They stopped kissing, albeit reluctantly.

"You girls were sensational!" Alan said.

"I've known for years that Victoria has serious moves," Gerald said proudly.

"We owe it all to Martha and Earl," Lanie said. "Working on this routine was a lot of fun."

"You definitely crushed it," Javier said. "And I was taking mental notes, Lex, so I'll definitely remember to open doors for you and take you on dates."

"And I got the whole thing recorded," Jim said, holding up his video camera.

Everyone was milling around now, talking and laughing. Kevin and Jenny went to the bar and then returned with drinks in hand, with Brian in tow with a tray of drinks for everyone else, including club soda with a twist of lime for Jim and Lanie.

Glasses of wine, bottles of beer, and a couple of martinis (Martha and Victoria) were taken in hand, and Kevin said, "I get to get in a practice toast before the wedding reception." Raising his beer bottle, and waiting until everyone else had followed suit with their own drinks, he said, "To Javi and Alexis: may you never stop surprising each other, never stop laughing together, and never have a shortage of moments like this one."

Everyone clinked glasses and bottles before taking a sip of their drinks in this first toast to Alexis and Javier's future together.

* * *

 _ **The song the ladies performed to is "Dear Future Husband" by Meghan Trainor.**_


	109. Chapter 103

_**Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support.**_

 _ **I know I said last week that Alexis and Javier's wedding would be next, but the night before the wedding took on a life of its own, so I followed the muse where it led, and this was the result. I promise, though, their wedding will be the next chapter.**_

* * *

Alexis and Javier's wedding rehearsal went smoothly. It was the first time almost everyone was seeing Lyndhurst Castle, and they were all awed by the majesty of the place.

Maddie had closed Q3 to the public for the night, and Alexis, Javier, Rick, Kate, Lily, Reece, Jake, Martha, Earl, Jim, Kevin, Jenny, Sarah Grace, Nick, and Father Pete were in attendance for the rehearsal dinner. (Lanie, Alan, and Will, and Victoria and Gerald, in addition to most of the 12th Precinct, including but not limited to Karpowski, Vazquez, and LT, as well as Evelyn Montgomery and her and Roy's children Rebecca, Mary, and Evan, Alexis's friend from high school Paige, and Javier's old partner Ike Thornton and his wife Carol and son Tim would be at the wedding the next day.)

The dinner was a fun, relaxed evening, with a lot of great food, conversation, and laughter, and no small amount of attention paid to all the kids. The adults all thought it was cute how Sarah Grace acted like a mother hen towards both Nick and Lily, without bothering to hide her glee at being a flower girl in her Uncle Javi's wedding. Lily couldn't stop talking about all the pretty dresses—she, Kate, Martha, and Alexis had all tried their dresses on together that very afternoon for one last time, just to make sure no last-second alterations would be needed. "Gram cried when she saw Alexis in her dress, and Mommy did too," Lily told her captive audience of adults. "They said they were crying because they were happy, but I don't cry when I'm happy."

"Well, grown-ups are silly like that sometimes, Sweetpea," Rick told Lily, who was seated next to him at the tables they had pushed together. "Sometimes we're just so happy that smiling and laughing and jumping up and down or running around aren't enough, and we have to cry."

Lily considered her father for a moment. "So it's not really crying, it's more like the happy is leaking out of your eyes?" she asked.

"Exactly!" Rick exclaimed. He looked at Lily, passing a hand through her hair, then looked across the table at Alexis, seated next to Esposito, holding his hand on the tabletop. "I remember when you were the little moppet making pithy observations like that," he said wistfully.

"Save something for tomorrow, Dad," Alexis said, only half-joking.

"Oh, I'm absolutely going to cry tomorrow," Rick confirmed.

"Which will hopefully make me a very wealthy man," Kevin muttered.

"You guys are gonna be betting on us until we're all old and gray, aren't you?" Kate asked, amused.

"I didn't bet," Javier said. At the matching stares from Rick and Kate, he amended, "This time."

"Then Kevin bet with Lanie," Kate replied.

"In my defense, it was her idea," Kevin retorted. "And I said you'd keep yourself together until the vows, Castle, because everyone would be focused on Javi and Alexis then and not looking at you."

"Lanie thinks I'll be sobbing as we walk down the aisle, right?" Rick guessed.

"I believe her exact words were 'a Niagara Falls of tears,' but yeah," Kevin confirmed.

"What if he cries through the whole thing?" Alexis asked.

"You really think I'm going to cry through your entire wedding?" Rick asked Alexis, a hand flying to his chest in mock hurt.

"I've known you literally all my life, Dad. I didn't bet either, but that would have been my bet if I had," Alexis replied. "Not sobbing, not calling attention to yourself, but definitely with a choke in your voice and tears in your eyes through the whole ceremony."

"So I'm an emotional man. Sue me," Rick said.

"I'd defend you, Rick," Jim said from his seat, where he was bouncing Reece on his knee. "As both a lawyer and a father."

"You didn't cry at our wedding, Dad," Kate retorted.

"You didn't see me cry at your wedding, Katie, but I did," Jim replied.

Kate looked to Martha, then Alexis. "He did," Martha confirmed.

"He and Gram both did," Alexis said. "I didn't. I was just happy that Dad was finally so happy."

Kate looked at Rick. "How did we not notice our parents crying at our wedding?" Kate asked.

"As soon as you appeared on your dad's arm, Kate, all I could see was you," Rick replied.

"They cried while we were watching you dance," Alexis said.

Madison appeared then. "Is everything to everyone's satisfaction?" she inquired.

"It's perfect, Madison," Alexis answered. "Thank you for everything you've done to help us with our wedding."

"Yes, thank you so much," Javier added.

"Anything for Becks' oldest daughter," Madison replied. "And thank you for inviting Mark and me to the wedding."

Jake started wailing loudly then, and the smell wafting from his diaper provided the reason. "Okay, Jakey, I've got you," Kate said. "Excuse us, everyone. Babe, can you hand me Jake's diaper bag, please?" Rick retrieved Jake's diaper bag from the boys' double stroller, handed it to Kate, and she carried Jake to the ladies' room to change him, Madison trailing after her.

As Kate made quick work of cleaning Jake up and changing him, Madison watched her oldest friend with a smile. "So," she said, "are you gonna cry tomorrow? Alexis is as much your kid as Lily, Reece, and Jake are."

"I'm sure I'll shed some tears, yes," Kate replied, getting Jake dressed again. "That's so much better, isn't it, Jellybean?" she said. Jake gave his mother a drooly grin and babbled his agreement. "Yes, it is." She rained kisses all over Jake's face, then looked at Madison again. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Madison replied. "I was just thinking how all of this suits you. Being married to Castle, your little Castle babies, your big Castle getting married tomorrow. I haven't seen you this happy in a long time, Kate. You wear it well."

"I've never been this happy, Maddie," Kate replied. "How are things with you and Ma-"

Mark's name died in Kate's throat when she noticed the diamond ring on the third finger of Madison's left hand. "Madison!" she exclaimed, surprised.

Madison looked puzzled for a few seconds, then realized that Kate must have seen her engagement ring. "I was going to tell you, Kate, I swear I was, but this is Alexis and Javier's weekend."

"When did this happen?" Kate asked.

"A couple of weeks ago," Madison said, beaming. "We picked out the ring together. We want a simple, small wedding. We're thinking New Year's Eve. We'll always have a party to go to on our anniversary if we want to. Do you think you could be my matron of honor on New Year's Eve?"

"Just try and stop me," Kate said. Holding tightly to Jake in one arm, she gave Madison a one-armed hug right there in the ladies' room at Q3. "I'm so happy for you, Mads."

"I never would have met Mark if not for you," Madison replied, hugging Kate back. "Look at us, all grown up and settled down. Who would have thought?"

"The cliché about it happening when you're not looking for it is definitely true," Kate reflected. "I only hope our kids are as blessed as we are."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about on that score with Alexis and Javier. They look at each other like you and Castle look at each other," Madison said.

"I've noticed," Kate replied with a smile.

"And not a word to anyone else. I'm not stealing Alexis's thunder this weekend," Madison said.

"It's just between us until you and Mark are ready to make a formal announcement," Kate promised.

"This is a much better secret for you to keep for me than my dating that junior at Cornell when we were sophomores in high school," Madison said as she and Kate, carrying Jake and his diaper bag, exited the ladies' room.

"If my mother had ever found out I was lying for you about that, I'd still be grounded today," Kate said. Then she and Madison laughed.

"Well, she didn't find out, and neither did your dad or my parents," Madison reminisced. "And then I was so heartbroken when I caught him in bed with that other girl, I thought I'd never get over it. Whoever said sixteen is the best year of your life had to be crazy."

"I remember," Kate replied.

"I don't even remember his name anymore," Madison said. "And I got over him a long time ago. And I'm going to marry Mark at the end of the year. Now he's the guy I'll never get over." She paused. "I guess that's the key, really, isn't it? Marry the guy you can't live without."

"That's part of it," Kate agreed.

They were back in the restaurant proper now, and the party was breaking up, as Reece had conked out on his Grandpa Jim's shoulder, Nick was running circles around the tables, whooping and hollering on a sugar high, and Sarah Grace and Lily were chasing after him, partly from their own sugar consumption, but mostly because they were so excited about being flower girls the next day and had to expend the energy somehow.

"Well, I guess it's time to be getting home," Javier said. Rick's head shot up at that comment. "Relax, Castle. I'm not coming home with you guys. I'm staying at my place tonight." Alexis was staying at the loft.

"I think we can give the betrothed couple a few minutes to have a proper goodbye," Father Pete said then. "After all, it's going to be several hours before they see each other."

Since the Ryans, and Rick and Kate, had multiple kids to wrangle into multiple safety seats and vehicles, and the grandparents and Father Pete were happy to help with all the kids while Javier and Alexis had their moment alone on the sidewalk in front of Q3 on this hot August night.

They walked out of the restaurant hand in hand, and Javier stopped, turned Alexis to face him, and, grinning, said, "Do you realize that tomorrow at this time, you will be Mrs. Alexis Castle-Esposito?"

She grinned back at him, releasing his hand to wind her arms around his neck as his arms wound around her waist. "I do," she replied.

"You should remember that 'I do.' I have a feeling it'll come in handy for the ceremony," Javier said. They just looked at each other, and Javier said, "I can't believe it's finally almost here."

"Are you nervous?" Alexis asked, growing serious now.

Javier shook his head. "Not about the wedding. About what comes after. About being the husband you deserve." He brushed her hair behind her ears. "What about you? Are you nervous?"

"About tomorrow? No. About being a good wife? A little bit, yeah," Alexis admitted. "I've never been a wife before."

"I've never been a husband before," Javier replied.

"There's one thing I do know, though," Alexis said. "I don't want to be anyone's wife but yours."

"We'll have to learn how to be married," Javier agreed, "but we'll do it together."

"Yes, we will," Alexis agreed.

"Besides, I already know you're pretty much gonna win every argument we have," Javier said, grinning again. "That's what I get for marrying a lawyer."

"The making up is fun," Alexis said.

"Definitely," Javier said. He rested his forehead against hers. "I really can't wait for tomorrow, Lex."

"Neither can I," Alexis replied.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but the natives are getting restless." Martha's voice reached them then.

"One more minute, Gram," Alexis said. Javier had ridden to the restaurant with the Ryans, and he was going to go and hang out at their place for a little while before heading home, since he was so wired, he wasn't sure how much sleep he'd get.

"I'll try to keep your father from timing it," Martha said, winking at the couple before walking away from them.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow," Alexis said.

"I'll be the guy looking like the happiest, luckiest guy in the world, because that's what I am," Javier replied.

"I'll be the one in the white gown," Alexis said. She framed his face in her hands. "I love you, Javier."

"I love you too, Alexis," he whispered. The kiss lingered until Rick laid on his car horn, startling them apart. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she repeated. She gave him one more quick kiss before climbing into the Audi. Javier stood on the sidewalk, watching as the Castles drove away, and when they were out of sight, he got into the Ryans' minivan and headed back to their place with them.

Upon arriving at the Ryans', Javier sat in the living room with _SportsCenter_ on low, sipping on a Coke, while Kevin and Jenny got Sarah Grace and Nick settled for the night. When Kevin finally emerged half an hour later, he said, "I'm not sure how much sleep Sarah Grace is going to get tonight, she's so excited about being a flower girl tomorrow. You'd think it was the night before Christmas." He sat down on the couch next to Javi.

Javi hadn't been paying attention to _SportsCenter_ anyway, and he turned the TV off now. "That's what it feels like," he said. "The night before Christmas when I was a kid. All that excitement and anticipation, wishing the clock would move faster."

Kevin smiled. "Good," he said, "because if it didn't feel that way, then I'd have to be trying to get you into the Witness Protection Program right now, because if you even thought about not showing up tomorrow, Beckett and Castle would come after you."

"Nothing's going to keep me away from Alexis," Javi vowed, "not for the rest of my life. I just...I'm a little worried about being a good husband."

"Is that all?" Kevin asked, reclining back on the couch.

"Well, I'm not an old married guy like you," Javi said. "And that's not an age crack. It's just...you and Jenny have been married for eight years, you've got the kids, you've got a life."

"You and Alexis have been together for three years," Kevin pointed out.

"Yeah, but being a husband is different from being a boyfriend or a fiance," Javi said.

"That's true," Kevin agreed. "And there is a learning curve. Don't think there's not. But you're learning how to be married together, and that's what counts." He paused. "Are you looking for advice on how to be a husband?"

"You and Castle are the best husbands I know," Javi replied, "and I can't ask him. So yeah, I'm asking you, Kev. How do I be the best possible husband I can be?"

"Put the toilet seat down. Every time," Kevin said seriously. "If you haven't trained yourself to do it in the last three years, start tomorrow. Because if she falls in at 3 in the morning because you didn't put the seat down before you went to bed, you can have an all-day argument over that one."

"That's your great marriage advice? Put the toilet seat down?" Javi asked incredulously.

"That's one piece of my great marriage advice," Kevin replied. "Listen to her. You don't always have to fix everything for her. Sometimes she just needs you to listen to her. You'll be amazed how much better you can make her feel if all you do is listen. And for God's sake, **don't** try and fix a problem of hers without talking to her about it first. That's a major pitfall.

"Love her for who she is, but also for who she's not. Yeah, things change gradually when you're married, the longer you're together, and when the kids come along, but just like there are some habits you have that you're never gonna break, she's got habits she'll never break either, and things she'll do that will annoy you. Rest assured, she has her own list of things about you that annoy her. Accept each other's flaws. They're mostly gonna be minor things anyway, like you putting the milk carton back in the fridge with an inch of milk at the bottom and not bringing home any more because technically you're not out of milk, or her wanting seventeen throw pillows on the couch, or the bed.

"As we both learned from watching Beckett and Castle for the better part of four years, talk. Talk about everything. Talk about nothing. Just keep talking. And be honest, no matter how hard it is, how painful, how scary. Sometimes you'll worry about each other. Sometimes you'll worry together. But don't evade the issues, because that's when things start to break down.

"Finally, enjoy the ride. Take it from this old married guy, Javi: it's gonna be amazing."

Javi nodded. "I can do all that," he said. "I already do most of it."

"Then you're ahead of the game," Kevin said, clapping a hand on Javi's shoulder.

"At least I didn't go on a hunger strike before my wedding," Javi said with a ball-busting grin.

"You flaunting that donut in front of me was just cruel!" Kevin retorted. "You knew I'd been on a cleanse for days at that point. I was starving!"

"Yeah, Beckett and Castle and I picked up on that when you started wolfing down all the Chinese food in front of us when we were talking about the case," Javi said.

The friends laughed. Then Kevin grew serious. "Thanks for being my best man," Javi said seriously. "Other than Alexis, there's nobody else I'd want by my side on the happiest, most important day of my life."

"Javi, I'll stand up for you until I drop," Kevin replied. Then they hugged.

At the loft, Alexis had brushed her teeth and finished up the last of her last-minute packing. When there was a tap on her door, she called, "Come in."

Sure enough, it was her dad. "How are you doing, Pumpkin?" he asked.

"Good," Alexis replied. "Excited. Happy. Done packing, finally." She laughed. "Is this gonna be the 'what to expect on the wedding night' talk, Dad?"

Rick swallowed hard, then said, "We already had that talk, years ago."

Alexis sat down on the edge of her bed. "So we did." She paused, then said, "You don't have any new questions for me?"

Rick sat down next to her. "You are so my kid," he said.

"I've always been proud to be your daughter," Alexis replied. "That won't change after I'm married."

"I've always been proud to be your father, and proud of the person you are. That won't change after you're married," Rick said. "And you won't make my mistakes. This is the only wedding you're going to have. I'm glad for that." He looked at Alexis seriously. "I know I haven't always seemed...well...enthusiastic about you and Esposito, but I know he's a good man. He loves you, he's supportive of your goals and plans and dreams, he makes you happy. I couldn't wish anything more for you, Alexis."

She laid her head on her father's shoulder, and they sat in silence for a few minutes. "Dad?" she finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" Rick asked.

She lifted her head to look at him, and he turned his head to meet her gaze. "Do you think I'll be a good wife?" she asked. "Not...not in the clichéd sense. But I've never been a wife before. Not that you have. I just...That's the part I'm nervous about."

Rick smiled. "Yes, Alexis," he said. "You're going to be a good wife to Esposito. I'm sure of it. The thing about being married...being married to the right person, anyway...is that everything you had before you got married is still there. It just becomes **more**."

Now Alexis looked confused. "It becomes more," she repeated.

"Yes," Rick replied. "It becomes deeper. All of it. It carries more weight. You're making the most important promise, the most important commitment, of your life: to share your life with another person. All of it—good and bad, highs and lows. The joy is doubled, and the weight of the burdens is halved, because you're sharing it all with the person you love most in the world. You'll fight, you'll laugh, you'll make mistakes sometimes—and that's both of you—but at the end of the day, you'll come home to each other. When you fight, you'll make up. When you make a mistake, you'll fix it...together, if you can. And please, learn from Kate and me, and say what you need to say when you need to say it. Don't let fear or insecurity rule your life or your marriage.

"Love each other, take care of each other, be good to each other. Talk to each other, even when it's difficult. Listen to each other, and listen not just for what **is** being said, but for what **isn't** being said. You do that, you'll have a long and happy marriage, and someday...many, many, **many** years from now...you'll be sitting with my grandchild the night before her or his wedding, telling her or him these same things."

Alexis smiled at her father. "I love you, Dad," she said, hugging him.

He hugged her back. "I love you too, Alexis," he said thickly.

When she drew back from him, she saw that he had tears in his eyes already. "I really thought I'd be able to hold out at least until it actually was your wedding day," he said, swiping at his eyes with one hand.

Alexis glanced at the alarm clock. "It's 12:02. It's officially my wedding day. I won't say anything to Lanie and Kevin if you don't," she said.

"Deal," Rick agreed. He kissed Alexis's forehead. "You should try to get some sleep."

"I will," Alexis said. "I don't know how successful I'll be-" She was interrupted when her phone chirped with an incoming text message.

Rick smiled wistfully, knowing as well as Alexis did that it was Esposito texting her. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Alexis not to stay up half the night texting Esposito, but his little girl wasn't so little anymore. She was 26 years old, a law school graduate waiting for the results of her bar exam, and was getting married in a little less than twelve hours. "Good night, Pumpkin," he said.

"Good night, Dad," Alexis said. She leaned in and kissed his cheek before retrieving her phone from the nightstand. Rick looked over his shoulder when he got to the doorway of Alexis's room, seeing her radiant smile as she read the screen of her phone before tapping out a reply to Esposito.

He checked on Lily, who was sleeping peacefully, and then peeked in on Reece and Jake, watching them sleep and remembering when he had watched Alexis sleep in her crib when she was the same age as Reece and Jake currently were.

Kate's arms wrapping around his waist brought him back to the present. "How are you holding up?" she asked softly, her breath tickling his ear and the side of his neck.

"I already had some tears in my eyes," he replied. "I remember when she was this size, Kate. Tonight, it feels like it went by too fast."

One of Kate's hands moved up to rest over his heart—that big, beautiful, sensitive heart of his. "I know it does," she said, "but you raised an amazing woman, Rick. And Javi's a good man. They're going to be happy. Remember the first time we saw them together, at the Christmas tree lot, when we still didn't know the identity of Alexis's secret boyfriend? They looked at each other the way you and I look at each other, babe. And they still look at each other that way."

"They do," Rick admitted.

Kate rested her chin lightly on his shoulder. "I'll have a chat with Lanie sometime before the ceremony, make her promise not to give you a hard time about crying. Besides, you won't be the only one crying tomorrow. Martha's been fretting about her makeup for a week, and I know I'm not gonna make it through tomorrow without a few tears. I haven't been part of Alexis's life as long as you and Martha, but she's the daughter of my heart, and tonight I'm remembering her as the girl with the textbooks at the bar the night you and I met...the girl who asked me about studying abroad...the terrified young woman screaming at me that you and Martha were all she had when you were being held hostage in that bank...how happy and relieved I was when you brought her home from Paris...how she and I have built a relationship in these last eleven years. This wedding is going to be emotional for all of us. I'm still amazed that she asked me to be her matron of honor. She could have asked Paige, or one of her friends from law school, but she asked me."

Rick turned his head to look into Kate's eyes. "She loves you, Kate. You're the mom she waited for all her life. And God knows you helped keep me sane during her teenage years." He paused, then said, "You know, if you and I hadn't met, then I never would have met Esposito either, and he and Alexis wouldn't have become he and Alexis."

"I hadn't thought of it that way," Kate mused.

Reece and Jake both began to stir then, so Kate and Rick stopped talking, waiting anxiously to see if one or both of their sons would awaken. When both boys settled down, they stole quietly out of the nursery, then went to check on Lily, who was sleeping soundly. They passed by Alexis's closed bedroom door, hearing the low murmur of her voice, speaking to Javi on the phone, as they did. They went downstairs quietly, hand in hand, and when they reached their bedroom, Kate stopped and pivoted into Rick's arms. His arms slid around her waist. "I'd do it all over again," she told him seriously. "Every second of it. And I wouldn't even change any of the hurt, or the fights, or the times we were apart and miserable because of it, if it meant we wouldn't end up here, together, where we're supposed to be."

She saw him smile in the dark. "I would too," he replied before he leaned down to kiss her.


	110. Chapter 104

_**Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support. I hope you enjoy this chapter, which is devoted to Alexis and Javier's wedding ceremony.  
**_

* * *

Javier muttered another oath as he tried in vain yet again to tie his bow tie. Despite the weeks of practice, now that it was his wedding day, with the actual wedding only moments away from starting, he couldn't get the damn tie tied properly.

Kevin had been watching Javi struggle with his tie for the last twenty minutes, and finally he had enough. "Javi," he said. Javi turned to look at Kevin, the two ends of his tie, with one knot in them, hanging askew from his popped collar. Without another word, Kevin rose from his chair, crossed the room, and tied Javi's bow tie for him.

"You have the ring, right?" Javi asked as Kevin tied his tie.

"For the twelfth time, yes, Javi, I have the ring," Kevin replied patiently. He finished tying the tie, then straightened it before pulling the platinum wedding ring that had been carefully sized to fit Alexis's finger and meticulously engraved ' _One Love, One Lifetime, AC + JE 8-15-20,'_ from the breast pocket of his tuxedo jacket. As matron of honor, Beckett had charge of Javi's matching ring from Alexis.

"Okay, good. Good," Javi replied.

"You need help with anything else? Cuff links, anything?" Kevin asked.

"I need it to be time," Javi said, pacing around the room.

Kevin looked at his watch. "It won't be long now," he assured Javi. "Alan and Earl are probably seating the last of the guests as we speak."

Javi glanced down to make sure his shoes were tied, which they were. They were also shined with military precision, almost brightly enough that he could see his reflection in them. The etiquette gurus may have devoted a lot of magazine and web pages to the edict that the groomsmen and best man shouldn't match the groom when it came to attire, but he and Alexis hadn't cared about that, and Alexis had even found a few pictures of male halves of wedding parties where the differences were subtle but noticeable to people who paid attention to detail—different colors and flowers in the boutonnieres, the color or even total absence of a pocket square. Since details were such an important part of both of his and Alexis's lives and careers, and he and Alexis both liked the look of the white tuxedo jacket with black bow tie, cummerbund, and pants, as Daniel Craig had worn in _Spectre_ , they decided that the differences in boutonnieres (Javi's boutonniere was the largest, and had one of each kind of flower Alexis carried in her bouquet: a white rose, a lilac-colored rose, a peach spray rose, a sprig of baby's breath, and a lavender sweet pea. Rick, Kevin, Alan, Earl, and Jim all wore boutonnieres of one white rose and one lilac-colored rose backed by lavender sweet peas) and in pocket squares (only Javi sported one, in black to match his bow tie and cummerbund; the other men had no pocket squares) would be enough to differentiate the groom from the best man, father of the bride, and ushers, so that's what they had done. And of course, Reece and Jake were dressed in their tuxedo-print-front onesies, with the black bow tie and lapels and red pocket square design on the front.

Father Pete entered the room then. "It's time," he said.

"Finally!" Javi exclaimed, excited and relieved. He turned to Kevin. "This is it," he said.

Kevin clapped Javi on the shoulders. "This is it," he replied. He then hugged Javi, and Javi hugged him back. "I'm really happy for you, Javi."

"Thanks," Javi said as he clapped Kevin on the back. "For everything." Javi released Kevin and turned to look at Father Pete. "Pedro," he said, swallowing hard.

"Officiating at your wedding is a privilege for me, Javi," Father Pete said. Then they hugged. "I wish you and Alexis all the best."

Meanwhile, in the room where Alexis was getting ready, she was completely dressed, surrounded by Martha, Kate, Lily, Sarah Grace, Jenny, Lanie, and Victoria.

"Did you know," Alexis said as Kate finished securing Alexis's hair in a French twist updo while Martha carefully shook out Alexis's veil, "that each of the components of 'Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue' stands for something? The 'something old' represents continuity, the 'something new' symbolizes hope for the future, the 'something borrowed' signifies happiness because it's supposed to be borrowed from someone in a happy marriage, and the 'something blue' stands for love and fidelity." While planning the wedding, Alexis had come across these stories behind the custom, and they had stuck in her mind.

Kate finished with Alexis's hair, stepped back to retrieve her clutch from the nearby table, then said, "Then it's very fitting that I'm the one giving you something borrowed." She reached inside the clutch, removing a pair of earrings, and pressed them into Alexis's hand. "These are the earrings I wore when I married your dad."

Alexis exhaled sharply. "Thank you," she said softly. She gave Kate a quick, hard hug, then put the earrings in.

"And I have the something old," Martha piped up as she stepped forward with a threadbare velvet jewelry case. Alexis opened it, and exhaled sharply again at the sight of the pearl necklace again. "It belonged to my grandmother, your great-great-grandmother," Martha replied.

"It's beautiful. Will you help me put it on, Gram?" Alexis asked.

Martha fastened the clasp on the necklace around Alexis's neck.

"Javier gave me the something new," Alexis continued, holding up her right wrist. She was wearing the charm bracelet Javier had given her years ago and pointed out the latest addition to the bracelet: a miniature sterling silver bride and groom standing arm in arm. The other women admired the charm.

"All that leaves is the something blue," Jenny said.

"I have that too," Alexis said. Casting a look at Lily and Sarah Grace, she mouthed the word "underwear," and the women all laughed.

They were still laughing when there came a knock at the door. "Come in, unless you're Javier!" Alexis called, quickly moving her engagement ring from her left hand to her right.

Rick entered the room, closing the door behind him, then stopping in his tracks when he got his first look at Alexis in all her bridal finery as Martha finished putting on Alexis's veil. "Wow," he breathed. "Pumpkin, 'beautiful' doesn't begin to cover it." Alexis beamed at him, making his heart soar and ache at the same time, because in a matter of minutes, he would be walking her down the aisle and watching her promise to love, honor, and cherish Esposito, and Esposito promise to love, honor, and cherish her, for the rest of their lives.

Another knock came at the door. Rick went to answer it and found Earl standing there smiling. "It's the magic hour," he said. "Javier, Kevin, and the priest have taken their places, and Alan is seating the last of the guests as we speak. Lanie, Jenny, Victoria, if you'd like to come downstairs, Alan and I will take turns escorting you to your seats, and then once I escort Martha to her seat, we'll be ready to begin."

After a final flurry of hugs and congratulations, Lanie, Jenny, and Victoria departed the room with Earl, who then returned after escorting first Jenny and then Victoria to their seats, while Alan escorted Lanie to her seat (Jim, the self-described "expert kid wrangler," had charge of not only Reece and Jake but also Nick and Will until their mothers were seated, ably assisted by Gerald Gates), and then Earl returned upstairs to escort Martha down the stairs and to her seat.

Upon his return to the upper level, Earl found that organized chaos reigned in the hallway at the top of the stairs, as everyone made certain they had everything they needed. Martha was fussing over Lily and Sarah Grace, giving them last-minute instructions on what to do and the option to either stand up front with Kate, Alexis, Javier and Kevin after they had scattered their rose petals, or to sit with her, Jim, Reece, Jake, Jenny and Nick after they had scattered their flower petals.

Kate made a quick adjustment to Alexis's veil and then handed Alexis her bouquet. Instead of carrying a bouquet, Kate, along with Martha, wore wrist corsages of the same flowers Alexis carried in her bouquet: the white and lilac-colored roses, peach spray rose, baby's breath, and lavender sweet peas.

Earl said, "We're ready when you are."

Martha gave Alexis a careful hug and sniffled a bit. "Gram, if you start now, I'll lose it," Alexis said, half laughing and half choking on a sob.

"I know, I know," Martha said, shaking her head. "Be happy, Alexis." She threaded her arm through Earl's, and they headed downstairs, where Earl escorted Martha to her seat, then resumed his place at the double doors in the back of the room, on the right side, while Alan stood at the left side.

"Okay, Lily, Sarah Grace, here are your baskets of flowers," Kate said, handing each girl a small basket of mixed white and lilac-colored rose petals. "You'll go first. Slowly, remember, just like we've practiced."

"Okay, Mommy," Lily said solemnly.

"Okay, Aunt Kate," Sarah Grace echoed just as solemnly.

They descended the staircase, Kate with a hand on each of the little girls' shoulders. She looked back over her shoulder at Rick and Alexis, and after Kate had gotten Lily and Sarah Grace downstairs, Rick looked at Alexis. Words failed him in that moment, and Alexis squeezed his arm.

In the hallway outside the room where the wedding ceremony would take place, Kate positioned Lily and Sarah Grace side by side at the start of the runner that created the aisle.

After instructing them to stand still and wait for her to tell them to walk down the aisle, she looked at Rick and Alexis, who were now standing behind them. "Alexis, you look so beautiful," Kate said softly. Indeed, Alexis was glowing, lit from within by joy. Kate felt tears start to well up in the back of her eyes, the back of her throat, and fought to keep them at bay.

"Thanks, Mom," Alexis said, releasing her father's arm to embrace Kate. "For everything. All of it, over the years. I love you."

"I love you too," Kate said. "And I'm so happy for you and Javi."

"Is it time yet, Mommy?" Lily asked, interrupting the moment.

"It's time," Kate said. She took hold of Rick's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. He squeezed her hand in reply, willing the wistful look from his eyes.

The processional music started then, and Earl and Alan both smiled as Lily and Sarah Grace made their slow, measured, much-practiced walk side by side down the white runner, dropping the rose petals from their baskets as they went.

" _With golden string_

 _Our universe was clothed in light_

 _Pullin' at the seams_

 _Our once barren world now brims with life_

 _That we may fall in love_

 _Every time we open up our eyes..."_

The guests, the family, Javi, Kevin, and Father Pete all watched as Lily and Sarah Grace made their way down the aisle, Kevin beaming proudly, and Javi grinning from ear to ear at how solemnly and seriously Lily and Sarah Grace were taking their jobs as flower girls. When they reached the front of the aisle, Sarah Grace turned to look at her mom and brother; Jenny had her phone out, having filmed the girls' walk down the aisle. Lily saw Gram and Grandpa Jim both had tears in their eyes, and Reece and Jake were sitting up in their double stroller, babbling happily. The girls both elected to stay up at the altar.

"Okay, I'm up," Kate said, after assuring that Lily and Sarah Grace were safely ensconced at the altar. "I'll see you up front, and yes, I have Javi's ring." She held up her right hand to reveal Javier's wedding band on her thumb. She kissed Alexis's cheek, then took a deep breath, and, hands clasped in front of her, began her own slow, measured walk down the aisle as the processional music continued.

" _Infinity times infinity_

 _Infinity times infinity times infinity_

 _Infinity times infinity times infinity times infinity_

 _Let there be light, let there be light_

 _Let me be right_

" _The dust of dust_

 _We are the apple of God's eye_

 _We are infinite_

 _As the universe we hold inside_

" _We are the dust of dust_

 _We are the apple of God's eye_

 _We are infinite_

 _As the universe we hold inside_

" _Let there be light, let there be light_

 _Let me be right_

" _With golden string_

 _Our universe was brought to life_

 _That we may fall in love_

 _Every time we open up our eyes"_

Kate reached the altar and took her place, looking across at Javi and Kevin, smiling at them, before looking at Lily and Sarah Grace, standing in front of her, holding onto their empty flower petal baskets. Lily tipped her head back and smiled up at her mother, and Kate returned the smile. Then she looked out at the assembled guests, seeing that Martha was clutching a handkerchief to her nose as tears streamed from her eyes, watching her father give Jake a teething ring and Reece a bottle, while Lanie and Jenny, Madison and Mark, and Victoria and Gerald smiled. She caught sight of Jordan Shaw and her family, and LT, Karpowski, Velazquez, and several other officers and detectives from the 12th, some of them, including LT, resplendent in their dress uniforms.

There was a completely silent pause of a few seconds, during which you could have heard a pin drop, and then the song to which Rick would walk Alexis down the aisle began, and all of the guests rose to their feet, while Javi took a deep breath and let it out slowly, the look on his face speaking volumes when he caught sight of Alexis on Rick's arm as they entered the room, Alexis smiling first at Earl, then at Alan, and then, with her arm through her father's, they made their way down the aisle as Javi beamed happily, he and Alexis only having eyes for each other, as everyone watched, smiling at the couple's obvious happiness.

" _One look at you_

 _My whole life falls in line_

 _I prayed for you_

 _Before I called you mine_

 _Oh, I can't believe it's true sometimes_

 _Oh, I can't believe it's true_

" _I get to love you_

 _It's the best thing that I'll ever do_

 _I get to love you_

 _It's a promise I'm makin' to you_

 _Whatever may come, your heart I will choose_

 _Forever I'm yours, forever I do_

 _I get to love you_

 _I get to love you"_

All too soon, to Rick's way of thinking, and not soon enough, to Alexis's way of thinking, they had reached the altar. Rick lifted Alexis's veil and kissed her cheek, then placed her hand in Javier's before going to sit between Jim and Martha.

The music ceased, and Father Pete motioned to everyone to be seated. Once the guests had regained their seats, Father Pete smiled at Javier and Alexis and began the ceremony.

"Friends and family, we are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Alexis Harper Castle and Javier Vicente Esposito. The bond and covenant of marriage was established by God in creation, and our Lord Jesus Christ adorned this manner of life by his presence and first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. It signifies to us the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church, and Holy Scripture commends it to be honored among all people.

"The union of husband and wife in heart, body, and mind is intended by God for their mutual joy; for the help and comfort given one another in prosperity and adversity; and, when it is God's will, for the procreation of children and their nurture in the knowledge and love of the Lord. Therefore marriage is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, deliberately, and in accordance with the purposes for which it was instituted by God.

"Into this holy union Alexis and Javier now come to be joined. If any of you can show just cause why they may not be lawfully married, speak now, or else forever hold your peace."

After a few seconds of silence, Father Pete continued, "Who gives this woman to be married?"

"We do," Rick, Martha, and Kate declared in unison.

"Alexis and Javier have prepared their own vows, which they will now recite to one another," Father Pete continued. "Javier?"

Alexis handed her bouquet to Kate, then turned back to face Javier, who took both of her hands in his.

"Alexis, I give to you everything I am and everything I will ever be. You are everything I never thought I'd find. For so many years, I watched the people closest to me, the people I respected and admired and loved the most in my life, find love, find the person they are meant to be with for a lifetime, and I was never as sure about someone else as Ryan is about Jenny, I was never willing to put my whole heart and soul on the line and give them over to someone else the way Beckett did with Castle, I never imagined just constantly showing up no matter what the way Castle did with Beckett….I was never sure, never willing to put my whole heart and soul on the line and give them over to someone else, never wanted to keep showing up for anyone...until you.

"I will love you and take care of you, laugh with you and cry with you, share your dreams and your goals, and walk beside you for the rest of my life. I pledge to you my love, my loyalty, my fidelity, my trust, my honesty, my support, my comfort, my very life, now and forever."

"Alexis?" Father Pete prompted.

"Javier, you are the greatest surprise of my life, the greatest gift. As you are for me, I will be your light in the darkness, your shoulder to lean on, your strength when you are tired, your sanctuary when the world gets to be too much, and your source of constant, unwavering support and love. I'm looking forward to growing with you, to facing all of life's experiences with you, to the future that will, day by day, become our present, our life together. I will share your dreams and goals, I will be by your side every day, and I will love you and be faithful to you, trust you and take care of you, now and forever."

"May I have the rings, please?" Father Pete asked. Kate and Kevin produced the matching platinum wedding rings and gave them to Father Pete.

"The wedding ring is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual bond, uniting two loyal hearts in endless love. Bless these rings, O Lord, and grant that those who wear them may always live together in love, peace, and compassion," Father Pete said. "Alexis, do you take Javier to be your lawfully wedded husband, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honor, and cherish, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Alexis replied.

"Javier, do you take Alexis to be your lawfully wedded wife, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honor, and cherish, as long you both shall live?"

"I do," Javier replied.

Father Pete gave Javier Alexis's wedding ring, and as he put it on her finger, he said, "Alexis, I give you this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity."

Father Pete than gave Alexis Javier's wedding ring, and as she put on his finger, she said, "Javier, I give you this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity."

Father Pete then placed his hand over Alexis and Javier's joined right hands. "For as much as Alexis and Javier have consented in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have pledged each other their faith by solemn vows, with the joining of hands and the giving and receiving of rings, by the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Those whom God joins cannot be put asunder. This we believe. You may kiss the bride."

Javier and Alexis reached for each other and sealed their vows with a kiss, his arms around her waist, her hands gripping his biceps.

Kate looked over at Rick and saw that he was unashamedly wiping his eyes. Her own eyes were wet, and they exchanged watery smiles. Martha was awash in tears, and Lanie and Jenny had also teared up, as had Kevin.

When Alexis and Javier broke the kiss, Father Pete said, "Family and friends, it is my pleasure to present, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Javier and Alexis Castle-Esposito!"

Everyone applauded as Alexis took her bouquet back from Kate, then, hand in hand with Javier, they made their way up the aisle to the portion of the song they had chosen for their recessional music.

" _And life is a road and I wanna keep goin'_

 _Love is a river I wanna keep flowin'_

 _Life is a road now and forever, wonderful journey_

 _I'll be there when the world stops turning_

 _I'll be there when the storm is through_

 _In the end, I wanna be standing_

 _At the beginning with you"_

Kate accepted Kevin's arm as they followed Alexis and Javi, and Rick scooped Lily up, while Sarah Grace ran towards her mother and brother.

When they reached the head of the aisle, still hand in hand, Javier and Alexis, grinning at each other, veered off towards the lower level room where Javier and Kevin had gotten ready before the wedding. In the alcove just off the closed door of the room, Javier pulled Alexis close. "Hello, wife," he said, beaming at her.

She beamed back at him. "Hello, husband," she replied.

They were kissing again when the rest of their family found them. "When do we get the cake?" Nick asked loudly. Alexis began laughing as she broke the kiss, and Javier was laughing right along with her.

"Soon, Nick, soon," Javier promised. He wrapped an arm around Alexis's waist and pulled her against his side. "We're married!" he exulted.

Alexis threaded her fingers through his, raised their linked hands in the air, and echoed, "We're married!" Surrounded by their closest family and friends, all of whom, except the little boys, clapped and cheered, the newlyweds found and held each other's gaze.

Alexis and Javier in that moment, linked hands raised, radiating happiness as they looked at each other, was captured in a candid shot by the wedding photographer...and that picture was the favorite wedding picture that they made multiple copies of and displayed for decades to come in their respective offices, and in pride of place in every home they ever lived in.

* * *

 _ **Processional song for Lily, Sarah Grace, and Kate: "Sun" by Sleeping at Last;**_

 _ **Processional song for Alexis and Rick: "I Get to Love You" by Ruelle;**_

 _ **Recessional song: "At the Beginning" by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis**_


	111. Chapter 105

_**Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

* * *

The first order of business following Alexis and Javier's wedding ceremony was the signing of the marriage license by the bride and groom, Father Pete, and the best man and matron of honor as witnesses, which was accomplished with great solemnity in the foyer of Lyndhurst Castle.

Next came the official wedding pictures—seemingly dozens of them, as Javier and Alexis posed for several formal bride and groom portraits, then posed with Kate, Kevin, Lily, and Sarah Grace. Every possible combination of Rick, Kate, Lily, Reece, Jake, Kevin, Jenny, Sarah Grace, Nick, Martha, Earl, Jim, Lanie, Alan, Will, Victoria, Gerald, Father Pete, and finally Madison and Mark were located to be photographed as well.

And for the grand finale, Alexis insisted that the whole crowd of them be photographed together, and each branch of the tree of this family would receive a copy of the photograph of all of them together.

The photographer was retained to circulate at the reception, snapping pictures of the bride and groom's first dance and the cake cutting, and to take as many candids as possible.

The reception had begun under the large white tent on the great lawn of Lyndhurst Castle, guests enjoying a cocktail hour and hors d'oeuvres while the wedding party and the family were having their pictures taken.

Finally the reception began in earnest when Alexis and Javier made their grand entrance, with the DJ hired for the evening's festivities announcing them as a spotlight shone on them entering the tent hand in hand, where it remained as they headed immediately to the dance floor to a round of applause for their first dance as husband and wife, to "Brighter Than Sunshine" by Aqualung.

Even though all eyes were on them, Alexis and Javier only had eyes for each other as they danced, while the family watched from the sidelines.

As Javier spun Alexis out from him and then back into him with a grin that overpowered the spotlight shining on them, Alexis threw her head back and laughed, unable to contain her happiness. Javier dipped Alexis, then, bringing her back up, began singing the song to her as they continued to dance, their gazes locked.

" _I never saw it happening_

 _I'd given up and given in_

 _I just couldn't take the hurt again_

 _What a feeling_

 _I didn't have the strength to fight_

 _But suddenly it seemed so right_

 _Me and you, what a feeling_

" _What a feeling in my soul_

 _Love burns brighter than sunshine_

 _It's brighter than sunshine_

 _Let the rain fall, I don't care_

 _I'm yours and suddenly you're mine_

 _Suddenly you're mine_

 _And it's brighter than the sun_

 _It's brighter than the sun_

 _It's brighter than the sun, sunshine"_

Alexis leaned in for a quick kiss, stopping Javier from singing, the two of them locked in each other's arms, still dancing all the while, and now she sang to him, their eyes fastened on each other once more.

" _Love will remain a mystery_

 _Well, give me your hand and you will see_

 _Your heart is keeping time with me_

" _Oh, what a feeling in my soul_

 _Love burns brighter than sunshine_

 _It's brighter than sunshine_

 _Let the rain fall, I don't care_

 _I'm yours and suddenly you're mine_

 _Suddenly you're mine"_

Now it was Javier who cut Alexis's singing off with a kiss, before the final chorus of the song, during which Javier picked Alexis up off her feet and spun her around before setting her back down so they could end the dance with a dip and a kiss on the final "Brighter than sunshine."

Everyone applauded at the end of the dance, and there were a few whistles as well, before Javier and Alexis, hand in hand, made their way to their table.

Kevin handed Javier a microphone, and Javier addressed everyone. "Alexis and I would like to thank you for being here to celebrate our wedding with us."

Alexis leaned over so the microphone would pick up her voice and added, "Javier and I are so happy that all of you are here tonight, and we hope you have a good time. Now, everyone please enjoy your dinner."

Keeping in mind the tastes and needs of the kids, in addition to the wedding dinner of Smoked Tri-Tip with Barbecue Sauce on the side, served with Basil Butter Mashed Potatoes, Fresh Vegetable Sauté, Classic Cole Slaw, and an Artisan Bread and Butter Platter, Javier and Alexis also arranged for a kids' menu with Chicken Fingers, Macaroni and Cheese, Pizza Rolls, French Fries, Corn, and Fruit Pops (long wooden skewers with grapes and miniature slices and sections of bananas, apples, and oranges on them), and plenty of milk, both white and chocolate, bottled water, apple juice, and although there was a fully stocked bar, for those who chose not to indulge in alcohol for whatever reason, a full complement of soft drinks, yellow and pink lemonades, and three varieties of iced tea (sweetened, unsweetened, and peach) were available for everyone to drink.

Dinner was a relaxed, enjoyable affair, as everyone made as many trips to the food serving stations as they wanted, and Nick kept asking where the cake was, despite the number of times both of his parents, and even Sarah Grace three times, informed Nick that he had to eat his dinner before he would get any cake.

Near the end of dinner, Kevin tapped a fork against his water glass, then picked up his champagne glass and retrieved the microphone. "While we're finishing this incredible dinner, for those of you who may not know me well, or at all, my name is Kevin Ryan, and as the best man, it's traditional that I start the toasts for this evening."

"How afraid should we be?" Alexis asked Javier in an undertone.

"Not as worried as if it were your dad," Javier replied.

"Javi and I have been partners and best friends for a very long time. He's truly my brother. He's the godfather of my children, the best friend I've ever had, next to my wife Jenny of course. He's always had my back, and I've always had his, even when we were fighting. There is no man I'm prouder to know or to call my friend, my brother, than Javier Esposito. I told you once, Javi, that I'm with you 'til the wheels fall off. And that will always be true."

Ryan's eyes lit with a gleam of mischief now as he went on, "But here my boy is, all grown up and married."

"Just remember, bro, I didn't get to do this to you at your wedding reception," Javi warned him.

Ryan put on the perfect innocent face and ignored Javi's comment. "And I now salute his bride, Alexis. I think I was a witness to the newlyweds' first argument. They had become friends, and we were planning a belated wedding reception for Beckett and Castle, and a certain green-eyed monster reared its jealous head at the mere mention of another man's name. A very happily married man named Brian, who runs The Old Haunt for Castle and was helping us plan the party. I don't know if he's here tonight, but Brian, if you are here, take a bow, because you helped my knuckleheaded best friend and brother realize that he had feelings for Alexis and that he wanted to pursue those feelings."

Javi groaned. "He's gonna talk about us sneaking around, I just know it," he muttered to Alexis.

Kevin heard Javi. "I don't think it counts as truly sneaking around when pretty much all of us knew about it except Beckett and Castle, and they even knew about it before you were going to tell them," he needled. "Getting back to Alexis, though, Alexis, you are the best thing that ever happened to Javi. I knew this day would come right before Beckett and Castle showed up at the Precinct to bust you guys after having spotted you at the Christmas tree lot making excellent use of some mistletoe the day before, because Javi kept staring at his phone all day, and I got it away from him to see what it was, exactly, he was staring **at,** and it was a picture of the two of you together, in front of the first Christmas tree he had had in I don't even know how many years. It has been a privilege to see your relationship unfold and evolve over these past three years, and I am very happy that the two of you have found each other, because there is no one else in the world that I would trust with my brother's heart the way I trust you."

Kevin raised his glass then. "To Javi and Alexis," he said. "May you never lie, steal, cheat, or drink. But if you must steal, then steal away each other's sorrows. If you must lie, may you lie in each other's arms. If you must cheat, may you cheat misfortune. And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away."

Everyone clinked their glasses and toasted to Javi and Alexis. Sarah Grace, Nick, and Lily all carefully clinked their plastic drinking glasses of milk and juice together, just like they saw the grown-ups do.

After Javi and Alexis had both hugged Kevin, and he had resumed his seat, it was Kate's turn to give her matron-of-honor toast.

"I have the great privilege of being not only the matron of honor but someone who has known both Alexis and Javi for many years. And to give you an idea of how crazily wonderful our family tree is, I've actually known Javi longer than I've known Alexis," she began. "For as long as I've known him, Javi has been an exemplary police officer, a true friend, and a man that I now how have the honor of calling my son-in-law. But Javi, you and I had something else in common for the longest time: deep down, we each wanted to be part of a family, we each wanted to love and be loved in return beyond all measure. And there was a time when neither of us thought that would happen for either of us. But look at us now: part of the same amazing family. Well, I should say **officially** part of the same amazing family, because that's the thing about the Castles: they take you in and make you one of their own right away, and it's for life.

"Alexis, I am proud to be your matron of honor, but more than that, I am proud to be the mother of your heart. You are a loving, caring, compassionate, brilliant young woman, and having watched you grow into that woman has been a joy. And now, as you move into your future with Javi by your side as your husband, I'm very happy for both of you. To Alexis and Javi." Kate raised her glass, and everyone else followed suit. "They say that you don't marry the person you can live with, you marry the person you can't live without," she said, looking at Alexis and Javi. "I think that sums up the two of you perfectly. I wish you a long life together filled with happiness, adventure, and lots of wonderful memories."

Again, everyone toasted to Alexis and Javi.

Then the DJ really got the party started, and the dancing began.

Rick and Alexis had their father/daughter dance to "My Girl" by The Temptations.

"You're holding up remarkably well, Dad," Alexis said as they danced.

"To Lanie's eternal disappointment," Rick replied. "I did cry during the ceremony. But it's hard for me to be sad when I see you so happy, Pumpkin."

"I feel like I'm ten feet off the ground and I'm never gonna come back down," Alexis replied.

Rick smiled at Alexis's obvious joy, and just savored the rest of the dance.

The family mixed and mingled throughout the evening, as Alexis danced with Kevin, Jim, Earl, Alan, and Father Pete, while Javier had dances with Martha, Jenny, Victoria, and Kate.

"I just realized that, for all intents and purposes, you're my mother-in-law," Javi said as he and Kate danced to "That's What Friends Are For."

"I am, aren't I?" Kate mused. "I've never seen you this happy, Javi."

"I've never been this happy, Kate," Javi replied seriously.

"Just don't call Rick 'Dad' and we're good," Kate assured him.

"I'm no fool," Javi said with a laugh. "I can't even call him 'Rick.' He'll always be 'Castle' to me. Although we'll have to explain to the kids why I call their grandpa 'Castle.'"

Kate pulled a wryly comic face. "Okay, **really** don't talk about making Rick a grandpa tonight. I'm too tired to deal with his reaction. What energy I have left is going to be devoted to getting Lily and Jake to sleep."

"If Reece were older, I'd be offended that he's sleeping through our wedding reception," Javi cracked.

"I'm amazed he can sleep at all, even though my dad took him into the groom's room," Kate mused.

The song ended, and Nick came running out to the floor and grabbed Javi by the hand. "Uncle Javi, Uncle Javi, it's finally time for cake! Aunt Alexis said so!" he exclaimed, practically vibrating with excitement.

"Duty calls," Javi said. Before Nick could pull him away, Javi said seriously, "I'll take care of her, Kate."

"Take care of each other," Kate corrected him.

"Advice from the old married lady. Got it," Javi said seriously before grinning.

"Hey, I'm your mother-in-law now!" Kate reminded him with a laugh as Nick practically dragged Javi towards the wedding cake.

After Alexis and Javi had cut the cake and fed each other the first bite, they sneaked outside with the photographer for some nighttime photos of just the two of them under the night sky while the dancing continued inside.

Rick took to the dance floor with Lily standing on his shoes, and Kevin and Sarah Grace also danced together. Kate took Jake out on the dimly lit dance floor, gently swaying him as his head rested on her shoulder, since he was almost asleep, and she and Rick exchanged a look and a smile at one point.

By the time those parent/child dances had ended, Will had conked out in Alan's lap, and Lanie followed Kate as she went to put Jake down in the groom's room with Reece and Jim. "Jim, why don't you go on back out there and dance with Kate or Lily?" Lanie asked. "My feet have had it for tonight, and Alan's gonna be bringing Will in here in a minute. We'll watch Reece and Jake for you guys."

"If you're sure you wouldn't mind, Lanie, I'd love to dance with both Katie and Lily Jo, since the only dance I managed to get in earlier was with Alexis," Jim replied, reaching for the tuxedo jacket he had abandoned earlier and shrugging into it before hastily re-tying his undone bow tie.

Alan entered the room a moment later, carrying the sleeping Will. "Thank you, Alan," Jim said quietly, so as not to wake Will.

"It's our pleasure," Alan replied just as quietly. "Go have some fun, Jim."

After Kate got Jake settled, and checked on Reece, she turned to Lanie, who was settling herself on the couch Jim had just vacated. "Thanks," she said simply.

"We got this, Kate. Go dance with Writer Boy. I don't think you've had the chance yet, between the duty dances, and him dancing with Alexis and Lily," Lanie said. "I might fall asleep soon myself, unless my feet start to hurt more."

Alan, knowing a cue when he heard one, this being the second pregnancy he and Lanie were going through, sat down on the couch, untied his bow tie and unbuttoned his shirt collar, then reached down and removed Lanie's shoes before settling her feet in his lap and beginning to massage one of them.

"You've trained him well, I see," Kate said.

"Oh, like you didn't train Castle," Lanie retorted.

Kate considered this for a moment. "I think I had him mostly trained before we ever got together," she mused.

"All good husbands require training," Alan piped up then. "At least, if they want to be good husbands, they do. The smart ones know it, because they know that the important thing is keeping their wives happy."

Lanie smiled. "That's **my** husband that said that," she bragged.

"I know the kids are all sleeping, but keep it PG-rated in here anyway," Kate said before heading back out to the dance floor, where she saw her father dancing with Lily standing on his shoes, Martha and Earl dancing, Alexis and Javier having returned from their last photo session and dancing, and Kevin and Jenny seated at the head table with the sleeping Nick stretched out on two chairs pushed together and Sarah Grace seated between her parents, her head drooping against her mother's arm as she fought off sleep. Kate danced with her father after he danced with Lily, and Lily danced with both Earl and Martha.

The DJ announced the last dance of the evening, and the floor was soon crowded. Lily was getting tired now too, so Jim picked her up and carried her off the floor, shooing Kevin and Jenny out to the floor with everyone else for the last dance of the night. Lily and Sarah Grace both slumped in their chairs tiredly and Jim sat with them and Nick, watching the others dance and reflecting on what a wonderful wedding it was.

"Grandpa?" Lily asked sleepily.

"Yes, Lily Jo?" he asked, turning to focus his full attention on his granddaughter.

"Will you dance with me again sometime?" she asked.

"I sure will," he promised. Then she crawled into his lap, laid her head against his chest, and fell asleep.

Out on the dance floor, the song was the long version of Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You." Alexis and Javier were barely moving, their foreheads touching, arms around each other. Martha and Earl agreed that they liked the song well enough, but it wasn't one they would consider "theirs." Madison and Mark talked quietly about starting to prepare in earnest for their own upcoming wedding. Jenny laid her head on Kevin's shoulder as they danced, and Victoria and Gerald kissed, unnoticed by everyone else.

"You did great today, babe," Kate said as she and Rick danced.

"So did you," he replied. "I used to picture this day, every once in a while, when Alexis was a little girl. It wasn't anything like I thought it would be."

"You probably pictured an entirely different groom," Kate agreed.

"It wasn't even about the groom," Rick said. "It was about everything I didn't picture, because I hadn't met you yet, or your dad, or Ryan and Jenny, or Lanie and Alan, or Gates and her husband, Madison and Mark, or, yes, Esposito. And I never dared to dream of Lily and Reece and Jake until I met you. No, when I used to picture Alexis's wedding, it was just Mother and me and a bunch of Alexis's friends on the bride's side. But because of you, we have this big, and as you so aptly described it, crazily wonderful family. **That's** what I never pictured. And it's so much better than what I **did** picture."

He framed her face in his hands as Bryan Adams' voice soared through the declaration that no other person could give more love, and that "there's nowhere unless you're there, all the time, all the way."

"Alexis and Mother and I...we got along all right as a trio. But the night you walked into my life, Kate...In my wildest imaginings, I couldn't have pictured that we'd wind up here, with three Beckett-Castle babies, to co-opt Madison's phrase, of our own, asleep nearby, with you the mother of Alexis's heart, with this big, crazily wonderful family we've put together. I had a lot of dreams and a lot of fantasies about you before we got together, and I've had a lot more since we've been together, but all of this?" Not wanting to let go of her, he tilted his head at the wedding reception going on around them. "But then, it's only fitting, because every dream, every fantasy I've ever had involving you? The reality has **always** surpassed them. And that's because I married the person I absolutely can't live without. I've done that, and since none of the kids are around, I can just say it: I suck at living without you."

Kate turned her head and pressed a kiss into the palm of Rick's hand. "Well, then, it's a good thing you don't have to," she said. "And for the record, I suck at living without you too. Even when I was too broken and too scared to tell you how I really felt about you, I missed you when you weren't around, and I hated not hearing your voice or seeing your face, even if you were driving me crazy."

"If Alexis and Esposito can be even half as happy as we are, as a dad, I can't ask for more than that for her," he replied.

Now Kate did break Rick's hold on her, to seek out Alexis and Javi across the dance floor, where they weren't even dancing anymore, just standing still, arms around each other, kissing. He followed her gaze to the newlyweds. "I don't think we have anything to worry about with them," she said.

The song ended, and it was time for Alexis and Javier to leave. Rick had booked several rooms at the nearby Tarrytown House Estate on the Hudson, and pretty much everyone in the family was going to stay there overnight. Since Javier had taken charge of the honeymoon, as was traditional for the groom, he and Alexis were booked in a Luxury Suite at a different nearby hotel, the Castle Hotel and Spa. They would fly out of JFK Airport the next morning for their honeymoon in Maui, Hawaii.

The family, minus Lanie and Alan, who were still in the groom's room with the still-sleeping Will, Reece and Jake, and Jim, who had the sleeping Lily in his lap, and was keeping watch over the sleeping Sarah Grace and Nick, knew that Alexis and Javi were ready to make their departure, and as the majority of the guests drifted outside, the immediate family gathered around.

Alexis and Javier took turns hugging and thanking everyone, making it a point to go over to the table and thank Jim, who shook Javi's hand and squeezed Alexis's hand. Alexis kissed Lily on the forehead and whispered, "You were an awesome flower girl, Lily." They then ducked into the groom's room, where the only one still awake was Alan, who promised to tell Lanie that the newlyweds had said goodbye before leaving. Alexis kissed the sleeping Reece, then the sleeping Jake, telling them, "Don't change too much while Javier and I are in Hawaii, okay, guys?"

When Alexis and Javi returned to the tent, the only ones still waiting inside were Rick, Kate, Martha, Kevin, and Jenny.

"Thanks, bro," Javi told Kevin.

They hugged, and Kevin told him, "Anything for you. And welcome to the club."

"The club?" Javi asked as Kevin released him.

"Yeah, the Husbands Club. You're now officially a member," Kevin said, clapping Javi on the shoulder.

Javi grinned. "Yeah, I am," he realized.

"You are the most beautiful bride there ever was," Martha declared as she and Alexis embraced.

"Not that you're biased or anything," Alexis said.

"Completely objective opinion," Martha replied. Javi had just gotten a goodbye hug from Jenny, and he joined Alexis and Martha. "And you," Martha went on, addressing him. "My grandson-in-law." She hugged Javier, then said, "Have fun, you two, and don't do anything I wouldn't do." With a wink and a grin, Martha then stepped back. Javi's only reaction was to blink and look at Alexis uncertainly, and Alexis and Kate both burst out laughing, while Rick looked at Esposito sympathetically.

"Thanks for everything, Mom," Alexis said as she and Kate hugged. "I love you."

"I love you too, Alexis," Kate replied.

"So, Mother-in-Law," Javi said with a smirk. Kate smirked back at him, but then they grew serious. "'Thank you' doesn't seem like near enough."

"It is," she assured him. She hugged him, and he hugged her back. "Take care of each other," she said.

"We will," he promised.

"And know that whenever you two have a fight, I'm on her side," Kate said as she let go of Javi and stepped back, smirking at him again.

"You've known me longer, you said so in your speech," Javi pointed out.

"She's my daughter," Kate replied, no trace of the smirk now. "That means I'm on her side for eternity."

"And that's as it should be," Javi said.

Rick and Alexis were hugging. "Be happy," Rick said.

"We will," Alexis replied. "We have great examples to follow."

"I love you, pumpkin."

"I love you too, Dad."

Esposito approached then, hanging back slightly. Castle saw him, and he gave Alexis one more squeeze before letting her go. "Esposito," he said.

"Castle," Esposito said.

"If Alexis ever goes to jail," Castle began.

"I'd break her out in the first five minutes she was in there," Esposito swore.

Then Castle surprised everyone, including himself, when he engulfed Esposito in a big hug. Startled for a second, Esposito recovered quickly and hugged Castle back.

Castle let him go after several seconds. "You're a good man, Javier, and I'm glad you're my son-in-law."

"I am too," he replied.

Alexis beamed at her father. "Thanks, Dad," she said.

Rick gave her a wistful smile back as Kate threaded her fingers through his and rested her cheek against his bicep.

Then everyone headed outside to see the newlyweds off before heading back inside to collect their things, and for those who were parents, their children before going to their respective hotel rooms for the night.


	112. Chapter 106

_**Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.**_

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Lily started preschool at Marlowe Prep in early September, two days after Labor Day. Rick and Kate took her to school together that first day, Lily walking between them, wearing her new backpack, one of her hands in one of each of theirs. Rick and Kate had a harder time saying goodbye to Lily than Lily had saying goodbye to them, since she was excited about starting preschool, having visited her classroom with Kate and Rick the night before the first day of school and meeting her teacher, Miss Jill, and her classmates, and the class hamster Flo-Jo (named for Olympic Track Gold Medalist Florence Griffith-Joyner).

After they had each hugged and kissed Lily and told her they'd be back in a few hours, Rick and Kate watched Lily stow her backpack in her little locker and then head off to the block table to begin playing with a couple of other kids. A few of the other kids were crying, or at least whining that they didn't want to stay, and one boy had wrapped himself around his father's leg and seated himself on his father's foot, refusing to budge no matter what his father, his mother, or Miss Jill said. Meanwhile, Lily was happily building a block tower with another little girl with raven-black hair and shining blue eyes, and they were chattering back and forth as if they'd known each other all their lives.

Rick and Kate walked out of the classroom, down the hall, out of the building, across the playground, and through the large black wrought-iron gates. "I wasn't expecting that," Kate admitted as they made their way down the sidewalk towards the SUV. "I mean, I didn't want Lily to be crying or not want to stay, but that she would take to it so immediately…." She trailed off, then said, "She clearly gets that from you. That ability to be at ease around other people. Even when I was a little girl, I wasn't the kid who walked into any classroom or onto any playground looking to make friends with everybody."

"It was something of a necessary skill I had to develop," Rick reflected. "I went to so many different schools, and The New Kid always goes into a new school with a target on his back. Friendships have already been formed, and by the time you're in junior high and high school, cliques, even among guys, are set too: the jocks, the nerds, the troublemakers. So I learned to be the friendliest new student, smart but not so smart as to get razzed for being a nerd, and the guy who made everybody laugh."

"You were a prankster," Kate said.

"A prankster, yes. A troublemaker, no," Rick replied. "I rarely cheated, and never on exams. I turned in my work on time, and I didn't act up enough to seriously earn the ire of the more intimidating teachers, faculty, or headmasters...at least not until the senior prank that got me banned from the prom." They had reached the car now.

"I was a rebel," Kate reflected. "I did the homework and turned it in on time, I made good grades for the most part, I never backed down from a challenge, whether it was academic or athletic, but I was also one of the kids everyone else knew not to mess with. My friends were few, but they were true and loyal."

"Like Madison," Rick said as they settled themselves in the car.

"Yeah," Kate replied. As Rick started the car and pulled into traffic, Kate said, "You don't have anyone in your life that you go back with as far as I go back with Maddie. After what happened with Damien Westlake...Do you regret that you never kept up with any of your old friends?"

He was silent as he thought about it for a long moment. "No," he finally answered. "With the exception of Damien Westlake, I knew, even at the time, that the rest of the guys I hung around with were...transitory. I'm sure some of them are still in touch with each other, but every school I went to, every guy I hung around with back then, they were all just stops along the way. My imagination was my best, truest friend...until I met you, that is. And I wouldn't want to have a hundred friends from my childhood and adolescence and college days, because you're my best friend, Kate, and you're the only best friend I'll ever need. And the friendships I have with Ryan, with Esposito, with Alan...Those came about because of you too. Old friends may be gold, as the saying goes, but the realest friends I've ever had didn't come into my life until you did, and I'll take them over the guys I went to eighth grade or senior year of high school with anytime."

Kate leaned across the console at the next stoplight to kiss Rick's cheek. He smiled at her in response.

Lily settled into preschool just fine, and her afternoons were usually spent regaling her father, grandfather, and little brothers with the details of her day, which were then repeated over dinner for Mommy and, when they joined the family, Alexis and Javier, Martha and Earl.

Lanie and Alan learned in early October that Lanie's intuition was spot on, and their second child was another boy. This began a spirited debate between them about what to name their son, since Lanie like the name 'Robert,' while Alan liked the name 'Andrew.' At Rick's suggestion that they use both names, both Lanie and Alan declined, because Robert Andrew Masters would give him the initials 'RAM,' while Andrew Robert Masters would give him the initials 'ARM.' Indeed, it wouldn't be until after he arrived that Lanie and Alan would finally agree on a first name and a middle name for their second son.

Alexis finally got her bar exam results on October 27, and was happy, relieved, and proud to learn that she had passed with flying colors, as was everyone else. She and Javier were living at her place (his lease had run out and he had opted not to renew it) while looking for a place of their own, and they hadn't found it yet. Alexis was busy going on interviews, and was hoping to land a position in an Assistant D.A.'s office.

Then it was Reece and Jake's first Halloween. As they had done with Lily on her first Halloween, Reece's first Halloween costume was a peanut, and Jake's first Halloween costume was a red jellybean, in reference to their nicknames of Peanut and Jellybean. Lily dressed as a princess, while Alexis and Javier showed up on Halloween night dressed as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo from _I Love Lucy,_ Alexis wearing a blue-and-white gingham dress, plain white apron, a curly red-headed wig, and carrying a large bottle labeled 'Vitameatavegamin.' Javier wore an old black tuxedo and bow tie he had actually found when he and Alexis were searching for costumes at a vintage thrift shop and toted a large bongo drum, but stoutly refused to sing Ricky Ricardo's signature song "Babalu," although, to humor Martha and Rick, he did once tell Alexis, "Lucy, you've got some 'splainin' to do!"

Sarah Grace dressed as a police officer, showing everyone her little plastic badge and announcing her intentions to be a police officer like her dad when she grew up, while Nick proudly wore a firefighter costume and hat and carried a stuffed dalmatian with him. He had begun lobbying his parents for a real dog, but Kevin and Jenny lived in a building that didn't allow pets, so they were stalled. Kevin had dressed as Sherlock Holmes, and Jenny was his Watson.

Martha and Earl showed up dressed as John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in the movie _Rio Grande,_ Martha with her hair swept into a chignon, with a cameo at the throat of her lacy white dress with its long skirt, while Earl had grown a mustache and was decked out in a Union Army Cavalry Officer's blue-and-gold uniform, complete with suspenders, boots, hat, and sword.

Will was dressed as a dinosaur, while Alan had spiked his hair and wore an exact replica of the cream-colored suit and solid gray shirt and necktie, with a tan trenchcoat over top of them, that Thomas Dolby had worn in the music video for "She Blinded Me With Science," while Lanie wore a lab coat over her red maternity dress and black heels and her hair in a bun, with black plastic-framed clear eyeglasses, like the woman in the video who had shown Thomas Dolby to the psychiatrist's office.

Jim Beckett arrived decked out in a complete New York Yankees home uniform, wearing his all-time favorite player Roger Maris's number 9 on the back of his jersey, and the old-fashioned sanitary socks and stirrups with a pair of old cleats that were no longer sharp on the bottoms.

Like Kevin and Jenny, Rick and Kate's costumes also had a literary background, though their costumes, like Martha and Earl's, had also been portrayed in the movies: from the _Harry Potter_ universe, Rick was dressed as a Quidditch player and Kate was dressed as a Golden Snitch. As Rick said, "This is as close to being a jock as I'll ever get," which led to a lively and spirited debate in which all the adults agreed that if Kate and Rick were ever to play Quidditch, Kate would, as Javier put it, "kick your you-know-what, Castle."

"She would," Rick agreed, "but Quidditch is the one sport where I actually understand all the rules, so that's an advantage, right?"

"If you say so, Richard," Martha said.

"Hey, I'm no jock, but I'm not a complete klutz, either," Rick insisted. "In fact, I think we should play Quidditch the next time we all go to the Hamptons house."

"I'm not going to be the Golden Snitch there," Kate said.

"I'll be the Golden Snitch," Jim volunteered on the spot.

"We're really going to play Quidditch?" Alan asked eagerly.

"Well, not before spring, but sure, why not?" Rick said.

There were plenty of treats for the kids, and thanks to some input from Madison, not everything the kids consumed was chock full of sugar. There was plenty of candy to go around, and Halloween sugar cookies, but also cheese stick fingers and cute little Clementines, completely peeled and with a celery stick stem that resembled miniature pumpkins.

Lily, Sarah Grace, and Nick joined the adults in bobbing for apples, and of the whole group, the kids and Kate were the only successful ones. The three kids also compared notes on their school Halloween parties. Being the oldest, Sarah Grace thought her party was the best overall-lots of treats and punch, and a costume contest in which she took second place. Nick insisted his party had the best treats, since they had real chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting and candy corn pieces that made jack-o-lantern faces on them. Lily declared her party the best because the preschool joined the elementary school for a big parade through the elementary school gym.

The party ended with a viewing of _It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,_ but the only one of the kids who made it through the whole thing was Sarah Grace. After the DVD ended, everyone said their good nights and left, gathering sleeping or sleepy children to carry them out, and when it was down to Kate and Rick, Lily, Reece and Jake, they changed the kids out of their Halloween costumes and into their pajamas. Reece and Jake didn't even stir, and Lily woke up just long enough to say good night to her parents before burrowing into her pillow and falling back to sleep.

Right before sleep claimed the exhausted Rick and Kate, Kate laid her head on his chest and said, "I enjoy Halloween so much more now than I ever did when I was a kid, and that's because of you."

She felt him smile. "It's my pleasure," he replied, kissing the top of her head before they both fell asleep.


	113. Chapter 107

_**First, I would like to thank my guest reviewers, especially The Fifth Sister, since I can't do so directly.**_

 _ **Secondly, we're getting close to the end of this particular story. After this short chapter ("insane week" is the shortest explanation I have for this), I'm going to go out on a limb and say there are three more chapters left to this story, but no more than four. However, after a short break, I will be back with more stories in this universe, one-shots or shorter stories covering various events in the lives of this extended Castle family I have created through the years after this story ends, including when the kids are grown.**_

 _ **In the meantime, thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm.  
**_

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At ten months of age, Reece and Jake were two little whirling dervishes of perpetual motion. They could each walk while holding the hands of one of their parents or another adult family member; they were beginning to speak actual English (Reece's first word was "Mama," and Jake's was "Dada"); they each had the same favorite activity: pulling themselves on the furniture and standing for a few minutes at a time while holding onto whatever piece of furniture they had used to pull themselves into a standing position; and, like Lily, both boys **loved** all of the Christmas lights and decorations and what Lily described as "the pretty tree" that dominated the living room for the entire month of December.

Jake, in particular, was fascinated by the ornaments on the Christmas tree, and he loved to make his way over to the tree (Alan had nicknamed Jake "Daredevil" after the Marvel character when, undaunted by both his parents', sisters', and grandparents' attempts to keep him away from the tree, and the difficulty of keeping his feet beneath him, Jake took several halting steps, holding on to various pieces of furniture along the way, in order to get to the Christmas tree) and yank off the shiny baubles hanging from the lower branches to roll on the floor or play with. Unfortunately for Jake, everyone but Reece took the shiny baubles away from Jake, causing the baby a great deal of unhappiness, which he expressed very loudly.

Rick and Kate took Lily, Reece, and Jake to see Santa Claus in the middle of December. This being her fourth visit to Santa, Lily was an old pro at waiting in line, sitting on Santa's lap, telling him what she wanted for Christmas, and posing for the requisite picture. This being Reece and Jake's first Christmas, it was their first visit to Santa.

Kate insisted on individual pictures of each of the kids with Santa, before getting the three of them together for a group picture, and luckily they managed to catch Santa at a not-very-busy time, so he was game.

Lily did great, and Rick and Kate answered for Reece when Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas this year.

As soon as Rick set Jake on Santa's lap, though, Jake went into hysterics, totally terrified of the large, strange man in the red velvet suit and hat with white trim, black boots, and long white beard, exclaiming a loud and hearty, "HO HO HO! And what's your name, little fella?" right in his face. Jake balled up his fists and flailed them around in the air as he sobbed until his face was as red as Santa's suit.

Kate was holding Reece, whose reaction to Jake's fear was to burst into tears himself, and Lily, confused at the whole thing, alternated between shushing Reece and telling Jake not to be scared, because Santa Claus was nice. Rick pulled Jake out of the hapless Santa's arms and cuddled him close, rubbing soothing circles on his back and trying to calm him down by speaking right into his ear and reassuring him that Mommy and Daddy were right here, but Jake would not be consoled. He buried his face in Rick's shoulder, so traumatized by Santa Claus that he didn't even want to look at him.

"Mommy, what about our picture with Santa with everybody in it?" Lily asked urgently. "We have to have a picture with everybody in it with Santa!"

Kate and Rick exchanged a look, momentarily stymied by Lily's insistence on a group picture with Santa standing in direct opposition to Jake's obvious feelings on Santa Claus.

"Lily, Jake is scared of Santa," Kate pointed out gently.

"But Santa's not scary!" Lily insisted.

"Not to you, no," Kate replied, "and not to Reece. But to Jake, Santa is very scary." Jake was now down to hiccuping whimpers, his face still buried in Rick's shoulder, lest he catch sight of Santa again and return to a full-blown tantrum of panic.

A line, albeit a still short line, was starting to form now. "No picture?" Rick asked.

"We have to have a picture, Daddy!" Lily exclaimed indignantly. "We just have to!"

"Do not raise your voice to your father, Lily Johanna," Kate said sternly.

Lily, chastened, said, "I'm sorry, Mommy, I'm sorry, Daddy," and leaned against her mother's leg, her eyes downcast.

Kate looked at Rick helplessly. Rick considered things for a moment, then said, "Maybe if Jake and I stand behind Santa's chair, and Jake doesn't have to see him..."

Lily looked up at Kate so hopefully, Kate couldn't bear to take the hope and joy out of her eyes. "That line is getting longer, so let's make this quick," Kate said. "How're you doin', Reece? You okay, Peanut?"

Reece smiled at Kate and said, "Mama!"

Rick moved to stand behind and to the right of Santa's chair, careful to keep Santa out of Jake's line of sight.

After the group picture was taken, and Rick had paid for the pictures, and the boys were safely ensconced in their stroller once more, the family headed home.

Jake returned to his even-keeled, happy self after they left Santa's Village and returned home. That night, after all the kids were asleep, Kate was looking at the pictures and she couldn't help the snort of laughter that bubbled up at the sight of Lily beaming, Reece cooing, Kate herself having pasted on her best smile, and poor Rick looking like a deer-in-the-headlights, with a still-whimpering Jake up over his shoulder with his little back to the camera and one of Rick's hands splayed protectively across Jake's back.

Rick returned to the living room to find Kate leaning over the coffee table, laughing at the picture of all of them together with Santa. "I should ask Mother if I was ever traumatized by Santa Claus," he said. "I don't remember ever reacting to Santa the way Jake did, but maybe I did when I was his age."

"It's not necessarily genetic, babe," Kate pointed out. "Besides, with little kids, Santa's a hit-or-miss thing. Some of them love him, some of them are scared of him. Jake just happened to be scared of him this year. That's not going to put any kind of a damper on his love for Christmas."

"Oh, that reminds me," Rick said, holding up a red glass Christmas ball. "I don't know how he smuggled it into his crib, but it was in there when I was putting him down."

"Oh yeah, he's definitely your son," Kate said with a smile. "He loves all the decorations and lights." Without waiting to see if the boys would react as Lily had when she was a baby, Rick had put up strings of Christmas lights in the nursery, over each of their cribs, the same day he put up the Christmas lights in Lily's bedroom while they were in decorating mode.

"This year, he and Reece are going to be more about the wrapping paper and boxes than the toys, anyway," Rick reflected after finding an ornament hook and replacing the ball on the Christmas tree. He then sat down on the couch beside Kate, who laid her head on his shoulder and put her arm through his.

"Yeah, probably," she agreed. "Lily was for her first Christmas."

Rick rested his head against Kate's. "Another chaotic Castle Christmas is on its way," he mused.

Kate shifted so that she could look up at him. "I love the chaos," she said, "especially now. The boys definitely inherited your love of Christmas, and so did Lily...and my dad is so excited for this first Christmas with three grandchildren."

"Mother and Earl will be here bright and early Christmas Day," Rick reflected. "And I think Alexis and Esposito are going to spend the night on Christmas Eve too, along with your dad."

"The more the merrier," Kate said.

She looked at the stockings hanging from the mantel; they had gotten Reece and Jake's stockings last year, the red stocking with a snowman on it for Reece, and the green stocking with a grinning elf dressed in red-and-white stripes on it for Jake, and, as they had for the past few years, Johanna Beckett's stocking hung next to Jim's. A flash of sadness descended on Kate when she looked at her mother's stocking, but she remembered what her father had said when he had hung Johanna's stocking next to his when they put all the stockings up a couple of weeks ago. "I truly believe she knows about Lily and Reece and Jake, Katie. And I've already started telling Lily stories about your mother, and showing her pictures. I'll do the same thing with Reece and Jake when they're a little bit older. They're going to know she was their grandmother and how much she would have loved them."

Rick followed Kate's gaze and knew she was thinking about her mother. She felt him wrap an arm around her waist. "She would have loved all of you so much," Kate said quietly. "She would have loved being a grandmother." She fell silent again, and Rick, knowing he wasn't expected to answer, said nothing. A beat later, Kate went on, "I've never really talked to the kids about my mom. It's time, I think. It shouldn't all have to come from my dad. And talking about her with Lily, and with me, even...It's really helped him."

Rick kissed Kate's temple. "She'd be really proud of you, Kate," he said.

"I think she would," Kate agreed.

"I know she would," Rick gently corrected Kate before pulling her into his embrace. He smiled as he felt her wrap her arms around him and settle against him, only the lights of the Christmas tree and the fire in the fireplace illuminating the living room now.


	114. Chapter 108

_**Thank you, everyone, for your continued enthusiasm and support for this story.**_

* * *

Christmas morning with three small children, and the born Christmas lovers that especially Rick and Alexis were, made the Castle living room a lively, spirited place filled with joy and laughter.

Pajamas were the attire of the morning, and Javier burst out laughing when he saw that Rick was wearing plaid flannel sleep pants with a red t-shirt that said, "Dear Santa, Define 'Good.'"

Kate smirked. She was carrying the still-sleepy Jake, while Rick had the wide-awake, squirming, excited Reece in his arms, and Lily was already standing in front of the Christmas tree, eyes as big as dinner plates at the gifts piled underneath it, hands covering her mouth in awe, while Jim, Martha and Earl all smiled at Rick's shirt, and Alexis, seated in a chair with Javier perched on the arm of her chair.

"It was a gift from Kate," Rick informed everyone.

"Were they out of 'Dear Santa, I Can Explain…' shirts?" Martha asked.

"In Rick's size, they were," Kate replied.

"Presents!" Lily exclaimed then, interrupting the conversation, her initial Christmas awe giving way to the undeniable need to tear into the wrapped packages beneath the tree. "Can we open presents now? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase!" She started jumping up and down in her excitement.

Reece, having caught sight of the cornucopia of brightly colored wrapped presents under the glimmering Christmas tree, was chanting, "Dada, down! Dada, down!" and wriggling like a trout on the end of a fishing line in Rick's grasp, and Jake, alerted by Reece's and Lily's vocal pleas, immediately perked up in his mother's arms, his little face registering his own awe at the sight of the tree and presents, his mouth forming a perfect little 'o.'

"Okay, okay," Kate said. "Presents it is!"

Lily dashed to the tree and practically dove to the floor in front of it, looking at all the packages for her name, which she had learned how to spell at preschool. Rick set Reece down and then bent over at the waist, holding Reece's hands while Reece walked over to the tree to join Lily. Jim, his ever-present video camera at the ready, got down on the floor a few feet away from the tree and the kids to film what would come to be known in the family as The Attack on the Christmas Presents, while Kate set Jake down and he quickly crawled over to the tree to join his brother and sister. Jake was momentarily distracted by a shiny silver ball hanging from the tree, and when he reached out his hand towards the glass ornament, Kate stopped him by pressing a small wrapped present in his hands. "You know you're not to touch the ornaments, Jacob," she said matter-of-factly. "Try this instead."

Rick and Kate got down on the floor with Lily, Reece and Jake, and the rest of the adults watched, Jim filming with his video camera all the while, as the kids opened their presents, Reece being assisted by Rick, and Jake being assisted by Kate. Both boys got the hang of tearing off the wrapping paper fairly quickly, and soon Reece and Jake were happily babbling as they ripped wrapping paper off of books, stuffed animals, regular toys, bathtub toys, and even a few articles of clothing, since they had presents not only from Santa Claus, but also from Mommy and Daddy, Alexis and Javi, Grandpa Jim, Gram and Pops, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Jenny and Sarah Grace and Nick, Aunt Lanie and Uncle Alan and Will and Baby Boy Masters, name still to be determined, Aunt Victoria and Uncle Gerald, and Aunt Madison and Uncle Mark. Lily had the same number of gifts as both her brothers (Kate insisted it was only fair), and then there were the gifts for the adults, which they would open after the kids were done.

Both boys squealed in excitement as they ripped the wrapping paper off the multitude of gifts into strips and waved the strips of wrapping paper around. They were more interested in the wrapping paper than they were in most of the presents. Rick got more excited about the Mickey Mouse-themed inflatable ball pit that Kate had gotten as a joint gift for Lily, Reece, and Jake all three than any of the kids did (Lily was too busy exclaiming over her favorite gift that year, the LeapFrog Epic Academy Edition Learning Tablet, stocked with plenty of games and even the ability to safely surf the Internet, thanks to the kid-friendly design, and the computer was built to grow with Lily, since Rick and Kate would be able to add Android apps and set parental controls as she grew).

"Babe, you do know there's no way you'll fit in that ball pit with the kids," Kate pointed out.

Rick sighed wistfully. "I know," he said. "They don't make 'em that big unless it's for a restaurant or amusement park. Believe me, if they did, I would have gotten one years ago. Still, it's an excellent surprise, and the kids will enjoy it a lot."

Jim gifted Reece and Jake something called My First Tackle Box, a plush tackle box containing a plush miniature fishing rod with a Velcro fastener for sticking to the plush also included fish, a stuffed worm that crinkled, a stuffed toy fish that squeaked, and another stuffed toy fish that made sounds. His gift to Lily was a magnetic fishing game with two wooden rods that had working wind-up reels, and included ten magnetic fish that were numbered and patterned. The object was to spin the included spinner and then hold the fishing rods over the blue mat where the fish were slotted in like puzzle pieces and catch the correct fish with wooden fishing rods and reel it in. It reinforced the numbers one through ten, and the different colors (the fish were respectively colored red, blue, purple, green, orange, yellow, pink, brown, black, and white).

"For your little fishing buddies, Dad?" Kate asked.

He grinned behind his video camera. "You know it, Katie," he replied.

The living room was soon filled with miniature mountains of crumpled and shredded wrapping paper, and after the adults had opened their gifts from each other, which consisted of photographs, jewelry, video games, Knicks courtside tickets (from Kate and Rick to Javi, with an extra ticket for him to take Kevin), books, sweaters, and for Alexis from Javier a new briefcase engraved with her initials in preparation for the new job she'd be starting after the new year in the A.D.A.'s office. They would be waiting until after breakfast to open the gifts from Lily, Reece and Jake, which Lily had mostly made either at school or with help from the various adults in her life, and all three grandparents had teamed up for the twins' gifts to Rick and Kate, while Rick and Kate handled the boys' gifts to their grandparents and Alexis and Javi, most of which were pictures, video, or handprints and in clay.

Rick waded through the wrapping paper and boxes while Martha and Alexis helped Lily with her Sparkle Fairy All-Natural Makeup Kit. Javi and Earl were assembling the ball pit, while Jim simultaneously helped both Reece and Jake with their tackle boxes, teaching them how to catch the stuffed fish with the Velcro fasteners on the fishing rods.

"Last present," Rick said, emerging from behind the Christmas tree carrying a small rectangular box wrapped in candy-cane striped paper, "and it's for you, Kate."

Kate, who was assisting Jim and the boys with the stuffed tackle boxes, looked up at Rick's pronouncement, confused. The two of them had exchanged gifts already—she had gotten Comic-Con tickets for them and for Lanie and Alan, and he had gotten her a new leather jacket and a new pair of leather boots. "You already gave me my Christmas presents from you."

Rick smiled. "This one's from Santa," he said.

"Open it, Mommy!" Lily exclaimed, her mouth smeared with Pink Lemonade lip gloss as she climbed down from the couch where Martha had been carefully applying organic Fairy Purple eyeshadow to her eyelids until she heard her daddy telling her mommy that Santa had brought Mommy a present.

Kate stood up and Rick, his whole face lit up, held out the wrapped present. Kate took it from him and sat down on the couch, and he sat down next to her, and then Lily rushed over and climbed up on Kate's other side, and everyone but Reece and Jake, who were enamored of their stuffed fishing toys (Reece was chewing on his stuffed worm, while Jake was making his fish squeak every time he squeezed it), watched as Kate opened the gift.

"What..." she said when she saw the box. When all the paper was off the box and on the floor at her feet, she looked from the box to Rick, whose grin grew wider at the look of shocked awe on her face. "How did you do this? They stopped making these...probably by the mid-1980s at the latest, because the one I had, I got for Christmas when I was seven. How did you even know about this? I don't remember telling you about this. And this looks like the original packaging, and it's never been opened. Is this mint condition?"

"I had a little help from a certain elf," Rick said, and Kate looked over at her father, who wasn't even hiding his smile, which was now directed at her instead of at Reece and Jake, or at Lily, who had already extracted a promise from Grandpa Jim to play with her Sparkle Fairy All-Natural Make-Up Kit later.

Alexis was sitting too far away to be able to read the box. "What is it, Mom?" Alexis asked.

Since Kate was still too awed to speak, Rick answered for her. "It's a mint condition Tomy Digital Diamond handheld baseball game, one of the earliest handheld video games ever made, first produced in 1978." He then looks at Kate. "And yes, it is mint condition, circa 1984, never removed from the original packaging." He leans in closer and says so only she can hear him, "And as you know, because of some of the toys the kids got, we have plenty of new batteries in the office. I didn't want to take it out of the box and put the batteries in for you, so-"

He was cut off when she leaned in and kissed him with a fierce tenderness that had the other adults in the room exchanging fond looks and discreetly looking away. Lily was instantly bored by her parents' PDA, so she returned to her Gram and the Sparkle Fairy All-Natural Make-Up Kit. When Jake squawked his displeasure at not being able to attach his stuffed worm to his fishing pole, their attention shifted to him as Kate broke the kiss, breathing hard.

"I asked your dad what your favorite toy was when you were a kid," Rick told her. "Not when you were as little as our littles, obviously, but something I'd be able to track down and get you one now. He told me about Digital Diamond, how you actually wore out the buttons and cracked the battery case, you played with it so much, and yours was eventually held together with duct tape and rubber bands and paper clips until it literally broke into pieces that not even duct tape and rubber bands and paper clips would keep it together. So when I found this one, I had to get it for you."

"How about breakfast?" Alexis asked then.

"Waffles!" Lily exclaimed. "Can we have waffles?"

"I saw a Family Size box of Eggos in the freezer last night," Jim said, "so I think waffles can be arranged, Lily Jo." He scooped up Reece, then Jake, and with a grandson perched on each forearm, he headed to the kitchen to settle the boys in their high chairs, with Lily rushing after him, followed by Martha, who announced that she was on bottle and sippy cup detail, and Earl and Javier put aside the almost-completed ball pit in favor of breakfast, as Alexis headed into the kitchen to begin pouring coffee and orange juice and milk and retrieving syrup, blueberries, powdered sugar, butter, and whipped cream for the waffles.

"Every year, I think you can't possibly top last Christmas, and every year, somehow, you do," Kate said.

"Always," he replied. She smiled back at him before the noise from the boys pounding on their Cheerio-filled high chair trays and the rest of the hustle and bustle coming from the kitchen had them joining the others for breakfast so they could get to the gifts from Lily, Reece, and Jake, and everyone's stockings.

* * *

Madison Queller and Mark Fallon were married the evening of December 31, 2020, at Q3 in Manhattan. The reception was also held at the restaurant. Kate served as Madison's matron-of-honor, and Mark's former father-in-law Jack Holbrook served as best man. Mark's former mother-in-law Anna cried more than Mark's own mother, because she was so happy that her beloved son-in-law had found a woman to love. Mark's football coach stepfather kept a close eye on his watch, so determined was he to get back to the hotel and get a good night's sleep in anticipation of his day watching all the college football games the next day.

Madison was a vision in a flowing white sheath wedding gown with three-quarter-length sleeves and a godet skirt with just the right amount of flare. She wore her hair down and no veil. Mark was in a black tux with a black necktie and suspenders. They had chosen white, silver, and gold for their wedding colors, with Maddie carrying a nosegay of white roses with silver pinecones and gold glitter accents, and Mark wore a matching boutonniere. Jack's necktie was the same shade of silver as Kate's satin matron-of-honor dress, and Kate carried a nosegay that matched Maddie's.

Rick sat with Madison's parents and the few other guests on the bride's side (there were only 20 guests total, including Kate and Jack) in a navy blue suit and French blue shirt. (Alexis and Javier, along with Jim, were at the loft with Lily, Reece and Jake.)

The ceremony was simple, as Madison and Mark exchanged their own vows in front of a Justice of the Peace.

"Madison, you made me truly alive again. I had been just existing for such a long time, and I thought I'd already had all of the love and all of the surprises and joy and amazement and the pain that comes with it. Then I met you, and all those doors that had been closed and, I thought, sealed off long ago burst wide open. I promise that I will love you and take care of you through all that life throws at us, fight for you and for us, never let anything come between us, and I will be thankful for you every day for the rest of my life."

"Mark, you are the greatest surprise of my life. For a long time, I didn't think I would ever get married, and then I found you. You have made me feel more loved than I ever thought possible, and I love you more than I ever dreamed I was capable of loving anyone. I will be your friend, your lover, your teacher, your accomplice, your comfort, and I will encourage you, support you, and be by your side for the rest of my life. And I'll be thankful for you every day for the rest of my life too."

The Justice of the Peace accepted the plain gold wedding rings from Kate and Jack, and gave Mark Madison's ring, which he slipped on her finger as he said, "I, Mark, take you, Madison, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honor, and cherish, until death do us part. This is my solemn vow."

Madison then accepted Mark's ring from the Justice of the Peace and slipped it on his finger as she said, "I, Madison, take you, Mark, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, honor, and cherish, until death do us part. This is my solemn vow."

"By the joining of hands, and the giving and receiving of rings, you are consenting to be bound together as husband and wife," the Justice of the Peace said. "Therefore, by the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Mark and Madison sealed their marriage vows with a kiss, and the reception began immediately afterward, as people headed to the bar, the buffet, or first one and then the other. Rick found Kate in the small crowd and they both congratulated Madison and Mark.

"Becks, can you believe I got married?" Madison asked Kate.

"I have to. I'm officially a witness, according to your marriage certificate," Kate replied. She hugged Madison, then hugged Mark. "You know you're getting one of the greatest women in the world here."

"I know," Mark assured Kate, "and I owe it to you. If not for your City Council campaign, I never would have met Madison. I'll never be able to thank you enough for that, Kate."

Madison had a teenage male cousin who DJ'ed the wedding, since she and Mark chose all the music themselves and put together a couple of playlists on an iPod with speakers. They had their first dance to Bon Jovi's "Thank You for Loving Me," and the rest of the night was filled with lots of music and dancing. Although it was New Year's Eve, a few Christmas songs had found their way onto the playlist, including "You're All I Want for Christmas" by Bing Crosby, and "Tinsel and Lights" by Train, and Mark, a big U2 fan, had insisted on as many uptempo rockers from his favorite band as possible, and he and Madison put on quite the show dancing to "Angel of Harlem" before cutting their red velvet wedding cake.

Near midnight, everyone got noisemakers and silver or gold cardboard hats or headbands proclaiming "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

As Rick and Kate slow danced to "Tinsel and Lights," with Kate sporting a silver "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" headband, and Rick wearing a silver hat proclaiming "HAPPY NEW YEAR!", he said, "2020 has been very good to us, and to the people we love the most."

"Yes, it has," Kate agreed, "and I believe 2021 will be just as good, maybe even better. Reece and Jake's first birthday is coming up in February."

"You'll be launching your re-election campaign," Rick added.

"Lanie and Alan are expecting their second son any day now," Kate continued.

"Alexis is happily married to Esposito and about to start at the A.D.A.'s office," Rick said.

"Lily is thriving in preschool," Kate went on.

"All of our parents are happy and healthy," Rick continued.

"Maddie and Mark just got married," Kate said.

"Ryan and Jenny and their kids, and Gates and her husband, are all doing great," Rick said.

"And you're getting ready to start your next book," Kate concluded.

"We're gonna be really busy next year," Rick said.

"We're gonna be really happy next year," Kate remarked.

The ten-second countdown to midnight started then. "Yeah, we are," Rick agreed. He pulled her closer. "I love you, Kate."

"I love you too, Rick," she replied, resting her palms flat on his chest.

At that moment, everyone around them, including Mark and Madison, shouted, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" as silver, gold, and white confetti fell from the ceiling, a few of the people with noisemakers blew or spun them, and an instrumental version of "Auld Lang Syne" filled the air.

Just before their lips met in their first kiss of 2021, Rick said, "Happy New Year, Kate."

"Happy New Year, Rick," she replied, and then they kissed, as did Mark and Madison, Jack and Anna, and a few of the other couples around them.

* * *

 _ **I had a Tomy Digital Diamond handheld game. Got it for Christmas when I was 7, and I really did play with it until it was in pieces and not even rubber bands and duct tape could hold it together anymore.** _


	115. Chapter 109

_**Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story. This chapter takes place in January and early February 2021.**_

* * *

Reece and Jake's first birthday fell on a Thursday, and preparations began in earnest in mid-January. Despite it being a workday, everyone had already told Kate and Rick they were planning to be there before they were even formally invited, including newborn Robert Scott Masters, Lanie and Alan's second son, who was born, to his mother's eternal relief and delight, at Mount Sinai Hospital, where Lanie received an epidural, on January 10. Will, who would be two in April, was still adjusting to having a baby brother at home. He didn't like it when Robbie cried, but he did like to show him toys and books and stuffed animals.

"Are we doing a theme?" Rick asked Kate as they watched Lily encourage Reece and Jake both to walk to her in the living room when everyone was off for the Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday weekend. (Jim, much to his regret, had a bad cold, and was staying at home because he didn't want to spread his germs to his grandchildren.)

"Reece and Jake are just now turning one. They're not really into anything enough to have a theme," Kate pointed out. "The theme would be more for us. Besides, I was already planning a _Star Wars_ party for _**your**_ birthday."

"Seriously?" he asked excitedly.

"Well, now I am," Kate admitted. "But I think I can safely speak for Lanie and Jenny when I say that none of us are dressing up like Princess Leia unless we get to be General Leia."

"The buns over the ears were horrible, I agree, but it was the '70s," Rick pointed out.

"But it wasn't supposed to be the '70s," Kate pointed out. "'Long ago in a galaxy far away' does not say 'the 1970s,' and oh my god, it's true!"

"What's true?" Rick asked, puzzled.

"When you've been married for a long time, you really do start to act like each other!" she exclaimed, her eyes twinkling with mock horror.

Rick burst out laughing, and Kate couldn't keep her own laughter from bubbling up. When she had recovered herself, and Rick was still chuckling, Kate said, "I never laughed so much in my life before you came into it."

Before Rick could reply to that, Lily exclaimed, "Mommy! Daddy! Jake's trying to climb the baby gate at the stairs!"

Indeed, Jake was clutching the gate and trying to put one tiny foot on it. Rick and Kate both jumped up and rushed over to him while Lily and Reece went back to their game, playing with Reece's shape-sorter blocks, with Lily cheering him on whenever he put one of the correct blocks through the correctly shaped hole in the lid of the large bucket the blocks came in.

"And that's enough of that," Rick said as he swooped Jake up in his arms. Jake made his displeasure at being thwarted known immediately and loudly, but Rick was unmoved by Jake's tantrum. "No way, Jellybean. I get that you want to climb, but the gate is a big no-no." He set Jake back on the rug with Reece and Lily. "Play with your brother and sister."

"Jay!" Reece exclaimed then. Reece was the more talkative of the twins; Jake really only spoke intelligibly when he wanted a specific person's attention or when he had something to say. Both boys could say "Mama," "Dada," "Yiyee"(Lily), "Yexis" (Alexis), "Hahhvee," (Javi), "Gam" (Gram), "Gampa" (Jim), and "Pops" (Earl), but Reece was the one who attempted the names of the rest of the family and eagerly hung on every word whenever anyone addressed him directly. Reece also called Jake "Jay," while Jake referred to Reece as "Eece," since neither boy could properly pronounce their 'R's yet.

"You think you can keep Jake out of trouble, Peanut?" Rick asked Reece.

Reece looked at his daddy and earnestly said, "I twy."

Rick and Kate exchanged a shocked look. "Reece just spoke his first sentence!" Rick exclaimed. "It had a subject and a verb. It's a sentence!"

"Way to go, Reecey!" Lily cheered.

Reece reached out and grabbed Jake's hand. "Jay," he said.

"Jake," Lily corrected Reece. "He's Jake, Reecey. And you're Reece."

"He'll learn it eventually, Lily," Kate said. "These things take time."

Rick had his phone out and was coaching Reece to repeat "I try," and after a couple of attempts, Reece said it again-"I twy!"-and Rick sent the video to everyone then added the text: "Reece's first sentence! Jan 18, 2021!" The rest of the afternoon, Rick's phone, and Kate's too, buzzed with congratulatory texts or rang with phone calls, everyone excited about Reece's latest milestone.

That night, after the boys were asleep, Kate and Rick were helping Lily with her bedtime routine. "Okay, Lily, what should we read tonight?" Rick asked, perusing the many titles on Lily's bookshelf.

"I don't want to read a book tonight, Daddy," Lily said very seriously. She looked at Kate. "I want a real story. I want a story about Grandma Johanna. Grandpa tells me about her all the time. He told me that's why he calls me 'Lily Jo,' 'cause my middle name is the same as her first name. And he told me she's an angel, and that she'd love me and Reece and Jake lots and lots if she was here."

"She would," Kate said. "Your Grandma Johanna was my mommy, like Gram is your daddy's mommy, and I'm your mommy, and Reece's and Jake's mommy, and Alexis's mommy." Since Lily had never known anything but Alexis referring to Kate as "Mom," she accepted this.

"If she was your mommy, then you must know lots of stories about her!" Lily said enthusiastically. "And different stories than Grandpa knows."

"Some of them are different than the stories Grandpa knows, yes," Kate said. "Let's get you tucked in, and then I'll tell you a story about me and your Grandma Johanna."

"Okay!" Lily agreed happily. Rick and Kate tucked Lily in, and then Kate sat next to Lily, leaning against the headboard of her bed, while Rick, not wanting to intrude on the mother-daughter moment, went and stood in the doorway of Lily's bedroom, leaning against the door jamb.

"When I was about your age, Grandma Johanna taught me how to ice skate," Kate said after Lily was tucked in and looking up at her mother raptly. "We went to the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center-"

"Where they put the super ginormous Christmas tree every year?" Lily interrupted.

"Yes, it's the same place," Kate replied. "Anyway, one day when your grandpa was at work, Grandma Johanna didn't have to go in to work, and we went to the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center, and she taught me how to ice skate." Rick could tell by the look in Kate's eyes that she was mentally reliving that day. Lily couldn't conceal a yawn as Kate continued the story.

"It was really cold, because it was January, and there was snow on the ground, but we got all bundled up, and Grandma Johanna got us both ice skates, and she helped me lace mine up nice and tight, and she held my hand as we went out on the ice. It was really, really slippery, and even holding her hand, I fell down a lot."

"Did it hurt when you fell down?" Lily asked sleepily.

"Not much, no," Kate said. "And Grandma Johanna was very patient with me, and she helped me get back up on my feet every time I fell down, and she held onto both my hands after the fifth time I fell, and we kept at it. Your Grandma Johanna was such a good ice skater, she could skate backwards without falling down at all. It took hours, we made an afternoon of it, and she just kept telling me, 'You can do it, Katie. I'm right here, and when you fall down, you have to get up and keep moving. Keep trying. You'll get it, and soon you'll be skating circles around me.' I never actually was as good at ice skating as your Grandma Johanna, but I learned that day, because she taught me. She taught me how to push off and glide, she taught me how to stop without crashing into the wall or falling down...and a few years later, she even taught me to skate backwards. I could never skate backwards like she could, but I can do it without falling down. That was one of the best, most fun days I ever had with your Grandma Johanna."

Kate looked over at Lily, who was sound asleep. Then she looked up at Rick, still leaning on the door jamb, smiling softly.

"And I'm gonna teach you and your brothers how to ice skate, the same way my mom taught me," Kate concluded quietly. She leaned over, smoothed an errant strand of hair off Lily's forehead, and then gently kissed her forehead. "Sweet dreams, baby girl. I love you all the way to the moon and back."

Rick had already kissed Lily good night and wished her sweet dreams and told her he loved her when he had helped Kate tuck her in. Kate crossed the room and walked right into Rick's open arms. "I never even told you that story," she reflected softly as they stood in the doorway of Lily's room, holding each other.

"I agree with Lily. I bet you have a lot of stories like that about your mom," Rick replied.

"I do," Kate agreed. She drew back. "And I'm looking forward to sharing them with Lily, and someday sharing them with Reece and Jake."

"And me?" Rick asked.

"Definitely 'and you,'" Kate assured him before stretching up to kiss him softly.

* * *

The scene at the loft on February 4 was complete and total bedlam. Reece and Jake were both walking now, albeit still falling down a lot, and Lily, Sarah Grace, Nick, and Will were chasing after the boys. The kids, except for Robbie, had indulged in the ball pit, having to take turns, which was oh-so-helpfully decided when Nick declared that the girls all had cooties, so they couldn't be in the ball pit at the same time he and Will were in there. (It was really only built to comfortably hold two kids at a time, and so Lily and Sarah Grace, on the outer edge of being able to fit in the ball pit at 7 years of age, played in the ball pit without any of the boys.)

There were more adults than children, and the happy chaos swirled around them as everyone fawned over Reece and Jake, who were wearing different shirts (Kate patently refused to dress the boys alike, wanting them to develop their own identities, and, she said, given the Castle penchant for mischievousness coded into their DNA, not to give them any help in pretending to be the other boy as they got older) proclaiming their newly minted status as one-year-olds. Reece's shirt was blue, and Jake's was green.

The adults were wearing birthday hats, but all of the kids refused to leave theirs on, even though they weren't the kind with the rubber-band chinstrap. Everyone fawned over the still practically newborn Robbie, who wouldn't be one month old for a few more days, and Rick never made any of his children wait until after the cake to open their birthday presents, so Reece and Jake had torn into the cornucopia of birthday gifts they received from everyone, and Rick had gladly left the construction of the soft climbing set he and Kate gave as a joint birthday present to both boys, comprised of one red half-cube, one set of two steps in blue, and one gentle wave climber in yellow, with a pronounced dip in the middle, covered in non-slip vinyl, to Jim and Kevin, who had it assembled in 25 minutes.

Reece and Jake received a profusion of books, toys, and even a few clothes. Alexis had already outfitted Lily in Columbia University gear, and she found tiny Columbia University shirts for Reece and Jake. "They can be legacies if they go to Columbia too," Alexis said. Javi and Alexis together gave the boys toddler basketball hoops with Nerf basketballs. Everyone agreed that Jake was most likely to inherit Kate's athleticism. Their gift to Reece was sit-to-stand dancing tower.

Reece was enthralled by all the gifts that produced music: the toy piano from Martha and Earl (who gave Jake a dance and move robot that ultimately Reece would enjoy playing with more than Jake did); the light-up activity table that also played music from Rick and Kate, who gave Jake an identical activity table; and the Pull-and-Sing Puppy from the Ryans, who gave Jake a wooden building block set, since he loved building with blocks and then knocking town the towers he built if they didn't fall first and make him crack up laughing. The Gateses and the Fallons gave both boys several books.

Jim gave both boys toy toolboxes filled with plastic tools, and the Masters' gave both boys a Roll and Bounce Tower Toy, which, when put together, had several small vinyl balls that would race down the ramps when dropped through various slots built in to the tower. "Alan plays with Will's more than Will does, so I figured this would be a good bet for Reece and Jake," Lanie said as she held the dozing Robbie; he was worn out from being fussed over and passed around among almost all the adults in the room. He would be christened in a few weeks, with Kate and Rick, and Jenny and Kevin, once again standing as his godparents, as they had done for Will.

"Now that is something you don't see every day," Javi remarked suddenly. The others followed his gaze to where Victoria Gates was chasing after all the kids but Robbie, mock growling at them as they shrieked and squealed with joy. When she caught Reece and Jake, she lifted a boy in each arm and gave them smacking kisses on the cheek, making them giggle with glee.

"We've known Gates long enough to know that she's very much human," Rick pointed out.

"Yeah, our first clue was when she told you to kiss Castle after you got off the bomb," Kevin reminisced.

"Is it time for cake yet?" Nick shouting.

Rick and Kate exchanged a look. "We probably should get to it, what do you think?" he asked Kate.

"Yeah, I think so," she agreed. "Especially since we're probably going to have to hose the boys down afterwards."

"Mark and I can take ice cream duty," Madison volunteered.

"We have a sheet cake, and then smash cakes for the boys," Rick said.

"What kind of cake is it?" Nick asked.

Sarah Grace rolled her eyes at her younger brother's question. "Nick, you'd eat the cake if Uncle Rick and Aunt Kate told you it was worm and cricket cake."

"I love cake!" Nick shouted indignantly.

"Sarah Grace and Nicholas Javier, if you don't start behaving yourselves this instant, you won't get any cake," Jenny said sternly. The threat of not having any cake was enough to turn Nick into an angel. Sarah Grace rolled her eyes again, but didn't try to bait her brother any longer.

"It's vanilla cake with buttercream frosting, which is also what the smash cakes are, but only Reece and Jake are going to want to eat those," Kate said.

"I'll be on cake-cutting duty," Martha volunteered.

Alexis was already putting on a fresh pot of coffee, while Kevin raided the fridge for milk for the kids.

"We can't forget the candles!" Lily told her parents.

"Right, Sweetpea," Rick said.

Victoria approached, still carrying Reece and Jake, with Gerald trailing behind her. "Do you two need some help wrestling the birthday boys into their high chairs?" she asked.

"Actually, yes, that would be very helpful, Victoria, thank you," Kate said.

Gerald helped Victoria get the boys into their high chairs, and Rick and Kate put large bibs around them. "Are those lobster bibs, Richard?" Martha asked.

"I brought them," Madison piped up. "Kate said they needed really big bibs, and we have a ton of these at Q3."

"You probably should have put a couple of tarps on the floor," Kevin said.

"Oh, sure, now you tell us," Rick said.

Jim had Reece's smash cake, and Earl had Jake's smash cake. Alexis, having started the coffee, approached with the two number candles in the shape of the number one and the lighter.

"Okay," Alan said, shifting Will from his hip to his shoulders so that Will had a perfect view of the festivities over the heads of all the adults crowded around, while Lanie held the sleeping Robbie up over her shoulder, and Lily sat at the table in her booster seat, with Sarah Grace and Nick seated across from her, Nick especially eager as he waited for cake and ice cream. Madison had the ice cream on the counter, softening up, and Martha had the sheet cake on the island. "Are we all ready?"

A chorus of "yes"es rang through the room as Rick stuck the candle in Reece's smash cake, and Kate stuck the candle in Jake's smash cake. Jake looked up at Kate questioningly. "Mama?" he asked.

"Daddy and I are gonna help you with the candles," she told Jake.

"Cake!" Reece exclaimed.

"That's right, Reece, you get cake because it's your birthday," Rick said. "Okay, first we sing, then we blow out the candles, and then we all get to have cake and ice cream. How are you doing over there, Nick?"

"I'm ready, Uncle Rick!" Nick exclaimed, practically vibrating in his chair.

Everyone sang then.

" _Happy birthday to you,_

 _Happy birthday to you,_

 _Happy birthday, dear Reece and Jaaaake,_

 _Happy birthday to you!"_

Alexis lit the candles, and Jim, Madison, and Javi all recorded the singing, the lighting of the candles, and Rick and Kate blowing out the candles for the boys. Then everyone watched as Reece and Jake demolished their smash cakes after Rick and Kate removed the blown-out candles. Reece eagerly gobbled cake, blue buttercream frosting coating his fingers and winding up smeared all over the lower half of his face. Jake was slightly more reserved, tearing into the cake and spreading it all over the tray of his high chair before digging in to the pieces.

Jim watched Reece and Jake with a big smile on his face, knowing that if Johanna were here, she'd be thrilled that their grandsons shared her birthday, and while she would insist that they celebrate Reece and Jake more than her, she would still have her own birthday cake and presents. He looked at Katie, pulling faces for the boys, her arm around Rick's waist, Rick's arm around her shoulders, and he gave thanks again for Rick Castle, for everything he had brought to Katie's life and to Jim's. Kate then looked over and caught her father's eye, her face serious now. Jim just nodded, knowing what Katie was thinking: how much Johanna would have loved all of this. But her grandchildren would know her. He and Katie would make sure of that.

And while Madison, with Mark's help, dished up the ice cream according to everyone's flavor preferences—chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, coffee, potato chip fudge, mint chocolate chip, cookie dough, butter pecan, chocolate chip, or caramel delight—and Earl helped Martha cut and hand out the sheet cake, in the middle of the buzz of their family surrounding them, Kate said, "Hey, Rick?"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning his attention from Alexis, who had just told him that she and Javier had found an apartment and would be moving into it in April, to look at his wife.

"Thank you," she said, sliding her arms up so they were around his neck.

He knew what she meant. "Thank **you** ," he responded. "I wouldn't have all this without you, Kate."

"I wouldn't have all this without **you** , babe," she said.

"We make a great team," Rick said, pulling Kate closer.

"Best team in the league," Kate replied. "Going all the way."

They stole a kiss then, but were interrupted when Victoria said, "Okay, you two, there are impressionable children here."

"And not just me and Ryan," Javi piped up, making everyone laugh.

"Later?" Rick whispered in Kate's ear after they broke the kiss.

"Later," she agreed with a grin before they had plates of cake and ice cream (potato chip fudge, of course, for Rick; coffee for Kate) pushed into their hands, and they basked in the warmth of their family, all gathered together for Reece's and Jake's shared first birthday.


	116. AUTHOR'S NOTE 7--NOT A CHAPTER!

_**The next chapter of this story is the last chapter of this story, and because of that, because I want to make the conclusion of this epic the best conclusion it can be, and I have most of the coming week off for vacation, and also due to some computer issues I've had this week, especially today, I will be finishing it up and posting it next weekend. There will be a significant time jump (but the kids will all still be kids), and I've known since I wrote the first chapter of this story a little over two years ago that this point is where this story would end.**_

 _ **There is more story to be told, however, after this story concludes, and after I take a bit of a break to recharge. I'll never be able to thank all of you enough for your support, enthusiasm, and encouragement as I've told this story. I hope you enjoy the conclusion, and I will be back with more stories in this universe after a short hiatus, and those stories will cover a large range of years and characters...and they'll each be significantly shorter than this story. I don't know if I'll ever write a Castle story as long as this one again, but I WILL keep writing Castle stories that take place in this universe, and I hope you'll enjoy them.  
**_


	117. Chapter 110

_**This chapter concludes "This Changes Everything." I thank everyone who has read, favorited, and followed this story in the almost 25 months I've spent writing it. You encouraged me every week, every chapter, to make this the best story I possibly could.**_

 _ **I wrote this story because Castle, the show, and especially the Beckett/Castle relationship, captured my heart and made an impact on me that only a couple of other TV shows over my lifetime have. But there's only one Castle. I love these characters, and I did my best to show my vision of their lives after the show's canon concluded...and I'm not done yet. I'll be back in a couple of months, as I've said, with more, shorter stories in this universe, covering a variety of situations and occasions when everyone is at all different ages. (In fact, you should be able to guess what the next story I write in this universe will be by the end of this chapter.)**_

 _ **Thank you again for your enthusiasm, interest, encouragement, your understanding when real life got in the way of my posting on schedule, and for going on this journey. I hope you have truly enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.**_

 _ **We have one last time jump, to the summer of 2023, and now the final chapter of "This Changes Everything."**_

* * *

The living room of the loft had undergone a major change in décor in the last two years, and so had the lives of not only the five people who lived there full time, but also the lives of the rest of their family members.

Here, in July of 2023, the entire extended Beckett-Castle family, both by blood and by bond, were thriving. The 4th had fallen on a Thursday, just two weeks ago, and everyone had spent a four-day weekend at the Hamptons house, which was an annual tradition by now.

Victoria had been promoted to the Chief of Detectives of the entire NYPD in 2022, and Gerald was planning to retire from the company he worked for in 2026.

Madison and Mark were happily married, and Madison was still wowing customers and critics alike with the menus at both Q3 locations, while Mark had also been promoted within Homeland Security, using the skills from his previous career in computer science to head the Federal Computer Incident Response Center, focusing on national cyber security.

Javi had been promoted to Lieutenant in February of 2023, and Kevin was currently studying for his Lieutenant's exam; both of them were still working homicides at the 12th Precinct, which was still under the command of Captain Karpowski. Alexis was working in the office of the New York County District Attorney as a prosecutor, putting away the kind of murderers and criminals that Kate, Rick, Javi, Kevin, Lanie, and Victoria had spent their careers in the NYPD catching and arresting.

But the biggest news from Alexis and Javi was that they were expecting their first child in December. They had announced the news to everyone at the same time when they were all at the Hamptons house for the 4th of July weekend. The first morning everyone was there, Alexis and Javier were the last ones down (which Alexis ruefully admitted after all of the congratulations and celebratory hugs was because of morning sickness), and at first everyone was puzzled as to why they were wearing Christmas-themed t-shirts on July 5. Alexis replied there was a reason she and Javi were wearing Christmas-themed t-shirts, and everyone would understand if they stepped into the living room.

Upon heading into the living room, everyone noticed the chalkboard propped up on the mantel, leaning against the wall. Martha reacted first upon processing the message on the chalkboard with a loud shriek. The others joined in as the message on the chalkboard registered in their minds.

Written in green, red, and white chalk, with a Santa Claus hat on the 'S', and the bottom line of text flanked by two wrapped presents, the chalkboard proclaimed:

"SANTA WON'T BE

the only one

COMING TO TOWN

this CHRISTMAS!

Baby Castle-Esposito, December 2023"

Alexis was due ten days before Christmas. No, they weren't finding out whether it was a boy or a girl; they wanted to be surprised. Kevin and Jenny would absolutely be the godparents. And everyone else would be aunts and uncles, Martha would be Great-Gram, Earl would be Pops, and Jim was honored when Alexis said she hoped it was okay with Jim if the baby called him Great-Grandpa Jim once he or she learned to talk. (It absolutely was.) Javi assured Sarah Grace and Nick that they wouldn't be teaching the baby to call them "aunt" and "uncle," and Alexis made the same assurance to Lily, Reece, and Jake, although Lily and Sarah Grace were more excited about the baby than any of the boys were, and Lily announced that she wanted the baby to be a girl because they were surrounded by boys (Reece, Jake, Nick, and Lanie and Alan's trio of sons). Sarah Grace piped up that they were not only surrounded by boys, they were outnumbered. Nick's response to that was the predictable "Boys rule, girls drool," and after the ensuing bickering was settled, Rick engulfed Alexis in a big hug, and then Kate did, and then everyone was hugging everyone. That night, after everyone had gone to bed, Rick and Kate marveled that they were going to be grandparents by the end of the year.

Now that Nick was 7, and Sarah Grace was 9, and they were both in school all day, Jenny had gone back to work full time. She and Kevin had celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary in January, and Alexis and Javier had hosted Nick and Sarah Grace for a weekend while Kevin and Jenny went away to celebrate.

Lanie and Alan had completed their family with the birth of Andrew Zachary Masters, their third and final son and child, in March of 2022. Lanie had returned to the M.E.'s Office shortly after Drew's first birthday. She and Alan had moved to a townhouse on the Upper West Side shortly after learning they were expecting Drew. 2-year-old Robbie and 4-year-old Will shared a bedroom, and 16-month-old Drew had the smallest of the three bedrooms in the townhouse as his nursery. Alan had been promoted at work as well, and was now head of his department.

Martha and Earl were still going strong, having officially moved in together shortly after Javier and Alexis's wedding in 2020. They both worked at Martha's acting school, Earl had guest starred as one of the title character's hapless, zany secretaries on the _Murphy Brown_ revival a couple of seasons ago, and Martha was set to do a stint as one of the witches in an off-Broadway production of _Macbeth_ beginning in September.

Jim, long since fully retired, spent most of his time with his family. Reece and Jake had turned three in February and would be headed to preschool at Marlowe Prep in September, while Lily would be starting first grade. Reece and Jake's preschool would only be a half day, in the mornings, as Lily's was, so Jim would continue to spend as much time as possible helping Rick and Kate with child care.

Rick's second serious literature novel, _Inside the Disarray,_ was still on the best-seller lists after almost a year. The book tours weren't nearly as much fun for him now as they had once been, at least the ones that Kate and the kids couldn't accompany him for, which was most of them. They did spend a memorable few days in California at Disneyland the previous summer, the first trip there for not only Lily, Reece, and Jake, but also for Kate, after Rick had done some press and book signings near Anaheim.

Kate had been re-elected to the City Council in a landslide in November of 2021, and she was already talking with the same people who had approached her years ago about running for the State Senate once her second and final City Council term was up in 2025. In the meantime, though, she continued to serve the people of New York City as one of the best City Council members in recent memory.

This summer morning, neither Rick nor Kate had anywhere to be, and they had just had all the grandparents, Alexis and Javi over for dinner the night before.

The top of the piano was covered in framed photographs of the family through the years. One of the photographs was a copy of Jim, Johanna, and 10-year-old Kate that Jim had given to Kate for Mother's Day a couple of months earlier.

The living room was filled with toys, including the gigantic teddy bear that Rick had won at Coney Island at Lanie and Alan's pre-wedding celebration years earlier, as well as assorted other stuffed animals, the green-and-yellow tricycle that was Jake's pride and joy, and the red fire engine ride-on that was Reece's most prized possession, as well as the small toy house that Lily loved to play with, a toybox filled to the brim near the piano, and full bookshelves.

Lily darted out of the playroom, through her parents' office, and through the living room, Reece and Jake both hot on her heels, and Kate chasing after all three children, refusing to admonish the kids for running in the house just this once, given the source of their excitement: she and Rick had been talking it over for quite a while, had decided that it was time to get a dog, and they had pulled the kids into the playroom before heading to the table for the breakfast Rick had already laid out to tell them that after breakfast, the whole family was going to the animal shelter to pick out a dog. Kate wasn't sure who was most excited about the impending addition to the family: the kids or Rick.

Reece, their little klutz, tripped and fell, and Kate helped him to his feet while Lily ran to the table, throwing her arms in the air in victory when she reached the table before anyone else.

Rick emerged from the office with a big smile on his face and hurried to join Kate and the kids, having just gotten off his phone with the animal shelter to let them know that the Castles would be arriving in about an hour and leaving with a dog, and asking them to get as many kid-friendly dogs together as possible for the family's consideration.

After Reece was back on his feet, Jake, giggling, ran around the couch and away from the kitchen. Grinning, Kate dashed after her youngest child and picked up the laughing little boy, carrying Jake to the table to settle him in his booster seat. Lily was already at her place, and Rick was at the table as well, having gotten Reece in his booster seat, and was pouring orange juice for Lily, milk for Reece and Jake, and coffee for himself and Kate.

Lily bit the top off a muffin as Reece held up his sippy cup, asking for a toast. Kate tapped her coffee mug against Reece's sippy cup. Rick raised his coffee mug in the air, and Lily did the same with her glass of orange juice.

Then Rick turned his attention to Kate as the kids began eating, tapping his mug of coffee against hers. The smile on his face, the love in his eyes, Lily, Reece, and Jake chattering excitedly about the dog they were going to be bringing home that day...This life he had with Kate and their family, their whole big, crazy, wonderful family, made him marvel anew every day when he woke up next to Kate.

After a sip of coffee, Kate surveyed the four people at the table with her, smiling at them, in awe, as she was every day, that this was her life, that she was a wife and a mother, that she had Rick, Lily, Reece, Jake, Alexis, her dad, Martha and Earl, Javi, Kevin and Jenny and their kids, Lanie and Alan and their boys, Maddie and Mark, Victoria Gates and her husband, and by Christmas a grandchild. If anyone had told her, before she ever met Richard Castle, that this would be where she, where they, would wind up, she would have told them they were insane and checked to see what drugs they were taking. But this was all very real, and this life was so much better than anything Kate had ever dared to believe she could have for the longest time.

Rick reached for her hand, and she slipped her hand into his, her smile growing wider as their hands connected, the solid warmth and love in his touch still sending goosebumps skittering down her spine after all these years. His own smile also grew wider, lighting up his whole face, as he stroked her hand with his thumb.

Rick Castle and Kate Beckett had traveled separate paths, broken roads of heartache, tragedy, and loneliness, until one fateful March night in 2009, their paths converged, changing everything that came after that night for both of them. Their partnership was born that night, forged in the crucible of years of joy and pain, secrets kept and revealed, near-tragedies, narrow escapes, and as the years went by, their partnership evolved. They fell in love. They nearly died more than once, sometimes while fighting for each other. But their love was stronger than death, stronger than everything else, and once they found their way together, there were still some missteps, some secrets kept, but their love triumphed over all of that, and together, they built a love, a life, a home, and a family that was their entire world both as individuals and as a couple.

They had both summed up their relationship to one another in one single word, two syllables, years ago, and that word still applied, would apply eternally, to their love for one another, to the life they shared, to the certainty they both felt deep in their souls that what they had was forever.

Yes, it was something they had known for a long time, something they silently reaffirmed at the breakfast table that July morning as they held hands and looked at each other and then at Lily, Reece, and Jake, as the children scarfed down their breakfasts and talked about the dog they would be bringing home in a matter of hours, a couple of weeks after learning they would become grandparents for the first time by the end of the year.

What Rick Castle and Kate Beckett-Castle had, what they shared, the love and life and family together they fought for, building it day by day, was for **always.**


End file.
